Luke 2:13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
The shepherds were in their fields, already terribly frightened because they were in the presence of an angel of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord was shining all around them. They had just been told that their Savior, Messiah, and Lord had been born in Bethlehem. Then suddenly a multitude of angels appeared praising God.
What was to primary purpose of the angels appearing? The angels presence was not for shock value, the shepherds were terrified enough by the one angel. Their presence was not military related, there was no battle to be fought. It was not to give a message, the lone angel was able to do so himself. It was not to aid in any way as angels often did in Old Testament passages. John MacArthur has said:
In verses 13 and 14 we come to the transcendent pinnacle of all thought and action. . . This is the highest of all truths. This is the reason for everything. . . We've come to the highest point of thought and action, the highest truth of all truths. What is it? It's the glory of God. What you see here is the highest thing that can occur in the created universe. The highest thing that can occur in the created universe is that God is glorified by His creatures. And that's exactly what you see the angels doing.
Specifically why are they praising? What is it about this particular moment? Just after creation the angels had seen the peace God and Man experienced, but they had also seen the departure of peace when sin entered the world through the fall of man, and the separation from God that it caused. The angels knew that there would come a Savior who, while maintaining perfect righteousness and holiness, would also vicariously bear the curse and the punishment of sin. They knew that the Holy Spirit would condescend to convict sinners and bring them to salvation, regenerate them and then take up residence in that sinner's heart. They were seeing God's salvation plan come to its glorious fruition. They were thanking God for His undescribable gift, the gift of peace through Jesus Christ.
With regards to the anticipation of the angels this was a game 7 of the World Series, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, full count kind of scenario. Just as when a batter hits the pitch out of the park and the players rush the field, in the same way the angels suddenly burst onto the scene and proclaim glory to God. This is just an analogy, which can only be taken so literally, especially since this is the proclamation of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe being sent forth when, as stated in Galatians 4, the fullness of time had come. Just as suddenly as they appeared, the angels having fulfilled their duty, disappeared.
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