"Fear not, I have Good News."
Luke 2:1-2
I know the phrase “The Reason for the Season” is pretty overdone.
But "The Point of Jesus’ Coming" didn’t sound as catchy. And there are not too
many words that rhyme with point! It’s kinda like the word Phoenix, hard to
rhyme! There’s point, joint and anoint and that’s it! So, "Reason for the
Season." (No, I never considered using "The Point the Anointed One came to this Joint")
Now I’m not talking about
the Season of Santa Claus, or the season of shopping, or even the season of
holidays and food and family and Football! Even though ALL of those are better than the "Season of Politics" we just came thru! The Season I am talking about is
remembering the Coming of the Son of God to earth!
Why is that a Big Thing? Why
do we celebrate the Birth of this man 2000 years later? There have been other
great men and women, we don’t tend to celebrate their births, do we? Abraham
Lincoln: We celebrate the Gettysburg address or the Emancipation Proclamation,
but not his birth. Certainly, not his death! Madame Curie: Great Scientist! Nobody
celebrates her birth! OK, we do celebrate Washington’s birthday with a holiday
but it’s not like he gets fireworks and songs! All he gets is President’s Day
Sales!
Bible Study is kind of like
being a detective. It’s asking the right kind of questions. There are many
things we could ask about the message the angels had that day. But I want to
start with two simple questions:
Why was it announced by Angels?
And why was it announced to Shepherds?
I understand God sending a messenger to Mary! She was going to have a
baby and she was a young virgin! And Joseph! He was engaged to her and this was
a shock! But Shepherds?
Luke 2:8 And in the same region there
were shepherds out in the field,
keeping
watch over their flock by night.
In the same region, near where Jesus was born, near Bethlehem, were
shepherds. It doesn’t say how many, how old, or how Godly they are, just
‘shepherds.’
Now, if God had a PR man he might have suggested a different group.
“Let’s announce it to the Governor.” Or to Congress! They couldn’t put it on
TV, but how about sending an angel to Ceasar? Nope. God told shepherds.
You may remember that shepherds were near the bottom of society in
those days. They couldn’t even testify in a trial because a) they weren’t
trusted and b) they weren’t considered smart enough!
But how did God want us to
picture Him? David said, The Lord-is-my-Shepherd! Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.”
What if somebody was running
for president and announced, “I am the Good Used Car salesman!” People would
laugh. I know I pick on used car dealers, but I have known a couple good Christian
men who sold used cars. Great guys! Honest guys! But that’s not the reputation
they have! Same with Shepherds!
But that’s who God chose to make his first public announcement to. God
is not worried about PR. God loves the world. Especially the ones no one else
cares about. God was targeting a certain group with his Angelic
advertising! Who did He target? Listen to these verses: First a prophecy about
Jesus:
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord
GOD
is upon me, because the LORD has
anointed me to bring good news to
the
poor; he has sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty
to the
captives, and the opening of the
prison to those who are bound;
Luke 1:52 (Mary said)
He has brought down the mighty
from their thrones
and exalted
those of humble estate; 53 he has
filled the hungry with good
things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
1Co 1:26
For consider your calling, brothers:
not many of you were wise
according
to worldly standards, not many
powerful, not many of noble birth.
27
But God chose what is foolish
in the world to shame the wise;
God chose what is
weak …to shame
the strong; 28 God chose what is
low and despised in the world…
29 so that no human being might
boast in the presence of God.
WHY Shepherds? Not because they were great and special. Because God
values people over position.
Because God doesn’t value people the way the world does.
God took Moses from being a Prince and made him a shepherd before he
used him to deliver Israel from bondage! In God’s estimation, shepherds have a noble duty. That’s why Jesus
called Himself a good shepherd. Think about it!
They were out in their fields with the sheep. Not at home, under a
roof, in a comfy bed.
“Watching over” means they put themselves between the sheep and
dangerous predators.
They lived with the sheep, led them to water and green pastures, they
didn’t just give them orders to follow!
Likewise, Jesus left the comfort and glory of heaven, to come down to be
with us, here on earth.
Jesus was lifted up on a cross to put himself between us and dangerous
predator who would take us to Hell with himself.
Jesus comes to walk with us, and live in us, not just give us rules to
follow! He became sin that we might become the Holiness of God! God elevated
the shepherds! Jesus became the Shepherd!
And notice, he didn’t say, "now go to Bethlehem and find the baby!" No, these shepherds did that on their
own. I think these shepherds took the
promises of a Messiah, seriously. There were many in Israel who did!
But then, why the Angels?
God uses his angels as messengers. When he drove Adam and eve from Eden
he put a messenger at the gate to remind them they were no longer welcome!
Angels appeared to Abraham and Jacob and Joshua. In Deut 33 we learn that when
God brought the law it was with 10,000 of His angels. In fact, in the Jewish
mind, it was angels who delivered the law of God. Well the law was the Old
Testament, or covenant. God is about to put in place a New Covenant. Angels are
still His messengers!
But notice something here in Luke 2:9 an angel of the Lord stood by
them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid.
The angel didn’t come alone. He didn’t come incognito. The Bible says
angels can appear without us noticing them. That’s not the case here! He came
with the Glory of the Lord.
Listen, until that last year before the birth of Jesus, The Glory of
the Lord hadn’t been seen on earth for almost a thousand years! Joseph and Mary
may have glimpsed it. The shepherds saw it in a big way! But the last time was
the dedication of Solomon’s temple, when God’s glory came down! There may have been
an occasion a couple hundred years later when Elijah’s sacrifice was burned up
by fire that came down from Heaven. But it had been a long, long time!
The glory of God was with Adam and Eve in the garden before they
sinned. Moses saw it in the burning bush. The Israelites saw it in the pillar
of fire that led them out of bondage. They saw it come down on the tabernacle
in the wilderness.
But the Glory of the Lord had just become a legend. Here, however, the shepherds saw it when the angel appeared! God was doing something brand new!
Later, Jesus took 3 disciples up a hill and was transfigured before
them. The Glory of the Lord burst out of the Man Christ Jesus. Hebrews explains
why. Jesus was the "outshining of the Glory of God.” Paul wrote that Jesus is
the Image of the invisible God. Before Jesus, God appeared as light and fire,
not primarily with a human body. He is the invisible God. But God is doing
something new! He is sending His Only Begotten, His One and Only, the 2nd
person of the Eternal trinity in Heaven; Jesus the Christ, the God/man. And on
that day was born a baby in Bethlehem, with the fullness of the glorious Glory
of God bottled up inside of Him.
God came down! Oh what a Thought!
God Himself, in Human flesh was wrought.
Born of a virgin, this God most high!
In an unknown stable,
Our Holy God came nigh!
Our God came down.
Our God came down. Our God came down!
When you are giving presents this Christmas, remember the greatest gift
of all! Given for you! When you open a Christmas Card, think of the gift inside
those swaddling clothes!
If you don’t know Jesus – He paid for your sins 2000 years ago – Today
is the day to trust Him!
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