Truth About Christmas - Part 2

Imagine the darkness of night being interrupted by the bright glow of an angelic being that you have never seen before. When I talk about darkness of night, I mean pitch dark, not living in the suburbs dark. It was out in the country dark, nothing but light from the moon and the stars. And then all of a sudden....BAM!  This angelic being that you have never before witnessed shows up out of nowhere. They may have heard of angels, but they had obviously never seen one.

These lowly shepherds were so frightened by the appearance of this angel that even the angel of God had to start out by reassuring them to “fear not”. I’m sure that the shepherds didn’t automatically just go, “Oh, okay, we’re good now.”

The angel of God gave them a message of utmost importance; the Savior, that the entire nation of Israel had been waiting for, has now arrived. The angel gave them specific instructions of where to find the baby and in what condition they would find him in. As soon as the announcement was made, the entire sky was lit up with the angelic host of heaven giving praises to God. If the shepherds were afraid at the appearance of just one angel, I wonder what their fear level was raised to when this happened?

I have always wondered why the God of Creation chose the lowest class of society, shepherds, to receive the announcement of the birth of the long awaited Christ. Why wasn’t it announced to the royalty of the times or the religious leaders of the day?  The answer is simple, God chose to announce the birth of the Savior to those that were going to be just like Jesus Christ, a shepherd. John the Baptist announced, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Christ himself said, “I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”

Christ was the Shepherd King and those that first proclaimed the birth of the Savior were the shepherds. Luke 2:20 says “the shepherds returned and glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen.”  Besides the angelic announcement to them, the shepherds became the first to spread the Good News of the Savior’s birth.  The lives of these men were changed and they couldn’t do anything but share what they had seen.

Tomorrow we will look at the movement of Jesus and His family to fulfill the Law after His birth.

Have a great Lord’s Day and God bless.