Who was in Bethlehem? (part 3)

Luke 2:8-14

Over the years, I remember a lot of friends playing the angel as it stood over the manger announcing the birth of Jesus. While this helps us not have to change scenes, that is far from where the angel was located in the actual Christmas story. It is probably off by a few miles. Even still, it is cute to see a little kid in homemade wings reading our passage from today.

---

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Luke 2:8-14

---

One of the arguments used against Jesus actually being born on December 25 is the fact that it is cold at night this time of year. Looking at a 14 day forecast from December 6-20, the temperatures at night range from 40-50 degrees and there are several days that it is raining. That is not the kind of weather that you want to be sleeping outside in. Regardless of the date, that is exactly what we find in our story; the shepherds are sleeping out in the field.

As the shepherds are out in the field, on what seems like a normal night, they are suddenly confronted by an angel. He stands in front of them and gives them a message. They knew that he was an angel and it terrified them. So, his first statement was "Do not be afraid". I do not know what exactly this angel looked like, but it was enough to make these tough outdoorsmen uneasy. I'm sure his statement of "Do not be afraid" did a lot to calm their nerves.

Then he tells them, "for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” Indeed the message was a joyous one. It was a birth announcement for the Messiah who would save Israel. Obviously the angel expected them to go see the child because he told them that they would find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. We would say that today, "You will find the baby wrapped in clean rags and lying in a feed trough". I'm sure there were not a lot of babies born that night in the small town who were born in a barn and lying in a feed trough.

If the shepherds' hearts had slowed a little after the initial sight of the angel, they probably felt like they were going to beat out of their chests at the next sight. Suddenly the sky was filled with all the hosts of heaven, and they cried out praise to God. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men" boomed across the sky. God had sent His peace in the form of a baby to bring His goodwill to mankind. The only other instance in scripture of worship that could compare to this is when the saints of God praise Him in eternity.

While I have spent a lot of time talking about the shepherds, our focus today is actually on the angels. God sent a single angel to give the shepherds the message that Jesus had been born. Then, I picture the next scene like a proud father announcing the birth of their firstborn. They want to shout it from the mountain tops for everyone to know. God was able to do even more. He opened up the window of heaven and let all of the angels shout it to earth. This was truly a glorious moment for God, but also for all who would be saved because of the life and death of this baby.

Father, our joy at the birth of a baby is yet another way that we were made in your image. I pray that we would continue to ring out praise to Your Name and to the Name of Your Son. We thank You for sending Your goodwill to us in the form of a baby all those many years ago!