Luke 2:8-14
Angels play a very large role in the birth of Jesus. The birth of Jesus was not like any other
birth for obvious reasons. His conception
by the Holy Spirit through the Virgin Mary was a unique event in History. The announcements made to Mary, Joseph and
Zacharias were also made by angels who were preparing the way for the
incarnation. These are not events that happen
on a regular basis by any means.
However, in some ways these people all had to be informed of what was
going on as they were “key players” in these events. Today’s passage is not like that. The angels filled the sky with songs of
praise that announced the birth of Christ to some shepherds that were out in
the fields that night. There was really
no necessity to inform the shepherds of this glorious event. It just seems that it was unacceptable for
the birth of Jesus to take place in almost complete anonymity. The word of the incarnation simply had to be proclaimed
and the angels were given this task.
This revelation of the angels shows us some important truths about the
workings of God in the lives of men.
THE FEAR IN THE FIELDS: Any time that men come into contact
with that which is perceived as being divine; the response is always one of
fear. When the angel from the Lord
appeared to them in his glory; the shepherds were stricken with fear. We can see this same type of response repeatedly
in Scripture. One minute the shepherds
are out in the field watching their sheep just like every other night; the next
minute a glorious angel is talking to them.
I think that all of us would and should have a similar reaction. There are those who claim to experience
divine encounters and treat them as “normal” events in their lives. There is every reason to question these types
of claims based on the consistent example of Scripture. When God manifests Himself to us in any way:
His Word, the leading of the Spirit, His presence in prayer…; the proper
response is humble reverence. It is a
glorious thing to be a part of God’s working in the world and we should not
take it lightly. When God makes it clear
how He wants to involve us in His work; we should obviously obey but we should
not be surprised if we feel fearful in these circumstances. The consistent instruction of angels in
Scripture is to “fear not.” God is to be
feared as He is the just Judge of the world.
However, serving God in any capacity is a great honor that should fill
our hearts with joy.
THE SIGN OF A SAVIOR: The angel’s message to the shepherds
was clear. They made it known that the
Messiah had been born in Bethlehem. The
news of the birth of Jesus was great news for two reasons. The first is that He is our Savior. Jesus came to save us from sin. Sin is our greatest enemy and we desperately
need to be saved from it. Jesus came to
do precisely that. The second reason is
that this salvation is for all people.
The message of salvation is not exclusive. No race is excluded from God’s plan of
salvation. No social or economic class
is left out of God’s promise for salvation.
No level of intelligence, gender or age can separate us from God’s gracious
and glorious give of salvation. Every
man, woman and child on the face of this planet can be assured that salvation
through Jesus is available to them. They
were given a sign as to how to recognize the Savior. They would find this baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger. Bethlehem was not
very large at this time in history, more than likely it was significantly under
1,000 inhabitants. The birth of a baby
would not be hard to discover in this town and then to find him in a manger
wrapped in cloths would be confirmation.
It was very important that there be a clear identification of
Jesus. Since salvation is by faith; this
supernatural identification of Jesus was a very helpful start to the
accomplishment of God’s plan.
THE PRAISES FOR PEACE: Once the angel had finished the
content of his message; the sky erupted with angels who lifted their voices in
song. This must have been an astounding
experience. There are certain events of
history that I hope we will have the ability to witness when we get to heaven;
this is one of them. The content of the
song that they sang was no accident and should be given careful consideration. There are basically two important themes to
the song: the glory of God in heaven and the peace of men on the earth. One is not possible without the other. God’s glory in heaven is always a
prerequisite to man’s peace on earth.
Any peace we experience of earth should motivate us to glorify God in
heaven. The key to experiencing peace on
earth is the favor of God on our lives.
Man has lived in constant conflict on earth because of his rebellion against
God. As long was men seek to bring glory
to themselves, disobey God and refuse to worship God as we were created to do;
we will never find peace. The fact that
God has taken upon Himself the task of saving us from our sin should fill our
hearts with awe. God has a glorious plan
of salvation that is worth of our loudest and highest praise. Whenever we feel and absence of peace in our
lives we should immediately examine to see if we are giving glory to God in our
lives. The path to peace on earth is
praising the glory of God in heaven.
APPLICATION: Rejoice in the honor of being able to know and serve
God in any capacity. Jesus came to save
us from sin. This should fill our hearts
with relief, joy and a great desire to flee from sin. Seek to live a life of peace through praising
God’s glory.
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