THE ANGEL TELLS OF CHRIST’S BIRTH
Luke 2:8-15
Morning Meditation 10/14/16
Verses 8-15 say, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven . . .”
Recently in traveling in Israel we saw shepherds tending their flocks. You would see them at a distance on the side or top of a hill. This is a common sight in the Mideast.
The appearance of the angel was at night while the shepherds were watching over their flock. The Good Shepherd has been born and the angel reveals this to shepherds. He does not go to the educated, the elite, or even to the religious leaders, but He sends the angels to lowly shepherds.
The condescension of our Lord is seen in who He chose to bear Him into the world, a very common poor family, i.e., Mary and Joseph. Now He announces His birth to the meek and lowly. Paul says in Philippians 2:7, “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” God chose shepherds to acknowledge His birth. Isaiah says, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isa. 57:15).
Men go looking for God on the mountains, when He is in the valleys. They go looking for Him among the educated and the socially elite, when He is with the meek and humble. What we are by nature causes us to look in the wrong places and endorse the wrong values. You don’t have to be smart or educated to be a shepherd. Had I been a shepherd in that day, I might have been among those that were involved in this scene. What a blessing that would have been! Now lest I leave the wrong impression, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). You can have the lowly shepherd’s spirit without being a shepherd. But it will be a tremendous matter of self discipline. It is very hard for a saved son of Adam to disregard his education and status in life and not to think more highly of himself as he ought to think (Rom. 12:3). The angel appeared to the meek and lowly shepherds. How we think of ourselves is not measured by what we tell others we think of ourselves. It is measured by how we respond to those who say of us that we are nothing. If someone attacks you and says something like, “He has been to school but it didn’t help him a bit,” how do you respond to that? Or, “He has really gone up in that company, but, the company is fooled, and if they ever really see him as I do, he will lose his job. He is still a bum.” How do you respond to things like this? If we are poor in spirit we will probably say, “That’s not bad. If they knew what I knew about myself, they would have said worse.” See Prov. 18:23.
Verse nine tells us that the angel “came upon”and this is a translation of “ephistemi,” and can mean, first of all, “to come suddenly.” Malachi predicts: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Mal. 3:1). Second, this word means “to hover.” The angel hovered over the shepherds. Then verse nine says, “ . . . the glory of the Lord shone round about them . . . ” Someone has written the lines, “On wheels of light, on wings of flame, The glorious host of Zion came.” —Author unknown.. This is the glory that shone in Moses face. It the light that dwelt between the cherubim, over the mercy seat in the Temple, called the Shekinah. Midday was darkened at His death. Midnight was illumined into day, at His birth. God turns the midnight of sins day into the full light of a new eternal day for those who accept Him as their personal Saviour. Then we are told in verse nine that the shepherds “were sore afraid.” They weren’t just afraid. They were “sore” afraid. A literal translation of this is that they “feared fear great,” with the word “great” being “megas,” from which we get our words “megaphone, megaton, etc. I can imagine the weakening of the knees and the shaking of the limbs brought on by fear. A Jew won’t even walk on the sight where he thinks the Holy of Holies was. He believes you cannot come into the presence of God and live to tell about it (with the exception of the high priest once a year).
The words of the angel calmed their fears when he said, “Fear not.” Richard Wurmbrand said there are 366 “fear nots” in the Bible, one for each day of the year, and one extra for leap year! The angel said, “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m not coming to judge you for your sins. I’ve come to tell you of One who has been born to take away your sins!” “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (vs.. 10). The words “good tidings” translate “euaggelizo” and mean “good news.” This is what the gospel is. To quote Roy Hession, “It is good news for bad people.” Every time we give our testimony, or, give out the gospel, we are doing the same thing this word describes the angel as doing on this occasion. We are evangelizing.
The angel said, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (vs. 11). The angel said this is the long awaited one. If Jesus is not the Messiah (the meaning of Christ), the angel gave out of a false statement. He was absolutely right. Jesus is the Christ. Israel had a proper introduction of God’s only begotten Son and their Messiah. The problem with Israel was they weren’t expecting to hear from God through lowly shepherds. They were listening to their unsaved, unbelieving leaders. Now this is an awesome rejection of religious leaders. They evidently thought God was bound to speak through them. They proved the reason God did it this way when they rejected Christ and crucified Him. Now in this statement the angel said that His birth was history (it had already happened), it happened in the city of David, He is the long awaited Saviour, He is the Messiah (Christ), and He is the Lord. That’s a lot to say in a short statement!
Verse twelve tells the shepherds how to identify Him when they see Him. He will be wrapped in swaddling close and in a manger.
Verses thirteen and fourteen say, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” We are told the theme of their song and that it happened suddenly. This is what Matthew says. I’m sure he got his information from the shepherds. This is not taking imagination too far. God could have told Him what happened. But in order to see the look on the faces of the shepherds, he would have had to have a personal interview. I think they must have said, “You have never heard anything like it. It was the most beautiful music we ever heard. Our hearts were warmed. We wanted to join them, but we were so overcome by all that was happening, we were in dumb silence. They were singing about peace on earth and we got the idea that this peace was going to come through this One who was born. And we went where the angel told us and we found the babe just as the angel had said. And our hearts were strangely warmed as we beheld the babe. We worshipped. We can tell you that we have never had such an experience before or since.”
Verse fifteen says, “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven . . .” Remember it was a single angel that hovered over them and gave the message. But when the song service started the angel was joined by “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.” The heavenly host is identified here as “angels” (plural).
The shepherds stood there watching and hearing all of this. As it came to an end, we are told that the angels “were gone away from them into heaven.” Here they are hovering over them. When the song has ended, they go from hovering, into heaven as they gradually disappear. Does this remind you of anything? Acts 1:9-11 says, “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
He is coming again. He is not a babe. He is the glorified Christ who will come very soon to receive those of us who have put our trust in Him as a personal Saviour. Christmas is a good season to remember His first coming and to turn our eyes toward the Second Coming. Amen.
May God bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
