Christmas    Luke 2:8-11

 [8] And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
[9] 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.
[10] And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
[11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Christmas Joy:  He came to seek and to save the lost

The lowly shepherds were drowsily keeping guard of their sheep in the middle of the night when an angel appeared and the “glory of the LORD shone round about them.”  What is the glory of the Lord?  We know from the text that it shines.  When the Children of Israel were assembled around Mt. Sinai, the Lord appeared in His glory on the top of the mount. We read “It was like a devouring fire.”  Exodus 24:17.  Even at that distance, the glory of the Lord so terrified them that they pleaded with Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”  Exodus 20:19.  On another occasion, when God was speaking to Moses, Moses asked, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory,” Exodus 33:18, to which the Lord replied, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy, but thou canst not see My face and live!”  Exodus 33:18.  Now do you have some idea of what God’s glory is like? It is like being face to face with perfection and unlimited power as well as incomprehensible love and grace.  There is not a man on the face of the globe that can approach almighty God face to face.

That is why God sent His Son.  Our Savior assumed human form.  He took on a body like ours so that He could “come between” us and His holy Father.  Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice in our place. Jesus takes our place when He pleads with His Father to forgive us and to answer our prayers.  Notice how nearly all of our prayers end with the words, “For Jesus’ sake.”

In the New Testament, St. Paul speaks of our “come-between” as a “mediator.”  “For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” 1 Timothy 2:5, 6.  The fact that we have a Mediator between us and our God is our hope of salvation, but at the same time, it is a cause of offense in our ecumenical society.  Christmas, they tell us, is a season of good will, a season to join hands with all religions to bring about universal peace and fellowship.  This may sound good, but it doesn’t work and it hasn’t worked.  True inner peace is found only in Jesus Christ.  Each generation has had its false Christs, men or women who falsely claim to have had messages for God, men like Joseph Smith who put the Book of Mormons on a level with the Word of God, or Mary Baker Eddy who puts science above the Bible.  Or think of the Pope who makes his edicts equal with the Scriptures, or Mohammed or Buddha or Confucius, or the host of Eastern mystics.  To join hands with false Christs to try to achieve earthly peace and good will is a gross offense to our Father in heaven.  “Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.”  Jeremiah 23:31.  Our hope in this crazy mixed-up world lies with the only true Mediator between God and man,”the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all,” Ibid.  God’s Son is our greatest glory, the Light of the World.  He is a light so pure that it devours the unbeliever like a consuming fire.  He is a light that frightens us because we are so sinful and yet a light that warms our hearts with comforting words of forgiveness, as ancient Simeon said when he held the infant Jesus in his arms: “He is a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.”

When the angel appeared to the shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem, God was there in all His beauty and brilliance.  It was a moment of fulfillment, the fulfillment of the promise made to mankind thousands of years before.  It was a moment of excitement in which all the angels of heaven were glorifying and praising God for what was happening.  It was a moment of announcement, a moment in which the LORD Himself was present to direct His messenger-angel to make the glorious announcement that His very own dear Son was coming to this earth.

The initial effect on the poor shepherds was one of absolute terror!  God was there and who can stand in the presence of the glory of the holy God?  Yet God was not there to consume them.  That is why the angel said, “Don’t be afraid.  I bring you good tidings of great joy.  And not only to you but to all people.”  Think of it!  These lowly shepherds were the very first to learn of Jesus’ birth.  He was only a few hours old when they went to see Him, born that day, sometime since 6 o’clock in the evening, the beginning of the Jewish day.  What were the good tidings of great joy?

“For unto you is born this day a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”  This message of the angel was pure Gospel, in fact, that is what the word, Gospel, means; it means joyful good tidings.  These good tidings gladdened the hearts of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, good tidings of a promised seed who would remove the terrifying threat of death.  The first gospel mentioned only a seed that would save men from their sins; each new age added more details to that promise of a seed.  In Psalm 45 the promised seed is spoken of as the Anointed One, “Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”  Psalm 45:7.  In Old Testament time’s, men of God anointed prophets, priests and kings into their office.  In much the same way God anointed His Son, Jesus Christ, at His baptism to be our perfect prophet, our perfect priest, and our perfect king.  That is what the name Christ means.  This word is derived from a Greek word meaning “to anoint.”  When the angel told the shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem that Christ was born, he was referring to the new-born baby as Christ.  This is the first instance in the Bible where Jesus is called Christ.  Now, it is very unlikely that the shepherds grasped all the wonderful things that the name, Christ, signified.  He was to be a Priest who would offer Himself as a Sacrifice on the cross.  He was to be a King who would rescue men from temptation and bless their lives with His presence.  He was to be a Prophet who would proclaim the glad tidings of the Gospel throughout the world.

The text tells us even more, namely, that this Christ was Christ the LORD.  In the Old Testament we see again and again how the name LORD is a very special name of God.  This name describes how out of pure grace He promised a Savior.  It describes a Lord who so shaped the events and lives of men, all over the world, something St. Paul calls “the fullness of time,” that this scene could take place that night on the lowly plains of Bethlehem.  This was the joyful news that was meant to gladden the hearts of the shepherds.

            And gladden their hearts it did.  Christ, the Lord, would have meant nothing to them if before the events of this night their faith had not already been based on the glorious promises of God.  They had trusted that their sins were forgiven by a coming Christ just as surely as if He had already come.  They saw what was happening as the unmerited goodness of their God that they should have this role in the birth of the Savior.  Isn’t it true, that wherever Christmas is celebrated around the world, people remember these lowly shepherds, and the faith they showed in seeking out the manger at Bethlehem to worship Christ, the Lord?

            Christmas was a happy time for the shepherds.  Christmas is a happy time for you and me.  We hear the same words of the angels with ears of faith; we see the same Babe in the manger with eyes of faith.  We have every reason to be happy.  Just as Jesus chose to enter the lives of humble shepherds, so He chooses to enter the lives of humble believers everywhere and to comfort them with His wonderful message of salvation.  At Christmas our children are especially happy, because they not only know that Jesus came, but they know the reason why.