Christmas Eve

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 Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:8–11).

When the angel appeared to the shepherds, they were sore afraid. Had you been there, you too would have been sore afraid. Fear is simply part of life in our broken and sinful world. When you were a young child, you may have had an irrational fear of the dark. Nobody taught you this. It was instinctive. But as you grew older, the fear of the monster under the bed gave way to the fear of being embarrassed in front of your peers. Perhaps you’ve had the dream of going out in public and realizing that you’d forgotten to wear pants. And as you grow still older, these fears give way to the fear of loss: loss of health, loss of loved ones, loss of independence, and finally, loss of life itself.

From birth to death, we are surrounded by a thousand fears, real or imagined. Fear is such a regular part of our lives, it’s nearly impossible to imagine living without it. But why? Why do we fear? Why are we afraid? Whether a person knows it or not, whether he even believes in God or not, at the root of every fear is a guilty conscience before God. The fear of loss, terrors of the night, foreboding, paranoia, panic: all of these are manifestations of the dread that lies at the core of our being. There is only one fear, and that is the fear of judgment at the hands of a righteous God. This fear weighs on our decisions. It affects our waking moments. It even seeps into our dreams. Adam and Eve heard the sound of Lord God walking in the garden, and because they were naked and ashamed, they hid from the presence of God. Every time you have dreamed of being unprepared, whether with your homework or with pants, it is an echo of this fear. Deep down, every person knows—even the atheist—that the the day of the Lord God is approaching and we are unprepared to meet him.

What makes matters worse is that after the Fall into sin God was merciful and gave us the Ten Commandments. At the time God’s people rejoiced to receive them: “We will do all that the Lord requires.” At last, here was a way to lives holy lives and silence the voice of the fearful and guilty conscience! But the Law had the opposite effect. We could not keep it. And so what at first had seemed like a way back to God only increased our recognition of the chasm that divided us from Him. God had appeared at first in the Garden, and we had sinned against His word. He appeared again on Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments, this time accompanied by thunder and lightning, but these Commandments we had also failed to obey. What could we possibly expect now from the hand of God but Divine wrath and judgment?

Now, perhaps, you can understand why the shepherds were sore afraid at the sudden appearance the angel, the messenger of God. He had spoken to us with His Holy Law, which we had failed to obey. What further word God have for us than to announce the immediate execution of the temporal and eternal punishment that we had deserved?

The angel’s message was the last thing we or the shepherds could ever have expected or imagined: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy!” Here is God’s answer for the terrified conscience and the dread that lies at the root of your soul: Fear not! Never have more joyful words been spoken. By all rights God should have abandoned His creation immediately after the Fall. He should have washed His hands of us and perhaps started fresh with a new universe. But God does not abandon us to the fate we deserved. Instead, He sends His messengers to announce the end of all fears: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord!” Fear not. Why? Because God joins Himself to you in the flesh. Fear not, because God has made common cause with us. His fate is now inseparably bound to ours.

The very first words associated with the birth of our Savior are, “Fear not.” The coming of our Lord Jesus puts an end to fear. And how is this? Because He is come to meet our fears and conquer them. His perfect life fulfills the holy demands of the Law that you were unable to keep. His death satisfies the just wrath of God and removes your sins. He cleanses the guilty conscience. He crushes the head of Satan by His cross. And when Jesus breathes the words, “It is finished,” what then is left to fear? Which of your enemies is still standing? Sin is forgiven. Satan is conquered. The gates of hell cannot prevail. And Death, though it still stands before you, the last enemy, has been robbed of its sting. Jesus rose from his tomb, and He promises that you too shall rise. Fear not. With Christ as your champion, there is no power that can be arrayed against you. Our Lord stands victorious as the first to be raised. The wrath of God has been satisfied. The looming judgment against you has been removed. “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 Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”