So this is Christmas - Luke 2

Luke 2:8–20 CSB

In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.

So This is Christmas

Language is funny. My father-in-law used to say when you wake up you can say

Good Lord it’s morning, or

Good morning Lord.

Almost the same words but different meanings.

The same goes with Christmas. We can so, this is Christmas (ehh) or SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS!

Great Joy and Glad Tidings

What is the best news you have ever heard? When we think of good news we can think of all sorts of things that can be joyful news.

A wedding

An all clear from the Doctor

A win from your favorite team

An unexpected check that gets you out of debt.

Whatever it is, good news is good because of who it involves and what it entails. If a random person on the street comes up to you and tells you that they are getting married. It is good news to them but it is not necessarily good news to you. To you, it is just news. For it to be good news to you, you need to have a connection to either who it involves or what it entails. There needs to be a personal connection to the news for it to be good to you.

Envelopes

Why Was this Good News to the Shepherds?

The first announcement is that the Messiah has now come and it has come to shepherds. Not to kings, political rulers, the rich, the elite, or those who probably thought they deserved to know. It came to those who were among the bottom rung of the social latter.

Shepherding was not a desired job or the one you get if are the top of class. You did not go get a degree in animal husbandry and then start a well respected position as a shepherd. They were at the bottom. And yet, this is who the announcement comes to.

From His incarnation, from His birth, Jesus was showing that He was changing the system.

Luke 1:52 CSB

he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

He is showing that from His birth in coming as a baby. Divinity wrapping Himself in humanity, the idea that the low would be exalted and that the plan would be almost nonsense to the wise.

Why?

The Shepherds are the exact type of people the Good News, and the Glad Tidings would mean the most to.

Moreover it was good news because as Jewish people they had been waiting for the Messiah.

People had been waiting and had expectations of the coming Savior and Messiah.

The Messiah had been promised long ago in Genesis 3:15.

Women for ages when they found out they were pregnant wondered if the one they carried would be the promised Messiah. They knew the promise and they waited for the fulfillment. But what were they waiting for?

J. Barton Payne says there are 574 Old Testament Verses about the Messiah.

Alfred Edersheim says there are 456.

Jesus fulfilled about 300 prophecies.

For generations people had been waiting. They believed good news and glad tidings were coming. But when and where?

I remembered when Julie was going through a health scare. She had test run and then some more test. We were just waiting. When you are waiting like that every time the phone rings you are on edge. You are just waiting and hoping. You want Good News, you want Glad Tidings.

Have you ever applied for a job, a loan, college? You reach a point where you are just waiting in anticipation. Waiting for the answer.

Waiting is hard and in the waiting you can either be disappointed and frustrated or

you can learn to kiss the waves that throw you upon the Rock of Ages

Charles Spurgeon

For so long people had been waiting and some waited patiently while others setup their own systems because they grew tired of waiting.

There had been false Messiahs and those who proclaimed to be something. Even after Jesus there are those who tried to be something and make a name for themselves.

Acts 5:36 CSB

Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and came to nothing.

Acts 5:37 CSB

After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered.

Acts 21:38 CSB

Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

These types of things happened and people often wondered when the true Messiah would come and free them.

What were the Jewish expectations of the Messiah?

It is tough to nail down exactly because just like in our modern day there are factions and sects they do not always agree but we can build a general picture.

First they were expecting a Savior - a yasa (yasha)

Savior / yāšaʿ - to be liberated, be saved, be delivered to be saved (in battle), be victorious

Deuteronomy 20:4 CSB

For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’

2 Samuel 22:2–3 CSB

He said: The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge. My shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior, you save me from violence.

The people were waiting for one to come who would not just save them, but crush their enemy. They were waiting for a mighty warrior.

They were also waiting for the Messiah - Anointed One

The all-absorbing ideas were those of kingship and deliverance. And these were chiefly of national significance. The restoration of national glory was the great hope of Israel. All else was subordinate to that.

New Ungers Bible Dictionary

The people were expecting an anointed ruler who would return Israel to its former glory and rule them properly. The people had a earthly kingdom in mind and why not? They were living under foreign rule. Others were governing their land and they had little rights.

Some, not all, expected this one to also be a prophet like Moses.

Deuteronomy 18:15 CSB

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

There was a expectation that the Messiah and Savior would be a prophet who could communion with God like Moses did.

So what was the expectation?

A coming one, who will deliver, protect, vindicate and rule the people and he wold have a special connection to God.

Israel was not just a people or a nation. They were a essentially a theocracy. There was no distinction between civil law and religion. They were supposed to be one and the same.

In a way this is who the Messiah was and is but not in the expected ways.

This is why it was good news.

The Good News, the Glad Tidings are that the Messiah has come and that He has completed His mission.

Luke 4:18–21 CSB

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

He did come as

Savior / yāšaʿ - to be liberated, be saved, be delivered to be saved (in battle), be victorious

We who trust Him have been saved. We have been delivered. We are victorious.

Romans 10:13 CSB

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Colossians 1:13 CSB

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

1 Corinthians 15:57 CSB

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

He did His job as Savior.

He also came as Messiah or The Anointed One

Philippians 2:10–11 CSB

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Matthew 28:18 CSB

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Everyone will bow and Jesus has all authority because He is the Messiah the Ruler, who ushered in the Kingdom of God.

We Are Like The Shepherds

We are like the shepherds in the story. We have been told of this Good News, these Glad Tidings, but will our response be draw near and come see this wonderful thing? Will we report back all that we have seen and heard so that others can rejoice too?

Will we say SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS!?

We will join in the chorus of heaven?

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns Let all their songs employ While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy

He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love And wonders of His love And wonders, wonders, of His love

The wait is over, the time has come, the Messiah, the Savior, the LORD is here. He has done His job and now we sing and rejoice.

Response