Shepherds, Angels, and Magi

We have a few Christmas traditions in our family. One is we always grill something at Christmas time. It used to be on Christmas Eve, but it's too busy a day for that anymore, so we moved it to Christmas Day. Another big part of our Christmas tradition is playing games. One game my in-laws had that we use to play at Christmas all the time with them was a game called TRI-BOND.

What is it? - It’s a game where you have to name the one thing that links the three other words. Let’s play a few rounds:

Palm, Christmas, Apple - Answer: Tree

Idol, Elliot, Jean - Answer: Billy

Lime, Spot, Flash - Answer: Light

Baby, Goose, Speed - Answer: Bump

Today, as we continue with our series, The Characters of Christmas, we are going to look at three groups of characters, and after we talk about each one of them, we are going to see what the thing they all have in common is and what it means to us. We are going to start with angels.

Angels

If you do a Google images search for angels, what do you see? Hundreds of images of human-looking people, usually attractive women with graceful wings, flying in the air. But what does the Bible actually tell us about angels?

What they are like:

They are created beings - Ps. 148:2-5

They can’t procreate - Matt. 22:30

They are ministering spirits (don’t have material bodies) - Hebrews 1:14 - They have manifested in human form on special occasions though - Genesis 18:2, 19:1, Judges 13:6 Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4

They are moral creatures - Matthew 25:31, John 8:44

No record of an angel appearing in female form in the Bible

With the exception of cherubim (which has four wings) and seraphim (which has six wings), there are no references to wings on any other angel, especially the ones that bring messages. Dan. 9:21 and Rev 14:6 do refer to them as flying but don’t mention wings.

What do they do?

They serve as messengers from God (the term “angel” means messenger) They minister to humans

Spiritual protection - 2 Kings 6:17, Acts 5:19, Acts 12:7-11

Rejoice when people find Jesus - Luke 15:10

Spectators of our lives - 1 Cor. 4:9;

Escort believers to blessedness upon death - Lk. 16:22

At the Second Coming…

Will come with Jesus - Mt. 25:31

Execute judgment on God’s enemies - book of Revelation

Will “separate the wheat from the weeds” - Mt. 13:39-42 [

Will gather the elect - Mt. 24:31

What about guardian angels?

Very common Jewish thought at the time .Two verses that show the thought - Mt. 18:10 and Acts 12:15 but there’s not really enough biblical evidence to fully validate the theology, but also, it’s not heretical.

Angels are prolific throughout the Bible. They are everywhere because they are one of the means that God uses to communicate his will on earth. The next group we are going to look at is Shepherds.

Shepherds

Who are shepherds?

“Salt of the earth” kind of people. Often alone with their animals for weeks at a time, which would often make them ceremonially unclean and, therefore, would be outcasts from the religious leaders. In common areas, shepherds would graze flocks together They were very important to the economy of the nation but were not held in high esteem by people. In the first century, Palestine shepherds did not have a reputation for being overly concerned with what belonged to whom. They were often held in contempt and considered as nothing more than roving vagabonds and thieves. Why would the angels appear to shepherds then?

It continues the idea of Jesus in the line of David, who himself was a shepherd

David often refers to God as the shepherd and to Israel as the sheep

Ezekiel 34:23 promised God would someday raise up a new David to act as Israel’s shepherd

In a lot of ways, the shepherds in Jesus’ birth narrative are us - poor, unclean and looking for a saviour.

Probably because of the Biblical imagery that Jesus is our shepherd, the role is probably a bit romanticized these days. But these are the least likely people for God to choose to announce the birth of the Messiah to. From a human standpoint, the angelic announcement should have been made to the kings, to the religious leaders or to the prophets. But no, it went to lowly shepherds, the discarded and unclean people according to the religious leaders of the day. The third group we are going to look at today are Magi.

Magi

They were priests of Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the Western Iranians

Zoroastrianism focuses on a world divided into good and evil, and it took parts from other religions, including a belief in a messiah who would come and defeat evil. Their main god is Ahura Mazda, which translates to “Wise Lord” - possibly where we get the term “wise men” from. Although the amount of magi who travelled is not mentioned, later legends limited the wise men to three and gave them names and even descriptions.

The Magi were practitioners of magic, which would involve astronomy/astrology, alchemy and other forms of esoteric knowledge. We get the English word magic from “Magi”.

They would be quite well-educated and knowledgeable about many cultures and their religions, including Judaism in Israel.

They likely travelled from Persia (modern-day Iran) on a 1000-mile journey that lasted anywhere from 3 months to a year on camels. This means it is possible they knew about God’s plan before Mary was even pregnant.

So what do educated priests from Persia, uneducated and unclean shepherds out in the fields and angels have in common?

WORSHIP

The angels worshipped God with a declaration of praise over the world. The Magi worshipped with gifts of God, Frankincense, and Myrrh. The shepherds worshipped God by telling others about Jesus and by glorifying and praising God for all that they saw and heard.

Worship is what happens when people meet God.

Worship is the adoration of a redeemed people, occupied with God himself.

Arthur Walkington Pink

Worship is when we pour out our hearts in praise, through our songs, through our prayers and through our lives. Worship can be ecstatic and filled with joy and gratitude at what Jesus has done. Worship can also be quiet and contemplative as we seek communion with God. It can also be sad, melancholy and sometimes full of anger as we express the pain, the remorse and the laments in our hearts. Worship is all of it.

But mostly, worship is our response to the plan, power and presence of God.

Worship is our response to the plan of God

When I was a kid, one of my favourite shows was “The A-Team”. This team of ex-military special forces did outrageous things to help people. It was cheesy, but I thought it was the coolest. One of the things I loved was the catchphrase of the leader, John “Hannibal” Smith. Through a cigar-filled smile, he would often say - and say it with me if you know it - “I love it when a plan comes together!”

To give you an example of how crazy their stunts were, in the 2010 movie remake, they attach a bunch of military-grade parachutes to a tank and when the transport plane carrying them all explodes, they deploy the chutes from inside the tank and use the cannon to fly the tank. It’s wildly unbelievable.

I wonder if the angels felt the same way - that human life on earth was wildly unbelievable. God had made mankind in his image and then gave us free choice, which we then used to rebel against God and unleash sin and evil on God’s beautiful creation.

I wonder if the shepherds felt the same way - Israel was lost and in spiritual darkness. It hadn’t heard from God in 400 years, and the religious system was filled with man-made rules and corruption.

I wonder if the Magi felt the same way as they travelled across the desert for hundreds of miles to see the new King that had been born that would upset the entire world. “What is God doing?” they all may have asked at some point. I wonder if any of you have ever asked that same question about what’s going on in your life?

And I imagine as they kept seeing Israel alternate between being faithful and brutal - between being obedient and disobedient- over and over for centuries, God continually saying to the angels, “Wait for it.” And I imagine as the shepherds were waiting out in their fields for generations, hoping for a saviour God saying, “Wait for it.” And I imagine as the Magi were talking over and over on their long journey to Israel about what the birth of this new King meant for the world, God saying, “Wait for it.”

Then, one day, in a small town called Bethlehem, Jesus is born, and the angels burst into joyful song, the shepherds run to town to worship the child who would save Israel, and the Magi bring gifts to God as a form of worship because they now see the plan of God. They see how God will redeem humanity by becoming human, being born, living sinlessly, sacrificially dying and miraculously resurrecting from the dead. They see that God’s plan wasn’t about humanity being perfect but about God displaying his mercy, his grace, and his love for all people - it's about God displaying his mercy, his grace and his love for you. And when we see those things, we can’t help but worship our good God. Worship is our response to the plan of God.

Worship is our response to the power of God

In a seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years. Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and, to Jackson's astonishment, the engine roared to life. For two years, needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.

Ephesians 1:18–19 NIV

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength

The power of God overshadowed Mary, and she became pregnant with Jesus. God did the miraculous in that event - he set into motion the events whereby he would save the world from sin, shame, and death. That power caused Angels to rejoice, Shepherds to abandon their flock and head to town, and the Magi to leave their country and travel a great distance just to worship a baby born to no one of importance in an insignificant town away from the political power and centre of Israel.

That same power - the power that created life and would also raise Jesus from the dead - is in you to give you freedom and life. It’s a power to overcome the habits that keep you from experiencing a life that is fully alive in Jesus. It’s a power to overcome the guilt and shame that too many of you live with every day. It’s a power to say, “It is well with my soul,” even when life around you feels like it’s falling apart.

That power, which opens our eyes, touches our hearts and changes our lives, comes from the Holy Spirit, who overshadowed Mary and who lives in you as a follower of Jesus. And when we see that power at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us, it should cause us to worship, just as it did the angels, the shepherds and the magi.

Worship is our response to the presence of God

When the angel announced the birth of Jesus to Joseph, he said, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Aside from the dawn of redeeming grace that the birth of Jesus signifies, I am most encouraged by this single word - Immanuel. God is with us. Oh, what a truth. In the midst of all the pain and suffering that we see in the world, God is with us. In the midst of all our struggles and all of our victories, God is with us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He will be with us in everything that we experience - we just need to open our eyes to his presence.

A well-known theologian named Charles Hodge wrote about his early years at Princeton: "It was my privilege to be the student-assistant of Professor Joseph Henry, the illustrious scientist. When, for the first time, electric signals were sent from point to point, the earth itself being used for the return current, Professor Henry put me at one end of the circuit while he stood directing the experiments at the other. I can well remember the wonderful care with which he arranged them. Very often, when the testing moment came, he would raise his hand in adoring reverence and call upon me to uncover my head and worship in silence. I once asked him why, and He said, 'Because God is here, I am about to ask Him a question.’”

When people are in the presence of God, worship happens. I am amazed that all three groups worshipped Jesus as the baby. Jesus hadn’t accomplished anything yet. But in this child, they saw that God was with them, that he had come, and that was enough. And it is for us as well. When we know that God is with us, worship will pour out of us, no matter what may be happening around us.

Conclusion

Worship is our response to the plan, power and presence of God. So often, when we come to sing our familiar Christmas carols, we are overtaken by their familiarity, and we fail to use them to engage God with worship. I want to encourage you to take time, not only today but over this Christmas week, to spend some quality time in deep adoration and praise for the God who became one of us so he could save all of us. May your Christmas be filled with deep, heartfelt worship of the Living God, our Immanuel.

Pray.