Christmas for the Least of These
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The Birthday Celebration
The Birthday Celebration
The Shepherds
The Shepherds
Poor and not considered noble or high in status or class, taking turns watching over flocks throughout the night.
The Coming of the Angels
The Coming of the Angels
It is, of course, fitting that an angel should visit on the night of the Messiah’s birth, with the glory of the Lord accompanying his presence.
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
What is strange is where and to whom this angel and this glory appear: to shepherds outside the city of Bethlehem.
The appearance of the glory of the Lord is no small detail here. It is a signal that something very significant has happened in the history of God’s relationship with his people. The glory of the Lord only appears at specific, important events in history. We can look back at how the glory of the Lord appeared before God fed his people with manna in Exodus 16:10, or how the glory of the Lord covered the mountain as God gave his covenant to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24:16-17. The glory of the Lord filled the temple when it was dedicated in the days of Solomon. 1 Kings 8:10-11
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
The prophet Habakkuk would look forward to a time which he describes in Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
The glory of the Lord is significant and represents two things. First, that God is present and second, that God is acting. When the glory of the Lord appears, it is a very powerful reminder to the human audience that God has come near to them in order to act, to do something that is significant to the relationship between God and humanity. Whenever we see the glory of the Lord come, we are to pay attention.
The glory accompanying this angel at night reminds us of other Scriptures that would describe spiritually what this even in salvation history would mean.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
It is no wonder that the angel describes his purpose as to bring good news of great joy. First, he tells the shepherds not to fear, for they are naturally afraid of this powerful, heavenly being. The appearance of this being along with the glory of God is not something that would leave a lowly shepherd, or any human, unmoved. Often, when angels appear this is the first thing they say, for they reflect, in a small way, the overwhelming presence of God as the beings that are exposed to that presence constantly. But this angel is on a mission, and one that is not meant to bring fear, but rather joy.
This joy is not just for the shepherds, not even just for the people dwelling in the land of Israel, but for all people. This isn’t to say that every individual will be brought joy by Christ coming, for indeed it is not a joy for those like the Pharisees who rejected Christ, but rather is a joy for humanity through the elect, as it is the elect remnant that will inherit the earth and be God’s new humanity through Christ’s saving work. The emphasis is that this joy will come to all kinds of people everywhere. This coming is joyful news for humanity, and only those who do not believe and so are deceived into believing a lie cannot see the joy that this brings.
The cause of this joy is the news that to you is born today in the town of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
The angel begins by saying that this Saviour has been born to you. Why to you? What does this birth of this Saviour have to do with these Shepherds? The obvious answer is that this Saviour is for them, making the message very relevant to those whom the angels are communicating with.
Today. Throughout the OT, the message of a coming Son of David was always a distant hope coming in the future. For the first time, the good news is for today. A child may wait for months for Christmas day to come, and there is something so exciting when they wake up and know that today is the day. So, the purpose of such joy is that the promises of God are for today. No more waiting, no more longing, no more holding off, the day of salvation has finally come to pass.
This makes the Gospel especially relevant for us, as we are assured that we may find salvation this very day, at this time, right now!
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
The identification of the location of this child being in the city of David emphasizes who exactly this child is. There is significance in this location as the child is the prophesied Son of David promised in 2 Samuel 7. The Saviour, who is the Son of David, has finally arrived in the city of David.
Christ the Lord - So it is no suprise when the angel announces the the identity that he built up so far: Christ the Lord. Christ means annointed one, and signifies the kingly role of this baby, hence he is also identified as the Lord. Not a Lord, but the Lord. The King of all Kings. He is not merely one among others annointed as King, not merely the next in a succession from King David of Old, but the Anointed One who is the Lord of all. Indeed, John saw in his vision Jesus described like this
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
this will be a sign for you - The angels make it clear that they have not only come to proclaim the birth of this most royal person, but invite the lowly shepherds to see for themselves. They give them the signs that would distinguish this child from any other, and they are strange signs indeed. Not in a palace is he born, not of a royal Queen or the offspring of the man sitting on the throne in Jerusalem as the current King of Judah, but lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling cloths. Surely, anyone approaching him with a worldly mindset would strongly doubt that such a one could be the anointed one, the King of all kings, and yet the Shepherds have seen the heavenly messenger give them this sign specifically. Jesus would not come like other kings or men of great worldly importance, but in humility show the kind of humbling ministry he would partake in during his time on this earth.
The Angel’s Praise
The Angel’s Praise
Very soon, the angel is not alone, but joined with what we are told is a multitude of the heavenly host, or the armies of heaven in great number. However, this army has not come to declare war, but rather to declare the glory of God in peace. God will show his glory through this King, not through grand and mighty military campaigns or by punishing his enemies in the assertion of his rule, but rather will glorify God by bringing peace to those who place their trust in him. This is a symbol of peace between God and man. Sin, which for so long has destroyed that relationship and made it impossible for man to please God, is overcome by the peace this Saviour brings. Peace with God, peace from the war that our sins started, peace to have God dwell among us in the form a one of us, Jesus Christ, the God man himself.
A Response of Faith
A Response of Faith
Now let us note the response of these shepherds to the news which they heard with such a display.
First, they reason together and speak to one another. Seeking the Lord is best done in the context of fellowship. While much good may be done in seeking the Lord in private prayer and meditation, the closest we can get to Christ is in the context of fellowship with others who are like-minded in their commitment to follow the Lord.
They recognize that it is the Lord who has made this known to them. They are not filled with doubt or skepticism, but rather know they have been shown more than enough to know that what they have been told comes from the Lord. They have hearts of faith, showing us that the angels did not merely target those who were outwardly humble in their occupation, but were humble in heart enough to hear the Word of the Lord and to believe and obey it.
This was the purpose of the Angels’ visit. We do not often see the celebrations of the heavenly host, indeed we know that the angels celebrate when even one sinner comes to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and yet this was made known to these men so that they may believe. Every revelation of God and his glory is meant to have this effect, whether it is the glories of the world which God has made to display his glory, or the words of Scripture which we hold before us. The Apostle John says of his Gospel account:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
And the Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
They have heard, and now believe. That is why the services of Christian worship that we observe centre so much around the preaching of the Word. It does not undermine how important the singing, prayer, and ordinances are, but only through hearing the Word of God preached plainly from the Holy Scriptures can true faith come. Otherwise, everything else loses their significance. Its not that preaching is inherently more important than these things, but without the preaching there is no understanding of their significance and Christ cannot be truly embraced by faith.
So I hope that you, when you hear the good news that we are speaking of today, when you hear it, are inclined to respond as these shepherds did. With faith, a faith that saves and through which we may have life in the name of Jesus Christ.
Faith Made Sight
Faith Made Sight
The next event in our text is the faith of the shepherds realized in beholding the child. They carefully and faithfully follow the instructions given by the angel. They do not check the inn, nor do they go house to house, but rather go from stable to stable until they found where the Christ was, lying in a manger.
There would have been nothing in Christ’s appearance that would have made them know that this surely must be the Son of God except for what the angels had described, the swaddling cloths and the manger for a bed. There was no glowing halo or supernatural feature that would make it obvious.
Isaiah 53:2b (ESV)
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
Jesus did not come with a glory that could be seen, and all that would have been visible to the shepherds that night after the appearance of the angels would be a child born in very poor and needy conditions, without even a proper bed or warm home. However, the shepherds are not disappointed by this apparent lack of glory and majesty on the part of this newborn King. Instead, they go about telling everyone that can about what they had seen and heard concerning this child is such humble circumstance. In other words, they counted the sight of these humble child as their faith becoming sight.
Verse 20 tells us that the attitude of the shepherds as they returned to their sheep was glorifying and praising God, that is, mirroring the actions and praises of the angels who had appeared to them. This is what true faith looks like and this is what it produces: praise and joy as one looks at humble and ordinary things through the eyes of faith. God’s promises were coming to pass, although it looked small an insignificant. The sight of this child had filled the men with joy because they recognized what many who saw Jesus with their own eyes did not recognize: the mighty hand of God at work. These men are pictures of the lowly and humble that accept Christ in his own humility, a humility he stepped into when he took on the form of human flesh, even the form of a baby boy in a stable. Who else would come to such a one with such faith but those who are lowly themselves, who are looked over as unimportant to the world but as greatly special to God. These shepherds rely on what they heard and saw, and seeing that it all pointed to a child to lowly and humble in form, they did not cease to praise God for great and glorious things revealed in such humble and hidden ways.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Commentator John Gill writes:
“To the shepherds, the first notice of Christ’s birth was given; not to the princes and chief priests, and learned men at Jerusalem, but to weak, mean, and illiterate men; whom God is pleased to choose and call, and reveal his secrets to; when he hides them from the wise and prudent, to their confusion, and the glory of his grace: and this was a presage of what the kingdom of Christ would be, and by, and to whom, the Gospel would be preached.”
We see, in this short episode of the Christmas story, the great significance of faith. In fact, if we are to say anything about Christmas at all, we should say that it is about this one thing: faith. Faith in the great significance of a seemingly insignificant child in a manger. Although there were doubtless many other infants at the time of much more human dignity and value, only over this child did angels offer their praises.
The Christmas message is the simple truth that God became a man, the divine took on the mortal, in order to be Emmanuel, God with us, and to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Our sins, our wrongdoings and evil thoughts, words, and actions have separated us from an infinitely good God. We have made ourselves God’s enemies through the worship of idols, through selfishness and greed, through lust and rage, through pride and envy, all of us are guilty of sin that separates us from God. God is just, he must and will punish sin, but God is also love, he is willing to forgive sin. How does he do this? By taking our sins upon his own shoulders. When Christ came, he humbled himself to the point of a baby in a manger. In his death, he humbled himself to the point of bleeding and nakedness on a cross, exposed to the wrath of God as an atonement for our sins. In his resurrection, he offers us the life he won for us freely if we believe on him, and in his ascension, he receives a crown of glory that he will one day share with his people. Christmas goes beyond the baby in a manger to the man on the cross and the God who is highly exalted in the heavens, the one who yet still dwells with his people through the Holy Spirit.
Look at these shepherds as examples for you to believe upon him whom you have heard of. Born for you in the city of David is a Saviour, Christ the Lord. Will you take that message, the message that Scripture gives us about this Saviour, and believe it? There is no other way to know God but through him who came in a manger that silent, holy night. Like the shepherds, come see with the eyes of faith him who restores you to God, and come away rejoicing, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.