Shepherds, Angels, and Magi

Introduction

Opener

As I was sitting there thinking of the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus, I couldn’t help but giggle as I read it.

If you were here for the Christmas play the other day, then I am sure that you could imagine.

As I began to read of Jesus’s birth in the manger, I imagined I was sitting in the “Publice Library”, as Quinn had added an e onto the end of the Public Library sign they put on stage.

As I read of angels and shepherds, my imagination went to kids yawning, crawling under tables, laying down on stage as others said their parts only to jump up as the music played.

As I read of the Magi, I imagined three little children in oversized costumes walking repeating lines as Lindsey told them what to say.

It all reminded me of the times at church that made Christmas exciting as a child.

I always loved dressing up as a shepherd for the Christmas plays, getting to hold the staff, man was I cool;

and I enjoyed cutting out paper angels, decorating them while one of the teachers read the story to us;

or even remembering how much I wished someone would drop some gold in my stocking like Jesus got.

Just the silly small thoughts as a child that made Christmas exciting for me and so what I would like to do over the next two weeks is explore the two stories that I loved the most with you as Christmas approaches, the story of the shepherds and angels and the story of the Magi.

Main Point of the Text (MPT)

Please open your Bibles to Luke 2.

I quickly want to glance over the events of Jesus’s Birth and to do so, I made a chart!

To make this focused on Jesus only, I excluded the verses concerning John the Baptist, but let’s take a look. *SHOW CHART*

I have broken it up into Pre-Birth events and Post-Birth events.

As you see, the events of Jesus’s Birth are mixed between the Matthew and Luke’s gospels with each containing siginficant events, both leading up to and following Jesus’s Birth.

I will only recap the Pre-Birth events and his birth to give the context leading up to this weeks and next weeks sermon.

The Pre-Birth events are the following:

In Luke 1 we first have Gabriel, an angel sent by God, coming the virgin Mary to tell her that she will conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus (Luke 1:26-33).

He tells her that her relative Elizabeth, despite being in her old age has also conceived a son, telling her that with God nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:36-37).

Following this news, Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, where her baby, being John the Baptist, would leap in her womb and Elizabeth would be filled with the Holy Spirit as the preganant Mary greeted her, where Elizabeth would call her blessed and offer her assurance that God will fulfill what He has done (Luke 1:39-45).

This would lead to Mary’s Song where she would offer up praise to God, speaking to His favor, His power, His mercy, His strength, His aid, and His plan (Luke 1:46-56).

It was after this moment that in Matthew 1, an angel would visit the Joseph, the man of whom Mary was betrothed to, so that they might ensure Joseph that what was being told to him was true, that he should not be afraid to take Mary for his wife, because what has happened was of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, so that all that the prophecies may be fulfilled, Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (translated as God with us)”.

And so, of course, they get married which leads to our last event before the birth of Jesus, beginning of Luke 2, where the census would take place causing Joseph and Mary to journey to Bethlehem, because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, so he would need to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child (Luke 2:1-5).

And during their time there that the days were completed for her to be delivered and it is verse 7 that Jesus is born, Luke telling us in his gospel, “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

That is where our narrative for today begins, one of shepherds, angels and a little baby in a manger, but before we hope in, let us pray.

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:8-20; Matthew 2:1-12

Prayer

Body

Point 1: The Angels Rejoiced

Scripture: Luke 2:8–14

Explanation:

As we begin our Scripture for today in Luke 2:8, we read that there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

While we will explore the shepherds more in our second point, there are somethings to take notice of here.

First, is that God exalts the lowly.

If you recall back in Mary’s Song and even Mary’s self identification of herself as a lowly maidservant, we get this image of the types of people that, by the world’s standards, are considered lowly, people who are considered to be of low status or importance.

Recall to memory what she said in back in Luke 1 about what God does for those who are considered lowly, verses 52-53, we read, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.”

The occupation of a shepherd, in today’s terms, is equivalent to a blue collar job, a job that requires manual labor, a job that isn’t locked into a 9-5, but a job that requires you to work many different hours of the day, including the night, and while I will say that over time the blue collar jobs have started to recieve more recongition, there is still a large gap between the recognition those who work white collar jobs recieve from those who work blue collar jobs.

Blue collar jobs are still looked considered by many to be of a lowly status vesus white collar jobs.

But, here in this instance, God chooses to exalt the lowly, the shepherds, by allowing them to be the first one’s to recieve the news that Jesus has been born, showing that the news of the Messiah’s birth was not just for the rich in status and importance, but the lowly as well, in fact, as we will discuss in a moment, it was for all people!

But, the second, I think we should take notice of is what the shepherds were doing when it happened, they were keeping watch over their flock by night.

What a time for the shepherds to learn of the Messiah’s birth, while at work.

This shows that God’s plan is not always something that can be expected.

I am sure when they arrived to the fields that morning, evening, or whatever time they got there, they didn’t expect a heavenly host of angels to appear to them to bring the news of the Messiah’s arrival, but it is when they least expected it, it happened.

I think this speaks to the unexpected nature of God and how He often does amazing things in our life when we least expect it.

It reminds us that despite whether we realize it or not, while we are living out our busy lives, there is a God who loves you and chooses to exalt the lowly, that we need not lose sight of who He is and what He does behind the scenes, that we need not anticipate what He will do for us, but rather, walk out the life He has given us moment by moment, knowing that one day our faithful God who has promised us glory will give it and until then, if he chooses to bless us, that’s just icing on the cake.

The shepherds were just living their life and in an unexpected time something spectacular happened...

Verse 9, “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.”

This event was supernatural, just as with the angel’s visiting Mary and Joseph, here, God would use an angel once again to annouce Jesus’s arrival to the shepherds.

And just as it happened with Mary, they responded in fear, a natural human response to this unexpected supernatural event, as all of a sudden, during the night, the glory of the Lord shone around them, or in other words, a bright light shown around them.

To put this in perspective, in Revelation 21:23, John describes the light of the glory of the Lord as he talks about the New Jerusalem, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”

How powerful is that? How connected Scripture is?

Here we are talking about shepherds, angels appearing as a bright light, with John later telling us that the Lamb is the light, He is the light, Jesus is the LIGHT!

Little did they know, the light they saw would lead to the news the THE LIGHT, Jesus, had arrived! The Messiah was here!

The angel, noticing that they were afraid, comforts them, saying, “Do not be afraid…”

Continuing with, “...for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”

Replace your fear, replace it with good tidings, good news, and great joy that is for all people, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The Messiah has arrived, He is here, there is no reason to fear, casts away your fears, for the news I bring, the good news I bring, is that the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world has arrived!

The proof, the proof is in the location, the prophecy found in Micah has been fullfilled (Micah 5:2), He has been born in the city of David, Bethlehem.

And more than that, let me give you a sign to know Him by, “You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

That is where you will mind the Messiah, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one who will bring about salavation for all, He will be wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.

God chose to share the good news with shepherds, considered to be lowly, only for them to learn that Jesus, the Messiah, was born and lying in a lowly manger.

What a message that we can appreciate, that our Lord, our Savior Jesus would lower himself to a lowly status, so that He might bring about the gospel, the good news for all.

And it was in that moment that suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, rejoicing, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

What news worth praising God for, am I right?

Jesus had arrived in this world, God in the flesh, and through Him would come salavation for not just the Jew, but the Gentile, for all!

That day, the angels didn’t just bring good news for the shepherds, they brought good news for anyone who reads the Words of this passage, the arrival of the Messiah marked the beggining of a era in redemptive history and it is in this era that God would establish a new covenant with all people, a covenant that would make it possible for all who call upon the name of Jesus to be saved from their sins, just as the angel had told Joseph!

The era of Christ had arrived and it was a moment worth rejoicing, but let’s continue the narrative, my second point...

Point 2: The Shepherds Praised

Scripture: Luke 2:15–20

Explanation:

Verse 15 tell us, “So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’”

So, what would the shepherds do in response to the angelic message?

They would decide to go see this sign themselves, as they verse 16 tells us that they came with haste!

Their faith was not shaken, they responded immediately to the good news and went to go see the Messiah for themselves, what is true? Was He really here?

This is something we should take notice of, that immediately following the annoucement of the good news, the shepherds responded.

They went with haste to Bethlehem to see the Messiah!

This should be a reminder of the power of the gospel, the good news, and should cause you to urgently share it!

The shepherds would be rewarded for their immediate response as when they arrived to Bethlehen, they found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

What the angels had told them was true, that:

Jesus had been born in the city of David, Bethlehem and that;

they would find Him wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manager.

The news from the Lord was not only good, but it was true!

What would this lead the shepherds to do next?

Verse 17, “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.”

Just as immediate as they left to confirm the good news from the angels, they decided to share it with others!

HE IS HERE! THE MESSIAH IS HERE! WE HEARD OF HIS ARRIVAL FROM THE ANGELS! GOD TOLD US! WE JOURNEYED TO BETHLEHEM AND THERE HE WAS! THE MESSIAH IS HERE!

A reminder of how urgent it is we should share the good news! THE MESSIAH CAME, HE DIED, HE AROSE, AND ONE DAY HE WILL COME AGAIN!

How would those who heard the news respond?

In verses 18 and 19 we see the public’s response and we see Mary’s private response.

The public response, verse 18 says, “And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”

They marveled, the were amazed, they were astonished, this was life changing news for those who they told. The Messiah was here!

I am sure there were both those who accepted the good news that the shepherds shared and those who didn’t, just as we see with the gospel that we share today.

There are some who, once they hear it, they marvel, they accept it and it radically changes their lives and there are some that hear it, they marvel, but they decide against it and they continue living as if the news, while good, sounds to good to be true, to good to believe in.

But the shepherds, knowing that this news was both good and true, based on their expeirence, shared it anyway and that is exactly how we should treat the gospel, despite the response we recieve from others, we should share it anyway! IT IS NEWS WORTH SHARING!

Mary’s private response, verse 19, “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Think of what all Mary had just been through:

An angel telling her that even though she was a virgin that she would concieve a child through the Holy Spirit, the impossible being done through her.

Her relative would concieve a child despite her older age, the impossible being done through Elizabeth.

Her husband thought about leaving her, but in a dream was visited by an angel, telling him that Mary’s child would be the Savior of the world, the impossible being done through both of them.

And now, she had some shepherds show up at the manager proclaiming they had been visited by angels and told of Jesus’s arrival, what seems impossible once again being presented to Mary.

It makes sense that she would keep all the things God had done through her, His lowly maidservant, and ponder them in her heart wondering what He would do next!

Our final verse with the shepherds, shows that they would continue praising God for what they had seen, for what the Lord had told them, as verse 20 tell us, “Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

What is our response to the good news God has given us? Do we continue glorying and praising Him for what we have heard in His Word and seen in our lives?

I’ll let you think on that.

The shepherds weren’t the only group of people that knew that Christ was worth the praise, so did the Magi, which leads me to our last point for today...

Point 3: The Magi Bowed

Scripture: Matthew 2:1–12

Explanation:

If you will, flip over to Matthew 2:1-12.

Matthew 2 begins with, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’”

Who were these wise men and from where did they come? What brough they to Bethlehem?

First, Scripture says that “wise men from the East came to Jerusalem”, not “three wise men from the East came to Jerusalem”.

While it is Christmas tradition that we see only three wise men, in part, due to the amount of gifts given to Jesus, in reality, we cannot confirm that to be true.

Second, the Greek word for wise men is magoi, which some Bibles, translate to magi instead of wise men, but what we need not do is assocaite these men with magic or refer to them as magicians, for they were not that, even though their name is where we get those words.

We also need not refer to them as kings, as we do not even know their names or from where they came, we just know they were wise men from the East, meaning they traveled from the West, most likely from Persia, that because of the gifts they bring Jesus, could be wealthy.

These men were astrologers who watched, studied the sky and we see that because they mention they have seen His star in the East and that is why they have traveled to Jerusalem.

Astrologers during this time were high-ranking officals with power and influence, they were well-respected, with roles in both religion and politics which explains why they were most likely wealthy.

They were most likely influenced by Jewish teachings and would have most likely read of Scripture such as Numbers 24:16–17, telling us about this star, “The utterance of him who hears the words of God, And has the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Who falls down, with eyes wide open: ‘I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.’”

This star was unlike any other and the wise men would have noticed that.

GotQuestions.org has this to say about the star, “...there is evidence to suggest that the star of Bethlehem was not a natural stellar phenomenon, but something unexplained by science. First, the fact that the star of Bethlehem seemed to appear only to the magi indicates that this was no ordinary star. Also, celestial bodies normally move from east to west due to the earth’s rotation, yet the star of Bethlehem led the magi from Jerusalem south to Bethlehem. Not only that, but it led them directly to the place where Joseph and Mary were staying, stopping overhead. There is no natural stellar phenomenon that can do that.”

We’ve learned over these last two weeks that there is nothing impossible with God and so even here, we should keep that in mind as God brought these wise men to Jesus for a reason and He did it in a surpernatural way!

And so the narrative continues with Herod, verses 3-6, “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’"

This King Herod had been given control of Judea by the Romans ~40 BC and many considered him the king of the Jews. He was a viscious, bloodthirsty tyrant who would kill anyone that might threaten his rule.

He was troubled because his rule was being threatened by the birth of a boy, a child that these wise men refered to as the King of the Jews.

The rest of Jerusalem were troubled because with Jesus came a threat to the way of life for Jews in Jerusalem, most likely because they didn’t know how Herod would respond, and to Judaism as many did not believe what was said about Jesus.

And so, Herod, in his troubled state, gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

The chief priets and scribes were the religious leaders at the time that would be able to speak to the prophecy concerning the Christ from the OT and that is exactly what they do here from the words of the prophet Micah, found in Micah 5:2, the entire Scipture reading, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

This would confirm Herod’s fears and so, he would starting scheming, he would secretly call for the wise men, he would use them to determine what time the star appeared and then he would send them to Bethlehem telling them, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

And as we will find out later, Herod had lied, he had no intention of worshiping Jesus, he wanted Him dead.

Following this the wise men departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

Again, this supernatural star led them there until it stopped right over where Jesus was.

How cool is this?

I almost want to start a GPS company called The Star!

Once they got there, it says they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

They knew this wasn’t natural, a star doesn’t just stop like that, this was an act of God and He was leading them right to the Messiah!

And how did they respond?

Just as the shepherds had, they had to see Him for themselves so they went into the house and they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.

The wise men bowed before the King of the Jews!

Right in front of them, in that moment, was Jesus, the King of the Jews, the Savior of the world and they could do nothing else but worship Him!

These were men of power, men of wealth, most likely not even Jews, but right in front of them God’s Word had become reality and God had sent a supernatural star thatb brought them right to Him!

What an amazing God? What this moment must have been like for them? To be able to worship Jesus!

More than just falling down and worshiping Jesus, we see that they brought gifts with them and presented them to baby Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Gifts fitting for a king, but also gifts mentioned back in Isaiah 60:6, from a prophetic chapter in Isaiah concerning the future time of great glory and restoration for Jerusalem, saying,“...All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.”

And before they left, they would again experience the supernatural in a dream as they were divinely warned that they should not return to Herod, so, since these supernatural events had led them to truth so far, it seems they would trust the dream as they departed for their own country another way.

Altar Call

As the worship team comes...

The Angels rejoiced,

The Shepherds praised,

The Magi bowed.

Think of it this way...

Those who are considered more than man, rejoiced,

those who are considered the lowly of mankind, praised,

and those who are considered rich, bowed.

What a powerful message to learn from, no matter our status, no matter who we are, whether heavenly beings or humans of any status, we should rejoice at the good news that the Messiah has come, we should praise God for the good news that he brought, and we should bow before the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ of Nazareth!