The Shepherds are Visited: Joy in Christ's Birth
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If you have your Bibles, turn to Luke 2
I’ll be reading from the ESV because this morning, and since we don’t have ESV pew Bibles, the words will be on the screens for you as well.
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Valley of Vision:
All your ways of mercy tend toward the goal of
our delight.
You wept, sorrowed, and suffered that we might rejoice.
For our joy you have sent the Comforter,
multiplied your promises,
shown us our future happiness,
given us a living fountain.
You are preparing joy for us and us for joy;
We pray for joy, wait for joy, long for joy;
give us more than we can hold, desire, or think of.
Measure out to us my times and degrees of joy,
at our places of work, our businesses, and in our duties.
If we weep at night, give us joy in the morning.
Let us rest in the thought of your love,
pardon for sin, our title to heaven,
and our future unspotted state.
We believers are unworthy recipients of your grace.
We often disesteem your blood and slight your love,
but can in repentance draw water
from the wells of your joyous forgiveness.
Let our hearts leap towards the eternal sabbath,
where the work of redemption, sanctification,
preservation, glorification is finished
and perfected for ever,
where you will rejoice over us with joy.
There is no joy like the joy of heaven,
for in that state there are no sad divisions,
unchristian quarrels,
contentions, evil designs,
weariness, hunger, cold,
sadness, sin, suffering,
persecutions, or toils of duty.
O healthful place where none are sick!
O happy land where all are kings!
O holy assembly where all are priests!
How free a state where none are servants
except to you!
Bring us speedily to that land of joy.
This Sunday’s Advent Theme/Candle represents the theme of JOY. The last two weeks we’ve looked at HOPE and PEACE. We saw Hope in God’s Sovereignty, and Peace in Christ’s Incarnation. Today we look at the Joy of Christ’s birth.
The Joy of Christ’s Birth
The Joy of Christ’s Birth
This account of the visits to the Shepherd tells us about the JOY of Christ’s Birth, and we’re going to ask the text three questions today...
The Joy of Christ’s Birth:
What is this joy’s nature?
Who is this joy for?
Why is this joy good news?
So first, let’s answer the question...
1) What is this joy’s nature?
1) What is this joy’s nature?
Let’s see from Scripture that this joy surpasses mere feelings.
A) The joy of Christ’s birth surpasses mere feelings.
A) The joy of Christ’s birth surpasses mere feelings.
The joy was not just a personal feeling, but the type of joy that is brought about by the arrival of the long-awaited age of the Messiah.
In the book of Luke, the theme of joy is pervasive as it relates to the spreading of the Kingdom of God.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
The kingdom of GOD broke in at Christ’s birth and with many signs and miracles God confirmed that the long-awaited Messiah was here. This wasn’t the kind of joy you get when your team wins a game. This is the JOY of all HISTORY coming to its fulfillment with visible manifestations that the darkness of this world is being pushed back at the sunrise of the dawn of the Kingdom of God!
This joy continued after the death and resurrection of Jesus. When great sorrow and great darkness seemed to have blotted out all hope of this Kingdom age... gloriously, Jesus burst forth in the light of the resurrection, securing an eternal kind of JOY that will never fade. And so when Jesus appeared before his disciples at the end of this same gospel, Luke records...
41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit who would be the guarantee of this kingdom joy.
Paul would go on later to call the kingdom of God a matter of righteousness, peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
And then after the promise of the Spirit, Jesus would ascend into heaven before their very eyes, and the disciples...
52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
This joy…the joy of Christ’s birth surpasses mere feelings. It’s a HISTORY FULFILLING JOY because of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.
But secondly, we see that...
B) The joy of Christ’s birth replaces great fear.
B) The joy of Christ’s birth replaces great fear.
Notice how the shepherds are told to trade in their great fear for great joy… Look at Luke 2:9-10
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Common response to being in the presence of God or even of angels.... FEAR
But this joy is different. The joy of the announcement of the coming of Christ into the world is a joy that replaces all fear. We’ll look more deeply into why this joy is good news and the reasons it replaces fear in just a minute. But for now, it is sufficient to say that the great joy of Christ’s birth replaced the great fear of the shepherds.
Thirdly, we should note that...
C) The joy of Christ’s birth outlasts earthly joys.
C) The joy of Christ’s birth outlasts earthly joys.
One man has said: “Earth’s joy is small and trivial, but heaven has sent us joy immeasurable, fit for immortal minds.”
In our text there is no note of a time frame, or no hint that the message of joy in Luke 2 will ever be reversed, so you could say that the joy of Christ’s birth is a LASTING joy. It is a joy that OUTLASTS all other earthly joys.
David understood this even before the advent of the faithful Messiah to come. He knew there would come a day when God would bring about the resurrection of the body to life eternal, full of joy in the very presence of God.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
What is the chief end of man?
To glorify God and ENJOY him forever!
The joy of Christ’s birth is the onset of everlasting JOY. Joy eternal!
Jonathan Edwards wrote:
God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.[1] – Jonathan Edwards
In summary: the nature of the joy we have in Christ’s birth is one that surpasses feelings - it is the joy of all history. The nature of the joy we have in Christ’s birth replaces great fear - it is the joy of our hope. The nature of the joy of Christ’s birth outlasts earthly joys. It is the joy of all heaven.
Secondly, we want to know who this joy is for. The nature of the joy I’m describing is glorious, but if it isn’t for you or for me, then it’s not very good news. So....
2) Who is this joy for?
2) Who is this joy for?
Luke understands the gospel to be for all peoples - both Jews and Gentiles, but it may surprise you to know that explicitly in the text we’re reading today, Luke focus is primarily on the Jewish people...
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The ESV as well as most all other modern translations get this correct when they add the article “the” in front of people. The definite article is present in the Greek text and it is signifying THE PEOPLE of God - that is, the Jews.
A) The joy of Christ’s birth is for all THE people, that is the Jews.
A) The joy of Christ’s birth is for all THE people, that is the Jews.
Up to this point in chapter one of Luke and in the verses that follow, the context is speaking about the people of Israel. And Luke uses the term for people “laos” throughout the books of Luke and Acts consistently for the people of Israel, with only two exceptions. The focus in this text is how Jesus fulfills national expectations.
But this should not be terribly surprising to us, because we already spoke about the nature of the joy of Christ’s birth being KINGDOM FULFILLMENT. The promises of the Kingdom were made to the Jews, and it is only by nature of faith in the promises that we are grafted into the nourishing root of the Olive Tree as gentiles.
When Paul speaks about the gospel, he often makes this comment:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The good news came in fulfillment to what the Jewish people had been expecting first.
But as we learned last week, God had a plan to unite the people of God from every tribe and tongue into one body. Pastor Mark preached how Christ’s incarnation brought PEACE to Jews and Gentiles who through faith in Jesus had been united as one.
So that leads us to say with confidence that...
B) The joy of Christ’s birth is for all the PEOPLES, because Christ has torn down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile.
B) The joy of Christ’s birth is for all the PEOPLES, because Christ has torn down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile.
If you’re wondering if this is a bit of a stretch, since I’ve gone to such lengths to prove that the Jewish people are in plain view in Luke 2:10, be assured that I am not alone in drawing this ultimate conclusion that all the PEOPLES are benefactors of this joy by extension of the rest of the New Testament. One well known reformer commented on Luke 2:10 with these words:
Though the angel addresses the shepherds alone, yet he plainly states, that the message of salvation which he brings is of wider extent, so that not only they, in their private capacity, may hear it, but that others may also hear. Now let it be understood, that this joy was common to all people, because it was indiscriminately offered to all. For God had promised Christ, not to one person or to another, but to the whole seed of Abraham. If the Jews were deprived, for the most part, of the joy that was offered to them, it arose from their unbelief; just as, at the present day, God invites all indiscriminately to salvation through the Gospel, but the ingratitude of the world is the reason why this grace, which is equally offered to all, is enjoyed by few. Although this joy is confined to a few persons, yet, with respect to God, it is said to be common. When the angel says that this joy shall be to all the people, he speaks of the chosen people only; but now that “the middle wall of partition” (Eph. 2:14) has been thrown down, the same message has reference to the whole human race. For Christ proclaims peace, not only “to them that are nigh,” but to them that are “far off,” (Eph. 2:17,) to “strangers” (Eph. 2:12) equally with citizens. But as the peculiar covenant with the Jews lasted till the resurrection of Christ, so the angel separates them from the rest of the nations.
God had prophesied the joy of the gentiles in the familiar Isaiah 9 passage.
1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 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.
3 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.
And just so that you’re not concerned that we have to go to Isaiah and Ephesians to make the point in Luke, I believe you can see a glimmer of this concept in the verses that immediately follow our text as well...
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
The peace that was proclaimed was a peace to all the earth.
So the Joy of Christ’s birth was joy for all THE people and joy for all the PEOPLES.
Now to the crux of the matter: Why is this joy - the joy of Christ’s birth such good news?
3) Why is this joy good news?
3) Why is this joy good news?
Luke begins verse 11 with the word “for” or “because...” The CSB, NIV and NET do not convey this in its translation, so I much prefer the ESV, NKJV, NASB here.
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Luke e. The Birth of Jesus (2:1–20)
The ὅτι clause expresses both the content of the good news and the reason for great joy.
Now, I am not saying that the other translations miss out on this application, but the text is explicit. So let’s just make it clear through today’s message Luke intends to give reasons why this is such good news. Namely… BECAUSE or FOR...
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
So the first reason...
A) The joy of Christ’s birth is good news because Jesus is Savior.
A) The joy of Christ’s birth is good news because Jesus is Savior.
Next week, Pastor Allen is going to preach more about the way Jesus is Savior demonstrates how much he LOVES us. BUT this week, it’s all about how Jesus, as SAVIOR brings us JOY!
Charles Spurgeon once said “In the nativity of the Savior there is joy for us—the babe in Bethlehem born; God has taken man into communion with Himself. Jesus the Savior: here is release from the groans of sin; here is an end to the moans of despair. He comes to break the bars of brass, and to cut the gates of iron asunder.
Rejoice, you that feel like you’re lost: your Savior comes to seek and save you.
Be of good cheer, all you that are imprisoned: for Jesus has come to set you free.
All you that are famished and ready to die, REJOICE that God has consecrated for you a Bethlehem - that is a house of bread - and that he has come to be the very bread of life for your souls.
Join in the joy, you Christians, because he is the preserver of the ones he saves.
Jesus is no partial Savior, beginning the work and not concluding it. No, to the contrary, he upholds us, he perfects us and he presents those he saves without spot or wrinkle or any such thing before his Father’s throne.
REJOICE all people everywhere! Let your hills and valleys ring with joy for a SAVIOR, who is mighty to SAVE is born among you.”
But Luke 2:11 says more than simply that Jesus is Savior. Look again (and now let’s peak at the CSB)...
11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
B) The joy of Christ’s birth is good news because Jesus is Messiah.
B) The joy of Christ’s birth is good news because Jesus is Messiah.
This word Messiah is a good translation of the greek word christos…
Christos is a title meaning Messiah or anointed one. It is not Jesus’ last name. Whenever we refer to Jesus Christ, we mean Jesus, who is MESSIAH, Jesus, the ANOINTED ONE.
Jesus, as the anointed one would fulfill all the promises of old, back to the promise from Eden that the seed of a woman would crush the head of the serpent.
Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham that in in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
Jesus saw himself as the one anointed for this task. In Luke’s gospel, he stands up in the synagogue in Nazareth and said this:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Are you poor? Are you captive? Are you blind? Are you oppressed. REJOICE - the ANOINTED ONE HAS COME!
It makes you want to sing, doesn’t it?! JOY TO THE WORLD, the LORD has come.
Wait… I just gave a way 3C.... so before you burst out in song, write this down...
C) The joy of Christ’s birth is good news because Jesus is Lord.
C) The joy of Christ’s birth is good news because Jesus is Lord.
The last part of Luke 2:11 says that the reason why there is good news of great joy is because the baby that was born is DIVINE.
This is the only place in the New Testament where these two words are used about Jesus back to back - he is Christos Kurios - Messiah, Lord, or: Anointed One, who is Divine.
Daryll Bock answers the question in his commentary:
What does the third term, κύριος, mean?... The term in the infancy material (e.g., 1:16, 46, 68, 76) is used of God as sovereign deity, which fits its predominant OT usage. For Luke this title will become the key term to describe Jesus (Luke 20:41–44; Acts 2:33–36), and later texts will define what κύριος means. For now, Luke is content merely to present the term from the angelic announcement and not explain it. Thus, it here serves as a literary foretaste of what is to come. The term will clearly come to refer to the absolute sovereignty and divine relationship that Jesus possesses as the one who brings salvation.
To put that in the simplest terms I can think of: when Luke calls Jesus Lord here in the story of his Birth, it’s like taking a dry erase marker and writing at the top of a white board “Lord” and then he’s going to spend the rest of Luke and the book of Acts filling that board up with stuff that proves that Jesus should be considered DIVINE - the very son of God.
This verse introduces a concept that we call the incarnation that God the Son would take on human flesh and would be in one person both fully human and fully God.
In the New City Catechism, questions 21-23 the questions go like this:
Q: What sort of redeemer is needed to bring us back to God?
A: One who is truly human and also truly God.
Q: Why must the redeemer be truly human?
A: That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin.
Q: Why must the redeemer be truly God?
A: That because of his divine nature, his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective.
Luke tells us the reason why news is so joyous is because the baby Jesus is LORD.
He is both truly human and truly God.
Spurgeon said: “It is evermore a joyous fact that God should be in alliance with man, especially when the alliance is so near that God should in very deed take our manhood into union with his godhead; so that God and man should constitute one divine, mysterious person. Sin had separated between God and man; but the incarnation bridges the separation. From henceforth when God looks upon man, he will remember that his own Son is a man. From this day forth when he beholds the sinner, if his wrath should burn, he will remember that his own Son, as man, stood in the sinner’s place, and bore the sinner’s doom. As is the case of war, the feud is ended when the opposing parties intermarry, so there is no more war between God and man, because God has taken man into intimate union with himself. Herein, then, there was cause for JOY!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled."
Good news - Jesus is Savior
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th' angelic host proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem."
Good news - Jesus is Messiah
Christ, by highest heaven adored:
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Good news - Jesus is Lord
And take note: he is everlasting Lord. That means our joy in this good news will outlast all earthly joys because Jesus , our Savior, the Messiah, is forever LORD of all the universe!