Christ, our joy

Announcements:

Christmas Eve “Together at home” will be an all virtual service in an effort to help with large gatherings during the holidays. We will go live at 6:00 on facebook and the website so plan on joining us for worship and teaching. It will be available at any time after the initial viewing.

Next Sunday Dec. 20th will be the Drive-in Night of Worship with Cochren and Co. Plan on arriving at 5:00 and a $10 admission per car with all profits going to purchase gifts for children in need.

Child Dedication January 10th

Luke 2:8-20

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. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 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!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is 6,320 miles from the seat you are sitting in

Augustus was emperor of Rome, Quirinius was governor of Syria

“For unto you this day” it was a specific day in history

The Shepherds and the Angels

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

The Shepherds

Shepherding is one of the oldest professions in the bible, remember Adam was charged to have dominion over the animals. And we see Abel called a keeper of sheep in Genesis 4.

There is a prominent theme of Shepherds in the Bible, we are almost all of us familiar with Psalm 23 aren’t we “The Lord is my shepherd”. And we take great comfort in Jesus’ words in John chapter 10, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep… I know my own and my own know me . . . I lay my life down for the sheep.”

Shepherds were considered “low class” in the eyes of their fellow Jews. And most of the time it wasn’t due to the fact that they were criminal or inherently more evil than people in other professions. It was due to the fact that they couldn’t keep the sabbath due to sheep needing protection around the clock, and their duties with the animals kept them ceremonially unclean to the pharisees, and since they spent most of their days in the fields they were not socially known and had no power or influence over people. (Moses and David were shepherds)

Today I would like to draw our attention to the fact that these shepherds were indeed like picture we get when we think of shepherds and sheep, but there was also some beautiful details about these specific shepherds that speak to God’s beautiful sovereignty.

The Angels

These angels appeared to the shepherds much like we see in scripture, there was bright light and the angels had to tell them to not be afraid. We do not get a specific name like we do in Mary’s account where Gabriel was mentioned as the messenger.

The bible tells us there was one angel that came and and gave the shepherds the good news. And then we see suddenly a multitude of angels praising God.

And as soon as they came there were gone, back into heaven as scripture says.

14  “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Back to the beginning

Jesus is foretold:

Genesis 3:15

15  I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

1.) His incarnation, that he should be the seed of the woman

2.) His sufferings and death, pointed at in Satan’s bruising his heel, 3.) His victory over satan

God chose Jacob:

God could have chosen a million different ways to bring about a remedy to mankind’s sin. We read in the book of Genesis that He chose Jacob, a very flawed man with a wildly dysfunctional family to bring forth the solution. So our Christmas story today will begin with a man, Jacob, and his family spanning decades of generations.

You know its interesting, we are generally not comfortable with the way God chooses to move, direct, and create changes in the people and the culture they live in. We, much like the jews would have expected and wanted God to move through people of power and influence. The lineage of Jesus is about as diverse as you can get,

Liar. Deceiver. Schemer. Faithful followers. Murderers. Adulterer. Kinsmen redeemer. Idol worshippers. Child sacrificers. Reformers. Polygamists. Prostitute

Jacob’s wife Rachel dies and we read this account in Genesis 35

Genesis 35:19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

David is born in Bethlehem

11 generations after Jacob we would see King David’s birth, in none other than Bethlehem. One day we know he becomes the King of Israel but as a young man David was a shepherd in the very hills and valleys where we started our story with the shepherd boys in Luke.

David must have had a real sense of sacrifice, knowing the fate of the little sheep he came to love and risk his life to protect.

Daily the temple required two sheep to be sacrificed, one in the morning at 9:00 AM and one in the afternoon 3:00 PM as a continual sacrifice before the Lord.

At the time of David’s census during passover there were 1,300,000 men beyond the age of 20. The census would suggest a population nearing 5,000,000. This demand required an estimated 250,000 sheep to accommodate the Passover annually.

Jesus is born

900 years after King David in the village of Bethlehem we are now back to the passage that we started with.

There has been a census decreed

Mary and Joseph have traveled to Bethlehem

There was no room in the inn, so Mary and Joseph find a stable, a place for animals to be kept to stay.

Putting it all together

These shepherd boys were not just any shepherd boys, they were more than likely tending to the sheep that are being raised for the passover. The land between Bethlehem and Jerusalem was used for raising sheep for the passover. Remember, during passover over 250,000 sheep would be sacrificed. Those sheep had to be less than one year old, and born within 5 miles of the temple according to Jewish law.

Slide of Map

Those 250,000 sheep were without spot or blemish, so even if 1 in 4 of the sheep was adequate for the sacrifice that would mean every year the temple shepherds would have to raise over 1,000,000 sheep!

You remember that tower we mentioned in Genesis 35 after Jacob buried Rachel. The Tower of Eder, this was called Migdal Eder or “Tower of the Flock” and it was about a mile north of Bethlehem towards Jerusalem and it is where the shepherds would look over the temple sheep destined to be sacrificed.

This tower is also mentioned in Micah 4:8

“And you, O tower of the flock,

hill of the daughter of Zion,

to you shall it come,

the former dominion shall come,

kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem”

This was a prophecy, that the announcement shall come to the tower of the flock, Migdal Eder, the very fields these temple shepherds would be watching over the sheep.

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger”

The shepherds sign was the baby wrapped in swaddling clothing lying in a manger (a box or crib where animals feed)

These shepherd boys throughout the year would be responsible for taking the sheep that were raised in these fields and separating the sheep eligible for sacrifice or not.

When the sheep would be ready to give birth the shepherds would immediately take the lamb and inspect it. If it appeared to be without spot or blemish they would take the lamb and wrap it in swaddling cloths to protect it and place it on top of the animal feeding trough, or manger for the priests to be able to inspect the lamb for imperfections.

Slide of Manger

So picture these shepherds, who the angels visited and told them the sign of where to find the newly born Messiah. They make haste and go into the town of Bethlehem and find Mary and Joseph and the first thing they see is Jesus, wrapped in swaddling cloths, laying in a manger…just as the lambs they watched everyday, that were destined to be sacrificed to make atonement for sin for the people at the temple. The imagery is so powerful, and speaks to how our God sees everything…every little detail and how he has made provision for His people and how His plans won’t be thwarted.

This should make us look around us, at all circumstances and remember who this God we worship is. So stop right now and think about the circumstances in your life, Covid, your finances, your health, relationships…God not only sees these things they are part of His plan to bring about His glory and your good.

Jesus, our Savior

fast forward 33 years from the night these shepherds found Mary, Joseph, and the baby messiah laying in the manger we would find the Lamb of God at a place called Golgotha i

Do you remember those 2 sacrifices, the perpetual sacrifices made everyday at the temple, that were made at 9:00 and 3:00

Earlier in the day the Jewish leaders came to Pilate around 6 a.m. or soon thereafter (see John 19:14)(it was about the 6th hour). The hearing before Herod took place around seven o’clock Friday morning. Jesus’ second trial before Pilate began around 8 a.m. and according to Mark 15:25 (it was the 3rd hour they crucified Him) it ended and the crucifixion took place at “the third hour,” which using the Jewish method of counting, would correspond to nine o’clock in the morning.

Around noon, while Jesus was on the cross, total darkness surrounded the area, until about 3 p.m. (see Matthew 27:45)(from the 6th hour to the 9th hour) when He cried out, “It is finished” and died (John 19:30)

And at this moment of His death, the veil which had seperated unholy, unrighteous sinners from the Perfect God was torn in two. The tearing of the veil in the temple was significant not only because it happened but also in the way it happened. God tore the curtain, from top to bottom, in two pieces. God made a way for us through Jesus, and so He tore the veil that separated us from Him. This curtain was ornate, massive, and specifically crafted. Nothing man-made can withstand the power of God. The curtain represented all of the laws God’s people followed in an effort to maintain right standing with God, and when it tore it signified how we all fall short of the glory of God. The way God made through Christ’s death is the only way in which we can stand in the presence of God.

This was the good news of great joy for all the people, this was Glory to God in the highest

The shepherds were called invited by heaven itself to see the messiah, they responded and came to him and worshipped him, and they went away and told about him,.

Closing:

We’ve talked about good news of great joy given to man, good news…the gospel. We have a responsibility, no a command to go and tell people about what has been accomplished by Christ.

“18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mathew 28:18-20)

(Romans 10:14-15)

“14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

“Oh that we would so love the gospel and have so much compassion for lost people that tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword and gun and terrorist would turn us not into fearful complainers, but bold heralds of good news”

John Piper