The Sign and the Song
Notes
Transcript
The Sign
The Sign
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.
The root word of “significant” is the word sign.
The word sign is used about 100 times throughout the Bible. Why does humanity need a sign?
Humans often have physical symbols or reminders to guide them in life, even though they might know what is right to do in a situation: traffic lights, stop signs, traffic signs, other autos’ turn signals, uniformed traffic police, and school guards.
Perhaps, we humans need a physical symbol to remind us about the how of being human too. Essential to our humanness is how we treat each other, allowing us to act on and own our humanness. Of all the beings that interact with each other on this earth, the human being is totally unique in his or her capabilities; compassion, forgiveness, reasoning, patience, courage, to name a few. Interacting with other humans’ demands using these capabilities so that we do not become less human, always recognize one another and never forget who we are – human beings, not just beings. Alice Martin - Andover, VT
The Shepherds’ Sign
The Shepherds’ Sign
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.
Why did the glory of the Lord shine around the shepherds? Where do the angels stand?
Go back to Luke 1:19
19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
They stand in the presence of God. We have talked about how scripture interprets or confirms other scripture. Where else do we find the phenomenon in scripture?
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
Just as the children of Israel were filled with fear to look upon Mose’s face so were the shepherds when the angel arrives with the same shekinah glory. Shekinah Glory is a visible manifestation of God on earth, whose presence is portrayed through a natural occurrence.
Alistair Begg states, ““Well, clearly, it’s not a sign in order to produce belief, but rather, it is a sign in order that they might recognize who this child is, recognize where they might find him, and recognize who he is.” So when they would have gone into Bethlehem, they would have known that “we’re looking not in a palace, we’re not looking for a child in royal robes, we’re not looking for somebody who lives in a big house and in an ornate bedroom, but we’re actually looking for somebody in a cave, or in a shed, or amongst the animals.” So that would, of course, narrow their search.”
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.”
They did not seek this baby out of curiosity, nor was it want to be in the favor of God. They sought him because they believe the Lord with an eye of faith.
There is a hymn titled, “Seeking for Me”, listen carefully:
Jesus, my Savior, to Bethlehem came,
Born in a manger to sorrow and shame;
… it was wonderful, blest be his name,
Seeking for me, for me.
Jesus came seeking to save those that are lost.
That’s why our consideration of the infancy narratives has always inevitably to push us forward to Calvary, to take us from this cradle in a manger to this Jesus on a cross. And very quickly in church history, iconographers and artists combined these two scenes. And if you know anything of Christian art, religious art, you will have seen evidence of this. And what they did was they saw in this place—in this altar, as it were, in this manger scene—they saw a foreshadowing of Christ. If it is accurate that Christ here is in a cave, then they saw him in this cave in light of him being in that cave. To what am I referring? Well, here in verse 7, they wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger. In Luke chapter 23, they wrapped his body in a linen cloth and laid it in a tomb.[11] And they said, “Here in the swaddling of Christ in these cloths is the picture of that in which he was one day swaddled. From one cave to another cave.” Alistair Begg
The Song
The Song
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!”
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
If the shepherds did not take the first angel seriously they certainly would have take the sudden appearance of a multitude of angels. I believe the shepherds were startled twice. 1st with with arrival of an angel then 2nd by the sudden arrival of the multitude. I have this image in my head, probably because I have a vivid imagination and enjoy the special effects in movies like Star Wars. I can only imagine traveling at the speed of light. it would be like a space ship’s arrival after going into hyperspace traveling at the speed of light.
The Significance
The Significance
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.
Some people take a while to process the significance of announcements or sudden unexpected news. The shepherds did not say to themselves, “Let us ponder over the fantastic announcement from the Lord and debate its significance.” No the test states, “they went with haste”.
Growing up when my father wanted me to do something my response wasn’t, “I’ll think about it”, “I’ll get around to it”, “Get back with me later with that request”. There was no debate about the significance of his request.
The shepherds must not have been Baptist. They didn’t nominate a committee to come up with a resolution for action.
I love this quote from Alistair Begg, “But you remember what gave rise to this whole scenario, this whole manger thing. Why was he in a manger in the first place? Why is he in a feeding trough? Why is the God of heaven in a feeding trough? ’Cause there was no room anywhere else. There was no room. He made the entire universe! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … Without him nothing was made that has been made.” He made the universe, and when he came to his universe, there wasn’t a sensible place for him to be. What kind of thing is this?
Well, let’s be honest: in many of our lives, it’s an apt metaphor, isn’t it? ’Cause we have no room for him either.”
No Beautiful Chamber, No Soft Cradle Bed,
No Place But A Manger, Nowhere For His Head;
No Praises Of Gladness, No Thought Of Their Sin,
No Glory But Sadness, No Room In The Inn.
No Room, No Room, For Jesus,
O Give Him Welcome Free,
Lest You Should Hear At Heaven’s Gate,
“There Is No Room For Thee.”
Have you made room for Christ? If you have, have you shared the news with others. One of the things I like to advise patients who want to go on a diet is that have to tell 3 people they are on a diet and want them to hold them accountable. Let me ask you a serious question, “Have you even told 3 people your story of how Christ born of a virgin, God incarnate, lived a perfect live, died on a cruel cross for your sin, was buried and was resurrected on the 3rd day. And has ascended into heaven with God the father interceding for you and me.”
I bet a 40 acre farm, if I had one, that the shepherds told more than 3 people. Have you made room for Christ? Have your shared your story with others?