Good News for All

Don’t picture a smooth field full of tall grass. I saw no such fields around Bethlehem. In fact, I saw most rocky fields that no implement on earth could plow. The grass and shrubs that the sheep would eat grew in patches and clumps here and there among the rocks. The rocks were large and frequently configured into caves. It would be hazardous to walk through these fields in the dark. The animals would not venture too far. The shepherds would sit under the stars, maybe build a fire, and watch for predators. 

• The sheep on our farm have always been in the process of having lambs during the Christmas season. A newborn lamb is wet and weak and may freeze in the December chill. 

Wolves and bobcats can kill full-grown sheep. But newborns are also susceptible to the attacks of grey and red foxes, ringtail cats, and other small predators. The shepherd is there to make sure the lambs have the best chance at survival. The lambs represent the shepherds’ economic gains achieved through many nights of vigilance. Born in December they will be the most desirable size for pilgrims who come to Jerusalem during the Passover celebration in April needing their Passover lambs. 

Lambs born in December in Bethlehem are the economic engine of the sheep business there. Bethlehem is only 7 miles from Jerusalem, and thousands of pilgrims will come from all over the Roman Empire in need of lambs for the feast. 

Do Not Be Afraid:

"But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people." - Luke 2:10

This little phrase appears to be obligatory for angels who converse with humans. The angel tells Zachariah, “Do not be afraid.” The angel tells Joseph, “Do not be afraid.” The angel tells Mary, “Do not be afraid.” And the angel tells the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” 

The shepherds are afraid because: 

• Gabriel, probably, is standing suddenly among them. It’s frightening to have anyone just appear before you, let alone a mighty angel. 

• The glory of the Lord shone round about them. This is the Shekinah Glory of God that came down upon the Holy of Holies once the Tabernacle was built, the glory of God that led his people through the wilderness in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, the glory of God that lit up the face of Moses so brilliantly he required a veil to be looked at; the glory of God that came down upon Solomon’s Temple when it was completed, and the glory of God that departed from that Temple in Ezekiel’s time. The glory of God left that Temple because God’s people had left him. 

• And now the Glory of God comes down again for the first time since the Temple of Solomon was built. It comes, not to Jerusalem, where the Second Temple stands as an astonishing architectural tribute to Herod the Great. The Glory of God comes down six miles away in a rocky field outside of the hamlet of Bethlehem. 

• God reveals himself in brilliant and indescribable light. It is the signature of his presence as the invisible God whose essence cannot be captured in any material, in any shape of any kind. 

• Jesus will be transfigured before his three closest friends. They will never forget that moment when the glory of the Lord comes down upon that mountaintop. 

• The Glory of the Lord will be revealed once again upon this earth when the Son of God, the Son of Man, and the Savior of the world returns to claim his own. It will be like an awesome lightning flash the lights up the sky from horizon to horizon. And every eye will see him in that moment, even those who pierced him, the Bible says. 

Do not be afraid this Christmas season. For those who receive the Savior, there is no reason to fear. Quite the opposite, the knowledge of His Presence is surely the greatest gift of peace that we who know his grace could ever receive. 

Good News of Great Joy

"I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people." - Luke 2:10

The words “good news” in verse 10 are part of a verb that means “to bring good news.” The words for “great joy” are megas chara—mega joy! 

Good News is Gospel. In a nutshell the gospel is this: “A Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.” This is good news for everyone because everyone needs a Savior. 

Good news—a Savior. We cannot go anywhere in the Christmas story without running into the title “Savior.” We take it for granted, but it is a special and marvelous word. 

• This very moment you are in need of a Savior. This very moment, this very era of your life, you are wrestling with internal problems that you cannot seem to fix—problems of language and conversation, problems of attitude and perspective, problems of relationships with family and friends, problems with habits and practices of life. You know these things to be broken. But you cannot fix them. 

• You are helpless before your sin. Except that you have a Savior. He is Christ the Lord. He came to save you. 

This the good news of great joy. It is for everyone who needs a Savior, and that is all of us. This is the greatest news in the history of humankind: “A Savior has been born.” 

Good News for you. “Unto you is born this day.” 

• These lowly shepherds are told that the Savior has been born for them, of all people. 

• This announcement was not made to the priests in Jerusalem who ran the temple or the Pharisees who were the religious fundamentalists of the day. It was not made to the Zealots who were enemies of Rome or the Herodians who had made peace with Rome. 

• The announcement comes to the weak and invisible shepherds, the bottom rung of their society. They are doing a job often consigned to children, as David did when he was a boy. They are watching the sheep—no skill employment. 

• This is a sign of the kingdom—the poor have the gospel preached to them. 

A Sign To You:

"You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." - Luke 2:12

What is this sign? Not the angels singing, though that is part of it. Not the prophesy itself, though that is part of it. The sign is the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. 

• The angels are a miracle and the prophesy is, too. 

• But that baby lying in a manger and wrapped in cloths—that seems to be more common and likely. Yet finding the baby wrapped that way, reclining that way, at that moment—that would be sign enough that he was the One. 

These shepherds are likely serious about their faith. They are likely expecting the Messiah. Their proclamation later on as they tell everyone about the Savior indicates this. Israel is in a difficult time. So the expectation of God’s deliverance is running high. 

It is the Little Town of Bethlehem. This doesn’t mean much to us. But to the shepherds this is a dramatic truth. This is the hometown of King David. The prophet Micah predicted that the Savior would come from this little place (Micah 2:5; also Matthew 2:6). 

“You will find the baby” is not a command but an observation. The angel knows the shepherds will have to check this out. 

• Just like we must check it out, too, no matter what our religious history may be. The shepherds went and believed. Thousands and millions and tens of millions followed the shepherds to that manger. Many of us right here ended up believing what the angels said. 

You’ve got to check this out this Christmas. You must suspend the commercial dimension, even the family dimension of Christ. You must drop what you are doing, keeping the sheep or whatever it is. You must make your own pilgrimage to Bethlehem with this question in mind: “Is this baby the one for whom we have waited?” John the Apostle saw and believed. He says, "And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." (1 John 4:14).