Luke 2:8-20
(8) And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (9) And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. (10) And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (12) And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 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, good will toward men. (15) And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. (16) And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. (17) And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. (18) And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. (19) But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. (20) And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
This Christmas season I wanted to view our Bible studies a little different than the traditional way most people look at the verses pertaining to Jesus’s birth. I really wanted to focus on what the scriptures are really telling us, and for how it truly affects our life and how we should hopefully respond to the scriptures and make them alive in our life. Last week we talked about how this time of year forgiveness should be at the top of our mind. When we read about baby Jesus, the story is truly about us and our sin. Cindy’s comments totally hit the nail on the head of how extreme sin is in our lives and is multiplied by every who has ever lived. The burden of our sin that caused God to bring His Son to be the redeemer, sacrificial lamb, the burden, the disease, all the things that are bad in the world, just to draw us closer to Him.
Now that Jesus is born, now what? Let’s look at the story from the shepherd’s point of view. Did you ever wonder why the angel came to the shepherds? Shepherds back in that day would have been well known and trusted for they had the duty of keeping livestock for the townsfolk. Livestock were commodities that would not have been entrusted to just anyone. It would make sense that these would have been the people that God wanted to use to spread the word about the Messiah. They were well known and trustful among the people and because of that they were usable by God. If we go back to Luke Chapter 1 and the story of Elizabeth and Zacharias, after the angel Gabriel tells Zacharias that his wife Elizabeth was with child, Zacharias was muted because he did not believe the words of the Lord. God’s plan will always be carried out, Elizabeth could be trusted but not Zacharias, therefore he was taken out of the equation by being muted to ensure God’s plan moved forward. And remember, Joseph was trusted that he would keep Mary as His wife even after knowing she was with child that was not his. Back to the Shepherds, the Angel was pretty specific where to find the Baby Jesus. After the angels left the Shepherds did as were told and went to see the newborn King. After seeing Jesus, the shepherds tell all the towns folk what they had seen and were told of the child. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to doubt the Shepherds. Everyone wondered about what the Shepherds had said. Let that sink in a moment. Everyone would have known of Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah. Did this this prophecy just get fulfilled? There would have been no reason to doubt what the Shepherds said. Can you imagine the excitement, the hope, the anticipation that would have been going through everyone’s mind. That moment of; what just happened? (Do we still feel that today?) You could almost sense there would have been a moment of you know its real but still are trying to wrap your head around it. Almost in disbelief, knowing its true. (I can’t believe this is really happening). After all that has been said and done, the Shepherds return to their flocks glorifying and praising God for everything they had seen and heard.
Psalm 135:3 Praise the LORD ; for the LORD is good: Sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
Psalm 7:17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: And will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
Psalm 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath Praise the LORD . Praise ye the LORD
Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify him with thanksgiving.
In this story we can almost relate to being the Shepherds, we know what we know a bout Jesus birth. We have all the scripture to back it up. Do we have the trustworthiness to tell people that they would believe what we know to be true about Jesus? Are we Giving God praise and glorifying Him for what we have heard and seen? Can God trust us to carry out His plans? Remember all of this is because of US needing a Savior!
This year we will celebrate the birth of Jesus, but let’s not just celebrate the just birth, but would it mean for us in our lives and how we are to respond to it. There is so much more than Jesus being born. We must be trusted to share with everyone the good news. The good news is Jesus has come to redeem us of our sins.
1 Corinthians 9:16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
Luke 9:6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where
Luke 8:1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 12/25/2023 12:46 PM ]
I am thinking about how the sheperds and wise men were told to go find and see "this child, the Messiah" foretold would be coming. No one really knows how the star of Bethlehem appeared in the sky...but of course we know it had to be God!All the wonder and excitement....but they had to still wait 30+ more years before the true reasons to unfold. I wonder did the ones closest to Jesus look at Him every day and think...What? When? How? Did they really understand what was going to happen? What it meant? The coming " king" was perceived to be a mighty warrior back in that time, a man of nobility on a fancy horse, bronze sword, a fighter, a killer in battle. That's why so many were confused of Jesus being a humble man who walked among sinners. How is this our mighty king who is going to save us? Jesus had to become like us, to save us. As a man. To save the descendents of Abraham He had to be like us. He could not be an angel or like the heavenly beings. Heb 2:17-18 ..." him to be made unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. " Remember the devil also tried to temp Jesus...and prob thought if he could do it to Eve..... but He failed. So what does it mean now that Jesus was born...what now? Because of the first hand testimonials of those with Jesus, and those affected by Jesus, His legacy and words have remained for thousands of years. The world would be different without a way to salvation. Think of if Christianity had been wiped out. No one left to tell the "good news" of what Jesus came for, His birth and death. Christianity is the only religion that has a way to salvation for eternity. To defeat death and sin. In Heb 9:27 death was feared because of the coming judgement when you die. As believers in Christ now, 1 Corin 15:54 we are told to die is to gain...." death is swallowed up in victory." We may die physically, but Jesus promises us He will return and call us up to be with Him at the chosen time of God. We have learned that Jesus loved everyone. He did not care about a person's wealth, sickness, disease, or even if a person was a prostitute. He loved them all the same. I don't even think the angels could understand the compassion He had for us. They just know God sent Him to save us so we could one day be in heaven with them. All the angels know are to glorify and praise God. And they glorified the birth of Jesus! They knew what His purpose was. God kept His promises to us. If we are obedient to God it leads to our salvation. And we know Jesus is our Messiah. If Jesus had not been born unto "us" we would never have had a rescue (salvation) from our sins, no victory over death, and no mediator between us and God. We have been given grace, redemption, salvation, sanctification and the hope of glory thru our faith in Jesus. We know Jesus sits with our Father God in heaven right now. I saw this quote " Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." I think that is our message about what the Savior means to us afterwards. Religion gets a bad name because of how people act. They talk the words, but don't live the words they talk. We need to be like Jesus. Love like Jesus. Our knowing what God and Jesus have waiting for us is what should drive us daily to try and be what Jesus wants us to be. It's the least we could do for Him. When we are gone, what will our legacy in life and Christ look like?