@ rrtulla

Luke 2:8–20 (KJV 1900) 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 Beth-lehem, 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.

As a way to organize this text, I want to provide you 3 sub-headings:

What the angels knew \ What the shepherds knew \ What Mary knew.

First: what the angels knew. In the Bible, whenever the heavens are opened, something extraordinarily important is about to happen. IN Genesis 7:11 the windows of the heavens are opened and rain falls upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

In Ezekiel 1, the heavens are opened and the prophet sees a vision of God’s portable throne, surrounded with angels and a rainbow and flashing fire and gleaming metal. . . and the meaning seems to be this: that God would reside with his people in their exile to Babylon.

In Matthew 3, the heavens are opened at the baptism of Jesus and the Spirit of GOD descends upon him like a dove and there [we hear the Father’s] voice: this is my dearly loved son, with whom I am well pleased.

In Acts 7 Stephen is moments away from becoming the first martyr for Christ and he says: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56) (standing, perhaps, in anticipation of bestowing upon his servant a golden crown!) **ambrose.

In Acts 10 the heavens are opened and Peter learns that the saving power of Christ is not just for jews but for all the nations.

In Revelation 19:11 we read Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. (Revelation 19:11)

commenting on this verse the wonderful BB Warfield says: . As emphatically as Paul, John teaches that the earthly history of the Church is not a history merely of conflict with evil, but of conquest over evil: When the heavens are opened, world-changing events are about to occur. And this brings us back to our text in LUKE 2. The conquest of evil was inaugurated with the birth of a baby. Heaven’s declaration of WAR against sin and satan was announced to shepherds in a field.

At this point in Israel’s history, the profession of shepherd was sneered at…which is surprising. When God called Moses, he was keeping sheep. When God selected David to replace Saul as king, he was keeping sheep. God refers to himself as the shepherd of his people. . . nevertheless, in first century Israel, shepherds were treated as second class citizens. . . and this reminds us of James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? (James 2:5) the first Christians were regular, broken people, like us, who needed a shepherd for their souls. And so God sends HIS shepherd to shepherds. The text says the appearance took place at night. This detail is symbolically significant.

Christ is the light of the world, according to John’s Gospel. He says light has come into the world and the darkness cannot extinguish it. Last week we looked at Zechariah’s song in which he sung “because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” (Luke 1:78–79)

Jesus says in Revelation 22:16 “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16) The light of the world first appeared by night. (One author says) “when the sun rises, it does not happen the way a light comes on in a room when you flip the switch. The sun rises slowly. At first, you don’t know that anything has happened. It may be just as dark as it was a moment ago, but maybe not. And some time later, you notice that the eastern sky is not what it was. There is some kind of light there. The stars that were visible all night begin to disappear. Soon there is just one left—the morning star, the planet Venus, the last indication that day is coming. The next event is for the sun to actually rise, for the day to come. Christ was born at night, and His birth was the arrival of the morning star.” DW

The arrival of the kingdom of heaven is like leaven worked into flour. It starts out small. Its like a mustard seed…which become the biggest plant. Its a small stone that becomes a giant mountain.

The shepherds aren’t thinking any of these thoughts of course. They are just minding their business and the angel shows up. When they see him they are terrified. But the angel tell them they have good reason to rejoice.

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Every phrase, every clause is jammed packed with glory. Fear not. Behold Good tidings. Great joy. This day the city of David. Savior Christ The lord. Books have been written about every one of these topics!

There is a progressive revelation in these 2 verses.

Our God loves to reveal things by degrees.

He knows he can’t tell us everything at once, our our heads and hearts would explode.

This is how he always communicates to his people. And he began in genesis 3.

The seed of the woman is going to crush the serpents head. Next revelation: : the promised messiah will come from Abraham’s line. Next revelation: the messiah will hail from the tribe of Judah. Next revelation: the messiah will be from the house of David. Next revelation: he will be born of the virgin. Where? In Bethlehem. The house of bread. Just like the prophet Micah said.

This baby is the LORD’s Christ. His anointed one. Christ is the LORD. Immanuel. God with us.

Notice the angel’s wording: unto YOU is born this day a savior. We might have expected Him to say “today in Bethlehem, a baby boy was born to Mary and Joseph”

But he says to these dirty, smelly shepherds “the baby was born for you!” (CSB) The birth of christ was a birth for others. And this is what the prophet Isaiah was anticipating! For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; (Isaiah 9:6)

And, when we turn to the end of his life, we learn that his death was for others as well.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, (1 John 3:16) Jesus was born for us. Jesus died for us.

Jesus was born to save us, and he lived a perfect life to save us, and he died a humiliating death on a cross to save us. you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) the angel said to Joseph.

This announcement was for all people. God has every intention of saving the entire world. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)

I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. (John 12:47)

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15)

“If you’ve ever committed a sin against God, you need a savior” If there is a command of God’s that you haven’t obeyed, then you are a sinner, and you need a Savior. If there has ever been a time in your life when you did not prize the presence of God, then you are a sinner and you need a Savior.

If there has ever been a time in your life when you did not trust God’s faithfulness; then you are a sinner and you need a Savior.

If there has ever been a time in your life when you did not admire God’s greatness or revere his holiness or love him… then you are a sinner and you need a Savior.

We are all sinners. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

These are all verses that teach us about God’s grace. Grace is not something we do. Grace is not something we can control. Grace is not something we can manage. Grace is god’s intention for the whole world. That is why the birth of Jesus is glad tidings of great joy. Do you need something good in your life? Christ the SAVIOR has been born for you.

Do you need some hope in your life? A Savior has been born for you.

Do you need motivation to get up and get going? A savior has been born for you.

Do you recognize that your biggest problem in life is not your husband or your job or your kids or your health but your SIN?

A savior has been born for you.

Are you weighed down by the devil’s unrelenting accusations?

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

The angel says: this is the sign. You’re going to find a baby, wrapped tightly in linen, lying in a manger. Their savior is God…and yet also a baby. Behold the mystery of the incarnation. I hope you have been putting the daily advent worship document to good use in your home.

One of the mediations from this past week was from Augustine:

Man’s Maker was made man, that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that the Truth might be accused of false wit- ness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die. Augustine

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men. (Luke 2:13–14) I said earlier that the announcement of the LORD’s birth was a declaration of WAR…and here we discover that the battle cry was actually SUNG.

In 2nd chronicles 20 we read an amazing story of how God’s people march out to war against their enemies. You might recall that king Jehoshaphat sought the LORD in prayer and he is told by a prophet: do not be dismayed, for the battle is not yours, but god’s!”

20 In the morning they got up early and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. As they were about to go out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established. . . Then he consulted with the people and appointed some to sing for the Lord and some to praise the splendor of his holiness. When they went out in front of the armed forces, they kept singing: Give thanks to the Lord, for his faithful love endures forever. (2 chron. 20: 20-21)

When it comes time to fight: God’s people must sing.

Paul says

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:3–4)

One of our primary weapons is singing.

It is important for me to emphasize this because it is so counter-intuitive and unfortunately we have a tendency to live by sight, and not by faith. We gather on Sunday morning and we sing a few songs and if we are even reflecting at all, we think: what did THAT accomplish? HEAR THE WORDS OF THEOLOGIAN PETER LEITHART. “Suppose every church in the country decided to start singing Psalms every week in worship? Suppose they started praying imprecatory Psalms in defense of the unborn or to turn back statism? Would that register on the news? Perhaps; it would be a story about those crazies in the Christian church. No one in the media would see it as a major event in the history of America. But it would be. It would be far more potent, far more important for the future of America or any other nation than the next election, the next Supreme Court nominee, the next piece of abysmal legislation coming out of Congress.” Worship is warfare. Lifting up our voices in unison in praise of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit every LORD’s day is probably the single most important thing we could ever do.

Thought experiment. Think about another Christian Church in Tullahoma. Gathered together right now. How do you HOPE they are worshipping? With zeal OR indifference?

How much JOY do you hope is in that sanctuary? Lots of joy or very little? In your mind’s eye, Is the congregation filled with people with glazed eyes, and drooping hands? Or bright eyes and lifted hands?

In your imagination are these Christians in to it? Or bored?

OK…change geography. We’re not in Tullahoma, we’re in North Korea. There is a small church of about 30 people. How are they singing? Are they devoted to Jesus their savior and pleading with him to strengthen them and magnifying his great name because he has promised to never leave them nor forsake them?!

or are they just checking off the religion box for the week and moving on with their life?

To ask these questions is to answer them.

We ought to resolve in our hearts to worship GOD in the way that we WISH every Christian church on the planet did. We ought to sing to our TRIUNE God as if the very act of singing could actually demolish spiritual strongholds and push back the kingdom of satan. Because it can.

What motivates us to sing?

Answer: all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms are OURS.

“I have a savior who is my prophet, priest and king. God the Father is my covenant God. I have the forgiveness of sin. I have the promise of eternal life in Heaven. I belong to the church, which is the lamb’s bride! I have the Holy Spirit as my teacher, sanctifier, and comforter. I have security against my greatest enemies: death, hell and the devil. I am standing on Mount Zion and am a citizen of the holy city. I belong to the Commonwealth of Israel, and I'm not a stranger from the covenants of promise.” (Marcellus Kik)

Oh that we might continue to learn to sing!

Back to our text. A multitude of the heavenly host is praising God. Literally its an army that is simultaneously a choir.

One commentator that I read suggested that every single angel in the universe was there. Now of course that’s not something we can prove…but it certainly is what we would expect.

Which angels WOULDN’T be there?

Can you imagine The angel Michael Saying to the angel Gabriel, “hey man, its time to go sing at the birth of the son of GOD”

And him responding, “nah, I can’t make it….I’ll catch the NEXT incarnation” No of course not. They were all there. Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name. Where 2 or 3 quad-drillion angels are gathered in my name! Angels are strong. When the heavenly host was lined up in their ranks, they were even stronger. (Its the same with us)

What did the angels know? They knew that this son that was being given, was the promised SON. They knew that the son that had been born was destined to become the bridegroom of the church. They knew that this was the king of kings and the LORD of LORDS. They knew that Christ had not come to redeem angels, but men, women and children. They knew that God the Father must be glorified because of this glorious giving of his Son. He must be honored. His name must be hallowed. And esteemed and valued as supreme.

They knew that the birth of this child meant peace: peace with God for all who turned to him by faith. They knew that the arrival of this child was the manifestation of God’s goodwill towards men. The definition of goodwill is this: a delightful, fixed intention of benevolent favor. Glory to god in the highest! Why? Because he is determined to show mercy towards his rebellious human creatures! The birth of Jesus is God’s declaration to you and me that he intends to be merciful to us, his enemies.

If you wanted to see God’s power, you might look at creation. If you wanted to see the glory of God’s wisdom, you might look at how he providentially rules the world. (i.e. using an emperor’s decree to tax the world so that he could get Mary to bethlehem!)

If you wanted to see God’s justice, you would study the doctrine of hell. (Hell is nothing but justice forever and ever ever: rebels receiving the due penalty of their rebellion.)

But if you wanted to see and savor and learn about God’s MERCY…you must meditate upon the incarnation.

The Puritan Richard Sibbes writing 400 years ago: the infinite, rich, glorious, abundant mercy. . . that is the main thing wherein God is glorious now in Christ. The bounty of God appeared, and the riches of his mercy, and the exceeding great height and breadth and depth of his love. There are no words large enough to set out the goodness and mercy of God and Jesus Christ.. . for, after the Fall, man was miserable and sinful, therefore what attribute of God could be exalted except that of mercy towards misery and that of grace to sinful man in pardoning his sin?”

Glory to God in the highest. All this is what the angels knew. Let us strive to be more “angel-minded” Let us learn how to properly celebrate the nativity. Let us learn to be ever more thankful for the redemption that we have in Christ.

Now let’s consider what the shepherds knew: 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 Beth-lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. (Luke 2:15–17) The first thing they knew is this: God had spoken to them. The LORD had made salvation known to them. This is a basic but simple truth. Salvation is always God’s initiative. If God does not reveal himself through his son, all of us would remain in darkness. Nobody finds God. They are FOUND when they hear God speak

how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:3–4) Declared at first by the LORD. Therefore, when you hear the Word, when you hear the gospel, do not neglect it. How will you escape the wrath of GOD if you are told about the Christ…and you are told about the new covenant, and you are surrounded by singing saints….and then you reject this good news? And that’s the second thing the shepherds know:

we must run to our Savior!!.

They made haste! They “hurried off!” (NIV) In mark chapter 5 there was a man who was oppressed by a demon, and the text says that when he saw Jesus from afar and ran to him and fell at his feet!

Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd to climb up a tree so that he might see Jesus.

When Mary Magdalene told Peter & John that the tomb was empty…they ran to investigate! This advent, make haste to christ. Make haste to be reconciled to the father through the Son. Make haste to repent of your sin Make haste to sing! Make haste to learn about his life. In the morning ran to your bible.

The third thing they know: “we’ve got to tell others about the Savior.”

They did not need to be coerced, or manipulated. There was no guilt-tripping involved. And I hope there is no guilt tripping here either.

I am simply observing the behavior of these men: the text indicates that they told everybody they could about Jesus. This is what people saved by grace do. Come see a man who told me all that I ever did! Said the woman at the well. The more you know Christ, the more you want others to know. The more precious he becomes to your soul, the more you cannot help but have his name in your lips. Finally. We turn now to what Mary Knew….and the text doesn’t give us much…

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. I think we can safely say that Mary knew God’s Word to be true. Gabriel had told her she could conceive and bear a son That he would be the son of the most high 9 months later, it has come to pass just like God said, and mere hours after delivering the child, Shepherds show up with their amazing stories.

“Good evening Ma’am. A heavenly army choir just appeared to and told us that your son had been born FOR US tonight. They said he’s the savior of the world. We have been told that we’d find him lying in a manger so we came to visit him.!
God’s Word was true.

And lastly, Mary knew that she must ponder over what she has learned. Meditate. Hold the details close Treasure them. Discern the meaning of these events.

We must do the same.

I really hope this doesn’t sound trite. I want you to see that there is a direct correlation between the amount of time you spend thinking about Jesus. . . and the joy you experience.

There is a direct correlation between the amount of minutes and hours you spend setting your mind on things above, where Christ is…and how much angst and dread you are forced to contend with.

There is a direct correlation between thinking about christ And pondering christ And meditating upon Christ And Possessing a transformed life.

God works in us through our minds. . . he enhances our relationship with him by granting us a greater knowledge of him. This is not merely “head knowledge”, but heart knowledge. knowledge imparted rationally (via our minds) to us as whole people .

One of the best books written in the last 50 years is j.i. packer’s “knowing GOD”

He writes, ‘when people know God, losses and “crosses” cease to matter to them; what they have gained simply banishes these things from their minds’. Really knowing God means the ever-growing realization that Christ is better than everything!

Packer goes on to say that knowing (in my head and in my heart) God produces ‘great energy for God … great thoughts of God … great boldness for God … and great contentment in God’

Mary treasured up all that she heard. And she kept treasuring. No doubt, thoughts of Christ filled her mind every day for the rest of her life. (And not just when she was raising him!)

Not only did you think about the good news brought to her by the shepherds…she also kept going as the years passed by.

She was there during his early ministry. She was there when he was hanging on the cross. The last thing we read of her is found in acts chapter 1: she’s praying with the disciples, just before the Holy Spirit is poured out. Her’s was a life filled with unimaginable difficulty

There is no doubt personal change is WORD driven. But if we want lasting change. We must, Like Mary, keep going.

we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rom. 5:3–5)

The way to be changed through our sufferings is to keep going. The proof that we are being changed is that we are persevering. Paul says in Philippians: And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:6) And in chapter 3

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:12–14)

The way to be transformed, then, is to meditate on the word, respond to it in repentance and faith, and to keep going to the end.

I think Mary knew that…let us then imitate her!