It is always hard to wait when we know something good is coming—your wedding day, graduation, the birth of your first child. And perhaps the thing that makes CHRISTMAS so wonderful is the fact that it celebrates the truth that the greatest GOOD that God has ever given us came–finally came–that first Christmas night.
You see, Jesus’ coming had been anticipated for a long time. From the moment sin entered the world God began to issue His promise that Jesus was on the way–that HE WAS COMING–to set things right again between God and man. In Genesis 3:15 God speaks to Satan in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve’s sin and says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; HE will crush your head.” A gracious promise is made here,a promise that a Deliverer, the Christ, the Messiah would come.
When sin entered the world, a conflict began between God and His people. Since that time all human beings have rebelled against God. Instead of living their lives according to the will of our Creator, each of us willfully chooses to live according to our own selfish will. Isaiah described this conflict in Isaiah 53:6…We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way!”
So when sin entered the world peace left it, because all of us tend to go our way instead of God’s. I think Adam and Eve immediately sensed this and longed for the peace to return. Down through the generations all mankind has had this same yearning for the promised redeemer to come and bring peace once again between God and man.
Over the centuries Jesus’ coming was prophesied again and again. Speaking of Jesus’ future arrival Isaiah 9:2,6
“The people who have walked in darkness will see a great light: they that have dwelled in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined…for unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, THE PRINCE OF PEACE."
So, a Good thing was coming! The Messiah would come. Peace would be restored between God and man. But it was so hard to wait. As the centuries dragged on, like children waiting for Christmas day, God’s prophets all expressed the difficulty they had waiting for the Messiah’s birth. In his Lamentations, Jeremiah questions God Lamentations 5:20-21″Why do You forget us forever? Why do you forsake us for SO LONG? Restore us to You, Oh Lord, that we may be restored!”
But God wasn’t thoughtlessly hesitating in delaying His coming so long. He was simply waiting for the perfect time for Jesus to be born. Galatians 4:4 says as much, “…..when the right time finally came, God sent His own Son."
Two weeks ago we looked at the song of Zechariah. Last Sunday we examined Mary’s song. Today we pick up our study in Luke 2:1-7 almost six months since the day that Mary sang her song and then returned to her home in Nazareth.
In the final weeks of Mary’s pregnancy, the Jews of Nazareth received word from the local Roman garrison that Caesar August had sent out a decree that a census should be taken of his empire. They were required to return to the city of their “tribe” perhaps to make the Jews less resentful of this mandated census by giving it a nationalistic flavor. So Mary and Joseph, both descendants of the tribe of David, journeyed 80 miles to Bethlehem, the birthplace of David.
The innkeeper was probably not a calloused villain, but may have actually been an empathetic help to Mary and Joseph, taking it on himself to locate a private place with a roof overhead, probably a cave where the shepherds kept their sheep part of the year. So the innkeeper would have known that they were not using this space and, so it would provide a secluded place, where if nothing else, the refugee couple could have a measure of privacy.
So the long-awaited MESSIAH, the SON OF GOD, was born in a cave/stable wrapped in strips of rags and laid in a feed trough. Born not in a palace or even a house, but in the place where animals lived. And Christmas boils down to this fact: God HUMBLED Himself for our benefit. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that You through His poverty might become rich.” It is hard for me to comprehend this unbelievable ACT of humility.
In his book, THE JESUS I NEVER KNEW, Phillip Yancey comments on this:
"Our God who, with a mere thought, could order armies and empires about like pawns on a chessboard emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder, who depended on a teenage couple for shelter, food, and love."
In this humble gesture of a desire for peace God came to us.
Take your Bibles and follow along with me as we see what happened next. I’ll be reading from Luke 2:8-12:
8 -And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 – An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 – But the angel said to them, ‘DO NOT BE AFRAID. I BRING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY THAT WILL BE FOR ALL PEOPLE.
11 – TODAY IN THE TOWN OF DAVID A SAVIOR HAS BEEN BORN TO YOU; HE IS CHRIST THE LORD.
12 – THIS WILL BE A SIGN TO YOU: YOU WILL FIND THE BABY WRAPPED IN CLOTHS AND LYING IN A MANGER.
It is a wonderful thing that this announcement of God should first come to the shepherds. You see, the shepherds were despised by the orthodox good people of the day. Shepherds were unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law. They could not observe all the meticulous hand-washing and rules and regulations because their flocks made far too constant demands on them; and so the orthodox looked down on them as very common people. So shepherds were very much part of the “lost sheep” of their day. But the angels’ song was designed to give hope to these men! Jesus Himself said that He came “…to seek and save that which was lost…..to set free those who are downtrodden” It is interesting to note that these were very special shepherds, raising very special sheep. You see, in the Temple in Jerusalem each and every morning and evening, an unblemished lamb was offered as a sacrifice to God. To see that the supply of perfect and unblemished offerings was always available, the Temple authorities had their own private sheep flocks and we know that these flocks were pastured near Bethlehem. So it is very likely that these shepherds were in charge of the flocks from which the Temple offerings were chosen. Understand, this would mean that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Well, Luke 2:13 says that after the angel finished his proclamation, suddenly, there was with the angel a “multitude of the heavenly host praising God”
In Luke 2:14 we find the lyrics of their song. Let’s read it together.
14 – Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.
Luke 2:15-16 tell us that after the angels finished singing the shepherds went to Bethlehem to find the new born Messiah. Did you ever wonder how they found Mary and Joseph? They had no star to guide them like the one the Wise men followed, and I am sure that Bethlehem was full of mangers. How did they find the right one? Well, I think they did what most men refuse to do–they asked for directions. All of Bethlehem must have rustled with news about “that poor girl from Galilee” here for the census, who had been quartered in a stable so she could give birth to her child.
Okay, that’s the setting. Now let’s look at the brief lyrics that make up this, the THIRD SONG OF CHRISTMAS. What message is there in the words those angels sang that first Christmas night? Well, they sang about one thing–PEACE–PEACE ON EARTH. Wait a minute, something is wrong here. These angels must have been singing from the wrong page in their hymn book because there has not been peace. During the past twenty-five hundred years there have been nine hundred wars and sixteen hundred revolutions: an average of one a year for a hundred generations! So wars did not cease after that first Christmas night. Peace on earth did not come. Millions and millions have died in these conflicts. And still today there is no peace.
As Longfellow wrote the words to the Christmas Hymn, “I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day” the Civil War was in full swing. The Battle of Gettysburg had occurred only six months earlier. Days looked dark and so he wrote: “And in despair I bowed my head; ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to man!”
Well even today in the ’90’s we can identify with Longfellow’s despair. We too are tempted to say that this song of the angels is all an idle dream. So, were the angels wrong? No, they were not! Peace has come, a “war” did end that first Christmas. The angels were not wrong.
Their [the Angels’] song heralded the end of a war that has lasted longer than any other conflict and has cost more lives than all others combined, because when Jesus came into the world to die on Calvary’s cross the war that began when sin entered the world ended. And that war has cost billions and billions of lives .In fact, that war is the reason all of us die in the first place. But the angels song says that this can end. There can be peace on earth. There can once again be Good will between God and man.
Well how is this possible? How can this peace come? Two things make this peace on earth possible:
1. Peace with God can happen because Jesus Christ is our peace offering.
A Peace Offering is “A gift or service for the purpose of procuring peace or reconciliation." In the Old Testament there are dozens of references to the Hebrew people recognizing this enmity between themselves and God by bringing peace offerings — sacrifices to God to the temple. But Jesus came to be the peace offering to God for all mankind. The prophet Isaiah said it would happen this way. “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. The punishment that brought us PEACE was on Him.” Isaiah 53:5
In Romans 5:10 when Paul said, “For we were God’s enemies—reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Jesus is the source of this peace. And when such peace dwells WITHIN men there can be peace AMONG men. And you know when a person has access to God through Jesus—the Great Peace Offering—when he realizes that he have the gift of eternal life, then he can have peace in all aspects of life. Nothing can disturb this peace–not illness, not financial troubles, not even death! Through Jesus we can indeed have “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” Philippians 4:7 Because this peace comes not from the absence of trouble but from the presence of God.
But one other thing must happen if there is to be peace on earth.
2. We must be willing to share it….
Did you notice what the shepherds did after the events of that night?
Luke 2:17-18 says,
17 – When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
18 – So these Shepherds who were the first to hear this song of peace and then see for themselves the source of that peace spread the news, and in so doing they became the first evangelists of the Christian era. This is what we are to do.
2 Corinthians 5:18 says,
18 – God reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.
If there is to be peace on earth, good will to all men, then ALL MEN must hear this wonderful news! Someone has to tell all people that the war is over! Peace is now possible!
What about you? Have you heard the news? Have you made your peace with God?
Today, TODAY, right now, the war can end!