Walking With Christ

17 days until Christmas.

Luke 2:10-11 (11)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. (11)For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.(ESV)

With everything we’ve seen on this advent journey, it should be obvious that there was nothing left to chance and no part was not carefully orchestrated well in advance of the arrival of our messiah. This should also make it quite obvious then that there is no part in the coming of Christ that does not have some significance for how the rest of the bible should be read or how we should be living.

Shepherds were on the lowest rung of Jewish society. They were looked down on by nearly everyone else at the time. Jesus is the king of kings and lord of lords. He is the almighty creator who spoke the very matter of life into existence. He was absolutely deserving of the best of the best in every way. If people had truly known who and what He was then He would have been born in a palace and had constant care from the moment He was conceived. There would have been legions of guards and thousands of people in the royal entourage just waiting on Him hand and foot. A royal decree would have gone out to the whole world letting them know that the creator had stopped in for a visit and they needed to pay their respects to Him.

I, for one, am glad that He wasn’t born in the palace because that would have made Him completely inaccessible to people like me. I’m not of royal blood or the lineage of any priests. No, the way that Jesus came into this world, by humbling himself down to the lowest of the low, made Him accessible to all. The fact that His birth announcement was not given to kings, wise men (with a few notable exceptions), or religious icons of the day, but instead given to shepherds who were almost considered outcasts in society says all that there is to say about His coming.

The angels said “behold, I being you good news of great joy”. The angel said “look at this good news that will fill you with joy”. Behold. Look here. Attention please. Hey, you guys!!! If you look at this good news it will fill you with joy. If you are not filled with joy, what are you looking at?

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.(KJV)

Glory to God. Always. Amen! It’s the rest of this statement that we need to focus on. Peace on earth and good will towards men. It should be noted that before Christ came God’s wrath stood against the whole earth. God could not be for men because of the wickedness in the world. Boom! Here comes Jesus to save the day! He paid the price to cover the sins of man and take care of the debt to God’s wrath. With that debt paid, God could now be at peace with the world and show good will towards men. Perhaps this is why the God of the old testament is typically viewed as an angry smite monster who is just looking for a reason to throw lightning, but the God of the new testament is all smiles and rainbows. Before Christ, God was owed a debt. Jesus paid that debt. Now, go back to verses ten and eleven for a moment and read “great joy that will be for all the people”. Jesus didn’t come just for the Jews. Yes, they are God’s chosen people. It was always through them that Jesus would come. The gift was not meant to be just for them. It was meant to be shared with all of the world. All men, for all time.

Father,
Glory to Your might name. We cast our eyes to You to behold the glory of Your good works. We rejoice in the grace bought by the perfect blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross for our sins. We know that we could never be worthy of such a wonderful gift, and through this we know that You love with a love that defies complete understanding. It is Your mercy and grace that gives us the opportunity to even sing Your praises. We thank You for You perfect will and Your perfect plan. We know that Your promises are true. Continue to be with us, Father as we march ever forward toward the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and remind each other of our reason for joy that surpasses understanding or reason. Give us Your wisdom in the coming days. We humbly ask, Lord, the You reveal Yourself through this season to everyone reading this message and everyone they meet. Let us be bold in our faith to share the love that You have shown us with others. Let us be the salt of the earth. Let us reflect Your light so that there is light even in the dark places. Fix our eyes on You and the good news that is our reason for joy. We praise You. We worship You.

In Jesus name we pray, amen.