Diving Deeper for Reasons to Rejoice that Our Hero Has Come!
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In Part six, and the last message of the Heroes series, our pastor preached on Jesus. The greatest hero that ever stepped into human history was Jesus.
SHEPHERDS & ANGELS
We read about the pronouncement in Luke 2:8-12 between the shepherds and the angels. This was the medium He used to announce His arrival.
It was at this moment that God used perhaps the most mysterious of His creation, the angels, to inform the world indirectly that the Messiah had been born. And, He uses a group of humble shepherds to receive the message, welcome Him, and ultimately play a beautiful role in the "processional entry" of the King of Kings.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
He announces His entrance through a group of humble shepherds.
Though, we read in verse nine that the heavenly display that night was quite spectacular.
No doubt... here an angel of the Lord stands before them, the glory that blinded Moses surrounds them, and like all other angelic encounters in Biblical history they were startled, to be more precise... terrified. No small exchange is occurring here.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
And, then what was this message that this heavenly host would deliver...
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
This good news of great joy... that would be for all the people.
WOW! What were they about to hear? Last news like this had been foretold by the prophets of what was to come. And, now this angel of the Lord stands before them delivering a message that would fill them with reason to rejoice, and not just for themselves, (the Jewish chosen) but reason for all the peoples of the world to rejoice. And, the angel continues...
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Today the Messiah, the long-awaited Messiah, had arrived. And his arrival was without the pomp and without the circumstance of earthly kings. Again, the angel continues...
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
So, first, He chooses a humble, young, Jewish girl; one whom was among the poorest, though most faithful, of the Jews to conceive and give birth to the Messiah. Then we learn that He announced his arrival in a field to a group of shepherds. And, finally He Himself has arrived, is wrapped in cloths, and is lying in a manger. A manger... from which cattle feed. The irony is more than I can imagine. The King of Kings, the Creator of the Universe steps into history, as an infant, and He announces His entrance through a group of humble shepherds and lies in a cattle trough. Later, the text reveals that the world, too, will begin to discover the news but then only through a small, devout band of magi. (A beautiful account of its own...)
Don't you think we would have sought to do it differently.
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