The Angels' Message

The Angels’ Message!

 

 

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  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.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you:  you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  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 among those with whom He is pleased!”------Luke 2:8-14

 

It was a star-studded night and the shepherds were doing their nightly duties.  Some were bedding down for the night while some of the others were keeping watch over the flock.  It was business as usual.  UNTIL, the blackness of the night sky ERUPTED with a BRIGHT LIGHT that lit up the ground all around them and an angel of the Lord appeared before them. The shepherds were OVERCOME with FEAR and they TREMBLED at the sight that they beheld. 

But the Angel of the Lord spoke to them, in such a way, that it brought PEACE to their FEARFUL hearts.   This is what the angel told them:  “Fear not, for behold, I bring you GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY that will be for all the people.  For unto YOU is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you:  you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Can you imagine the complexity of this MESSAGE as it was delivered to the lowly shepherds?  And why was the very FIRST birth announcement delivered to shepherds out on a dark and lonely hillside? 

Well, that’s the way our God works, because He is a SUPERNATURAL God and His ways and thoughts are not OUR ways or thoughts.  HE IS THE ALMIGHTY GOD and CAN and WILL do as He pleases.  And as STRANGE as it might seem to us, it is HIS WAY.  I think He carried out this part of His plan of SALVATION, to show us that Christ came for ALL people not just for the AFFLUENT or the MOST INTELLIGENT, but for the POOR and DOWNTRODDEN. 

NOTICE, that the angel told the shepherds that he had “GOOD NEWS for ALL the PEOPLE.  Then he proceeded to tell them how they could recognize the SAVIOR, CHRIST THE LORD, “you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  Now those shepherds certainly knew what a manger was and what it was used for.  They must have wondered why a baby would be laid in a FEEDING TROUGH.   I think that the CIRCUMSTANCES that surrounded the birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords, was orchestrated by God to show us the HUMILITY that Christ would possess in His HUMANITY and in His RELATIONSHIP with mankind.

Then the night sky EXPLODED with a MULTITUDE of the heavenly host and they were JOYFULLY PRAISING God and SAYING,

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth PEACE among those with WHOM HE IS PLEASED!”

“PEACE among those with WHOM HE IS PLEASED!”   In order to have PEACE, TRUE ABIDING PEACE, we MUST be PLEASING to God. Having SIN in our lives is NOT pleasing to Him.  In order to PLEASE God we, His Children, need to CONFESS our SINS DAILY to Him.  And if you have NEVER come to Him and INITIALLY CONFESSED your SINS to Him then you are NOT PLEASING to Him and cannot possess that TRUE ABIDING PEACE that the angels PROCLAIMED to the shepherds.

But YOU can change that situation by coming to Him and:  CONFESSING your sins to Him and asking for His FORGIVENESS, BELIEVING, with ALL your HEART, that Jesus died for YOU and is ALIVE, in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION. Do it NOW, while you STILL can.  He’s waiting!!!