Well, it's good to have been
able to have sung those carols which speak to us very clearly
about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they speak to us in a specific
way, really, about the glory to God in the highest. Now, we
read about the appearing of God to the shepherds, and it was
an amazing occasion. And if we think of it, there'd
been some 4,000 years when people have been waiting for the Messiah
to come. And that's a long time, isn't
it? 4,000 years is a long time. And then the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus, had come in a very different way to what most of the people
expected. The Jewish people expected him
to come as a great king. And of course he didn't come
like that at all. He came as a babe born into a
very poor situation, and placed in a manger, in a stable, very
different from what most of the Jewish people would have anticipated. And then we see that this occurrence
was to the shepherds. It wasn't to the important people
in Israel at that time. It was to the shepherds. And
shepherds at that time were really rated as very poor people and
humble people. In fact, if we go back to the
days of when Jacob went down into Egypt, when Pharaoh was
there, and Joseph said, look, Pharaoh and all the Egyptians,
they don't rate shepherds very highly at all. They think they're
very poor and mean people. And he told them to describe
themselves as shepherds. So here were these shepherds
then, looking after their sheep at night time, and then this
wonderful occurrence, and the angel of the Lord came down,
and as we read, that the angel of the Lord came upon them, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore
afraid. Well, we can imagine, can't we,
if an angel came down to us tonight And it wasn't just a little shimmering
light. It was the glory of the Lord.
It was a tremendously bright light. And you might say, well,
what kind of bright light was it? Well, I think it was a bit
like when Saul, the Apostle Paul, was converted on that Damascus
road. And he tells us that a light shone into his heart above the
brightness of the midday sun. So that gives us some idea. above
the brightness of the midday sun. And that was, of course,
in the Middle East, where it's much brighter than it is here
in our country. And so we have this wonderful
situation. These shepherds here, looking
after their flocks at night, and this wonderful light comes,
and the angel comes and speaks to them. And he speaks some wonderful
news to them. And the angel said, fear not,
because they were fearful, and we would be fearful, if they
happen to wonder what it all meant. And they were fearful,
so it's good to see how the angel starts, he says, fear not, to
put them at ease, so they might remember and listen to what he's
got to say. Otherwise they might have been
too frightened to actually listen and to have taken in what he
was saying to them. So he spoke to them and said,
behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to
all people." And these were the good news that the people have
been waiting for for so many, many years. And it's important
to notice that here he addresses them in this way, of great joy
which shall be to all the people. Now, generally speaking, of course,
it was only the Jews who'd been blessed in Old Testament times,
but here you see it was addressed to all the people, all the people
of the world, not only the Jews but also the Gentiles, every
nation would be thankful for this wonderful occasion. And
so he says, fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great
joy which shall be to all people. And then he tells them, for unto
you is born, this day it was accomplished, Jesus had been
born and they're telling them the good news For unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord." He wasn't just an ordinary person. He was an ordinary
person. He was a human person, a human baby, just like you and
I are. But he was a special person.
And he was the Messiah. He was the Son of God. And here
they are told that this Saviour was already born. and he was
born in the city of David and he was the Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord. This was the person that they'd
been looking forward to seeing and now they're told this wonderful
news. It's hard for us to imagine,
isn't it, the situation which they must have experienced. These
poor shepherds at night time, this wonderful light, the angel
addressing them, telling them this tremendous news which they
had so wanted to hear, and it was the Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord. Why was He the Saviour? Well, He was the Saviour to save
them from their sins. We go right back, don't we, to
Genesis, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, and that
promise was given, then that the Lord Jesus would come and
bruise the serpent or squash or crush Satan's head. And so
after all these years, the saviour here referred to has now come. And this is the good news that
the shepherds hear from the saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And
then he gives them a sign. He says, and this shall be a
sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Well, it's a good job,
isn't it? that he told them that, because
otherwise they would have no doubt been looking in a very
different place. They wouldn't have expected to look in a stable,
in a manger, to find the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. But you
see the angel came and told them this specifically, and then we
see a change. Having given that message, it
would appear this single angel came and gave this message, and
now there's a wonderful change. And what is the change? And suddenly
It suddenly appeared, a great multitude. There was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
again, just try and visualise that, this night scene, this
beautiful light, this angel speaking, the shepherds all there amazed
at what's happening. And then this multitude of the
heavenly host come and speak these wonderful things. And what
was it they said? Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Well, it was a day of glory
to God because God had here fulfilled his promise that he told Adam
and Eve 4,000 years ago and that had been confirmed a number of
times throughout those 4,000 years and recorded throughout
the Bible that the Messiah would come, and now the day had come. And, well, there was joy. They
were so thankful. And this heavenly host was saying
this, glory to God in the highest, the great God, the eternal God,
the God of heaven and earth. That was who they were speaking
of, this great multitude. And the shepherds were able to
observe and to record this wonderful statement, glory to God, in the
highest, but not only in the highest, he was of course in
the highest, but this glory was to come down and it was to be
revealed to not only to the shepherds, but to men and women, boys and
girls on the earth and from that time forth right up till now
and indeed down to the end of time. So it was a tremendous
statement that was being told them and suddenly that was with
the angels and this multitude of the heavenly hosts praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth,
not only in heaven but also now down on the earth. This had been
fulfilled which had been prophesied and here now the shepherds had
been told where Jesus was born and as we know they quickly went
and found where Jesus was. What a joyful occasion that would
have been for them. and therefore there was his glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace. Peace. Peace was brought. What peace
was that? It was only peace that Jesus
could bring. Why was it only the peace that
Jesus could bring? Because it was that which the
Lord Jesus Christ was going to accomplish and to reconcile,
that means to bring together sinful man and God and that was
to be accomplished by his sin atoning death on the cross at
Calvary. Now this was the great good news
that the Church of God wanted to hear. They'd been waiting
for it and here it was told them then that this was the this heavenly
host was saying this they were saying glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace. Yes the peace would come and
there's a hymn which says, peace by his cross has Jesus made. And how true that was to be,
proved to be that this peace was to be come to people through
his death. And so there was indeed a wonderful
statement here, glory to God and this peace on earth. Peace
which would come to the Church of God, that they would rejoice
in the wonderful account that they have read of in the Word
of God, which is now being fulfilled. And so on earth, peace and goodwill,
goodwill toward men. What it was, the goodwill of
God toward men. You see, men had failed. Men had sinned. Men had disobeyed
God. And they were in a dire situation,
really. There was really no hope for
them. There they were. They'd disobeyed
God, they'd sinned, they'd offended God. But now, here we see this
wonderful statement. Goodwill. Almighty God had brought
this goodwill to men and women, boys and girls on the earth.
And that was sending His only begotten Son. We can think of
those words, can't we, in John 3.16. That God so loved the world
that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever Believeth
in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This was
the news. This was the good news for the
shepherds. And my friends, it's a good news for us tonight, isn't
it? Isn't it good to realise now that Jesus has come. The
promises have been fulfilled. He has come to save his people
from his sins. And the Lord Jesus did not fail
in that job he'd been given. That situation his father gave
him to do, he fulfilled it. But how hard it was to fulfill.
Just ponder for a moment. This little babe, born in that
manger, in that situation, and yet he had to grow up into manhood. And then he had to be revealed
as the Son of God. And what he had to suffer. Try
and contemplate, as we think of the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ, what he had to suffer. He suffered on the cross. He
died that sin atoning death, so that you and I might have
eternal peace, eternal blessing, eternal happiness in heaven. So as we come today, and as we
approach Christmas Day, when we think particularly of the
birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, to think that if it wasn't for
the birth of the Saviour, there would be no hope of heaven for
us. We would be lost, we would be
ruined. But bless God tonight for the Lord Jesus Christ, for
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, sadly, I suppose, we
tend to pigeonhole the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ just
to this time of year. In actual fact, it's important
throughout the year to remember. Like all the life of Jesus, it's
important to remember throughout the year, not just on these separate
occasions like Easter and things like that. No, it's good to remember
the life of Christ throughout the year. Well, anyway, more
specifically tonight, we've been able to remember the birth of
the blessed Lord Jesus Christ and think of the wonderful sacrifice
He made. He left the perfect place of
heaven. and he came down to live on this earth. He was so willing
to do that so that he might save his people, that his people might
go and be with him forever and ever. And of course, for all
of us here on this earth, the day hastens on, the day of our
death, and we pray that when that comes, each of us may then
go and to be with Christ, which is far better, and to be blessed
with that living faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
through his death all our sins are forever washed away. Well
let us bless God for the word of God and thank him for this
word which tells us glory to God, may we feel it in our hearts
tonight, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men.