“WHAT THE ANGELS SAID” Luke 2:1-14
FBCF – 12/20/20
Jon Daniels
INTRO – “One day I was staring through the window of a beautiful little Christmas shop. It was packed w/ Christmas items, even though Christmas was still 6 mos. away. There were exquisite [nativity displays] from Italy, Germany, & Norway. There were fuzzy-faced elves & jolly old Santa Clauses, sleights & reindeer of every size & description, bells & trees, & music boxes. There were nutcrackers & candles & electric lights, angels & wise men & little drummer boys, stars & snowmen & gingerbread cutouts. The little shop was fairly bursting w/ Christmas, & a loudspeaker broadcast a medley of Yuletide tunes. And down in the corner of the front door, where no one could miss it, was the neatest touch of all. It was a small sign that said, ‘Christmas Spoken Here.’” (John Killinger, Christmas Spoken Here)
If Christmas should be spoken anywhere, it ought to be spoken here, in the Church, the very Body of Christ. What could better say why we are here today & every Lord’s Day than to proclaim that God has come down to us to change the course of history & our lives forever. He entered our world, showed us His love in the most wonderfully amazing way ever, inviting us to enter into an eternal relationship w/ Him. He came as the Promised Messiah who made the promise to take us to the Promised Land if we would accept His Promise.
So, let’s keep speaking about Christmas today as we think some more about “The Words of Christmas.” Last week, we considered what the prophet said, that the Light of the world has come to us in our darkness; that He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, & Prince of Peace.
EXPLANATION – God has used angels to bring His messages to His people many times. Martin Luther: “An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body for the service of Christendom and the church.”
- Think about instances in OT:
o Angels visited Abraham – Genesis 18
o Rescued Lot – Genesis 19
o Appeared to Jacob multiple times – Genesis 28; 31; 32; 48
When we move into the NT, angels take on a new significance w/ the coming of Jesus into the world. His life & ministry was full of angelic encounters & experiences:
- His conception was announced by an angel
- His birth was announced by angels
- He was tempted by Satan, who is a fallen angel
- He was ministered to by angels after his temptation
- His teaching is filled w/ references to angels
- He experienced the ministry of angels in the Garden of Gethsemane
- He authoritatively stated that He could have called 12 legions of angels to come to His defense (Matthew 26:53)
- Angels were present at His tomb following His resurrection, & were present at His ascension back to heaven
- Angels will accompany Him when He comes again (Matthew 16:27; 24:31; 25:31)
And here in Luke 2, they play a HUGE part in the Christmas story. What a privilege for them to be know something we humans didn’t yet know, & to be commissioned & commanded by God to communicate that news to us! As James Montgomery wrote in 1816, “Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight o’er all the earth. Ye who sang creation’s story, now proclaim Messiah’s birth. Come & worship, come & worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King.”
APPLICATION – The message that the angels brought to the shepherds 2000 years ago is the same message for us today.
Here’s what they said in that message:
v. 10 – DON'T BE AFRAID! – So much fear in the world, then & now.
- Then: Fear b/c God had been silent for 400 yrs. Had he forgotten His people? Had He turned away from them? Was He done w/ them? Fear of the tyrannical oppression of the Roman government – the dominion & taxation of the Romans. God’s people had strangers ruling over them. They were ripe for a Messiah to come!
- Now: So many fears that threaten to overwhelm us. Anxiety levels higher than they’ve been in a long time – maybe the highest level they’ve ever been for some of us.
Into this world of fear, the angel came & strongly proclaimed, “Fear not!”
- I’ve heard it said that the statement, “Fear not,” is in the Bible 365 times, maybe even 366 times (Leap Year). I haven’t been able to confirm that, but I will tell you this: Even if this was the ONLY time that God sent the message of “FEAR NOT” to us, it would have been enough! B/c the coming of Christ into the world puts all of our fears, doubts, & anxieties to rest as the Prince of Peace rules over us!
v. 10 – WE'VE GOT GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE! – When the angel said, “I bring you GOOD NEWS which shall be for all the people,” he was saying, “I’m bringing you the GOSPEL!” And what a perfect group of people to bring it to – shepherds. Rough-cut, dirty, smelly, ceremonially, religiously, & socially unclean individuals. They were totally unprepared to be visited by an angel & hear what they heard. But how awesome those words must have sounded to those ordinary, everyday kind of guys – “I’ve got GOOD NEWS for you!” Most of the time when someone says that, they say, “I’ve got good news & I’ve got bad news.” Well, there was NO BAD NEWS on this night! Nothing but GOOD NEWS! Nothing but the GOSPEL!
And it’s for ALL PEOPLE! It’s for EVERYONE! That means it’s for YOU! The Bible teaches that God so loved the WORLD (John 3:16).
- John 1:29 – Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
- 1 John 2:2 – “[Jesus] is the one who took God’s wrath against our sins upon Himself & brought us into fellowship w/ God; & He’s the forgiveness for our sins, & not only ours, but for the whole world’s.” (TLB)
- 1 John 4:14 – “And we have seen & testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”
And what is this GOOD NEWS that’s for EVERYONE? It’s the next thing that the angel said:
v. 11 – THE SAVIOR HAS COME! – “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” It’s not just A Savior – He’s THE Savior!
Anyone can be a savior. A savior is someone who saves someone, or rescues someone. If you see a child fall into a swimming pool & you jump in & save the child from drowning, you are that child’s savior.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He jumped into our world to save us from drowning in our sin. No one else could do that. Only Jesus could do that. And the only reason He could do is b/c He was the virgin-born Son of God. He would not have & could not have been the Savior of the world if He had not been born to a virgin.
Adrian Rogers: “If you doubt the virgin birth, you really have difficulty with:
• The character of the Word of God – The W of G plainly teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin
• The character of Mary – If Jesus was not born of a virgin, then Mary was a harlot & conceived out of wedlock
• The character of Jesus – If Jesus was not born of a virgin, then He was a descendant of Adam, & “in Adam, all die” (1 Cor. 15:22)
You see, if there was no virgin birth, there would be no sinless Christ. No sinless Christ…no atonement. No atonement…no forgiveness. No forgiveness…no hope of heaven. No hope of heaven…we would all die & go to hell. Thank God for the virgin birth. If you take away the virgin birth, the whole house of Christianity collapses like a house of cards.” (https://www.christianity.com/jesus/birth-of-jesus/bethlehem/why-did-we-need-a-virgin-birth-in-bethelehem.html)
v. 12 – HE BECAME ONE OF US! – When the angel said, “the sign,” he used a word that usually refers to a supernatural sign from God that no one could miss – think Red Sea parting, Lazarus rising from the dead. Shepherds probably thought, “This sign is going to be BIG! Bet the moon turns red, or the mountains erupt into fireworks, or the stars spell out His name!” Nope! “The sign” was a tiny baby, born naturally & painfully, in an obscure town called Bethlehem. He will be wrapped in strips of cloth just like every normal baby was wrapped. He was a normal, frail, helpless newborn, just like every one of us.
In this moment, we see His incarnation – Christ entering the world just like we all do. He was fully & completely God from before the foundation of the world, & took on humanity when He was conceived in Mary’s womb & born in Bethlehem.
This is the central truth of our faith as Christians: God entered human history to provide for our salvation! As Ray Pritchard states: “What we could not do, he did for us through his Son. Everything else flows from this truth. If he had not been born, he could not have died for our sins. And he would not have risen from the dead. He had to become like us in order to save us. There was no other way.” (https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/2006-12-13-lessons-from-the-manger/)
And b/c of that…
v. 13-14 – HE'S WORTHY OF WORSHIP – Just let your imaginations go for a minute. One angel bringing THE message of the greatest news mankind has ever heard. And the next moment – “suddenly” – immediately; in an instant – the night sky explodes with a “multitude” – a mass; an abundance; a throng; a crowd – of “the heavenly host” – an army of angels – praising God & saying, “Glory to God in the highest…”
- “Glory” – doxa – splendor; brightness; amazing might, praise, honor, greatness, magnificence; marvelous in glorious works
- doxa – From which we get our word “doxology”:
o Praise God from whom all blessings flow
o Praise Him all creatures here below
o Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
o Praise Father, Son, & Holy Ghost.
And when we say that He is worthy of worship, that doesn’t mean that He’s worthy of us just coming to church once a week & paying our respects to a deity. It means that He is worthy of our giving our lives to Him in total obedience – living our lives for His glory, in service to Him, out of love for Him & gratitude to Him for sending His Son into the world to save us from our sins. HE IS WORTHY!
