If you remember, last week we took a little trip back in time … to that night in Bethlehem. Let’s picture that night once again. Bethlehem asleep under the stars … the shepherds out in the fields … the quiet punctuated by the occasional bleating of sheep. To the rest of the world … from the marbled halls of Rome to Herod’s palace … this was just another ordinary night.
But the angels knew! The angels knew that this was NOT just another ordinary night. They knew that this night was THE night … the “exact right time” … that all of human history had been waiting for this night. A baby was to be born in a stable in Bethlehem. Nothing spectacular about that. Babies were born every day.
But the angels knew. The angels knew that this was no ordinary birth and the baby was no ordinary child. The same Creator who breathed life into humans would take His first breath of air in the world that He made. This was not God pretending to be a baby. This was not God taking on the “form” of a baby. He was human in every sense of the word.
An angel, a divine messenger, announces the birth to the only people who were awake … some night shepherds tending their sheep. “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-12). All Heaven burst into song as a host of divine sing God’s praises. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom He favors!” (Luke 2:14).
What did the angels think about God taking on flesh and coming into His creation as a weak, helpless baby? Even Peter wondered what they thought. “Concerning this salvation,” wrote Peter, “the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come … searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow … Even angels long to look into these things” (1st Peter 1:10, 12). Why would God do such a thing for these … these pathetic, corrupt creatures?
At the beginning of his book, The New Testament in Modern English (1982; Collier Books, New York, NY), author J.B. Phillips included a short story entitled: “The Angels’ Point of View” … or, “The Visited Planet.” Using a bit of sanctified imagination, Phillips describes a conversation between a senior angel and a little angel about God’s marvelous plan of redemption for these pathetic, corrupt creatures … and we thought we would share that conversation with you right now.
[You can easily find Mr. Phillips' story on line. I used three readers ... the narrator, the senior angel, and thelittle angel. No costumes. No acting. Just dramatic reading. It went very well.]
