(adapted from Bob Rusell; material in intro and close orrowed from Melvin Newland)
SERIES: “CHRISTMAS CAROL THEOLOGY”
TITLE: “WHEN GOD INTERVENES: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
TEXT: LUKE 2:8-20
INTRODUCTION: A. I wonder what Christmas means to different people?
1. I wonder what Christmas means to a mother who has lost her husband, who must
take care of several children, working every day, never quite getting everything
done, never making ends meet? What does Christmas mean to her?
2. I wonder what Christmas means to the little man in Zimbabwe, 80 years old, living
in a hut, who knows nothing of shopping malls or Christmas trees? What does
Christmas mean to him?
3. I wonder what it means to little Haitian children with smudges on their cheeks, &
sparkling eyes that look up in wonder as you walk past? What does Christmas
mean to them?
4. I wonder what it means to missionaries who are half a world away from families &
friends, who are sacrificing so much to take the precious gospel message to others
who have never heard? What does it mean to them?
5. I’m sure that Christmas means different things to different people.
a. To merchants it is the busiest time of the year. Stores stay open longer, they hire
extra people to accommodate all the shoppers. It means more profit, hopefully
enough profit to see them through lean times ahead.
b. For some employees it means a Christmas bonus, a little more money in their
pockets to do things that they want to do.
c. For many teen-agers & adults it is a time of fun & parties. For children it is a
time of impatience, with time seeming to pass so slowly, as they wait for
Christmas morning.
B. Sometimes I get the feeling that we are like the folks who decided to throw a party
to honor a very special friend. They sent out invitations, decorated the hall, & had the
food catered. All the people came together at the designated time, but to their
surprise, the guest of honor was not there.
Finally, they made the embarrassing discovery that no one had ever invited the
guest of honor.
1. I wonder if that happens at Christmas time?
2. One family tried to overcome that problem by putting an extra place at their
Christmas table for Jesus, & calling Christmas, "His birthday party." When one of
their daughters was asked if she got everything she wanted for Christmas, she
answered by saying, "No, but then it’s not my birthday."
a. Do we go through all the decorating, & buying presents, & preparing elaborate
meals, but somehow forget whose birthday it really is?
b. It isn’t our birthday, is it? It’s the Lord’s birthday & it’s a time to remember His
birth & that His birth and life led to death on a cross for our sins and the His
resurrection brings new birth to us.
C. Over the next several weeks, we’re going to take a close look at several famous
Christmas carols
1. We’ve sung these songs for many years and they contain wonderful biblical truth
2. But the problem is that we’re so familiar with them that we sing them without
paying attention to their meaning
E. Our first Christmas carol is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
1. It’s based on Lk. 2:8-20 – “And there were shepherds living out in the fields
nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he
is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in
cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host
appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left
them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to
Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been
told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds
said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her
heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they
had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
2. Most people in America are familiar with the Scripture I just read for you, even if
they rarely crack open a Bible.
a. These verses from Luke’s gospel entered popular culture through Linus’ famous
speech in the Charlie Brown Christmas special.
-- Charlie Brown picks out a lonely tree with only a few branches as a tree for
the gang’s Christmas program. When he brings the tree back, everyone mocks
him for picking such a lousy tree which makes Charlie Brown all the more
depressed. And in despair, he tells us that he doesn’t know what the true
meaning of Christmas is all about.
b. Every December since 1965, in between televised scenes of the Grinch slithering
around Whoville, and George Bailey being saved by Clarence the angel just as
he’s about to jump off the Bedford Falls bridge, and Rudolph the red-nosed
reindeer running around the North Pole with a misfit elf named Herbie, (who
wants to be a dentist), we hear Linus explain the true meaning of Christmas to
Charlie Brown as he recites from this passage in the 2nd chapter of the Gospel of
Luke
3. Let’s hear the biblical truth proclaimed by this great carol of Christmas
I. The First Stanza Focuses On THE ANOUNCEMENT OF JESUS’ BIRTH
--“Hark! The herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God
and sinners reconciled.”
A. The Bible teaches that angels are real.
1. They are spirit beings created a little higher, a little more sophisticated than humans
2. They take on different appearances.
a. Isaiah described them as having six wings and flying.
b. The book of Hebrews describes angels as being so much like men in appearance that people
have entertained them unaware of their supernatural identity.
3. They are God’s messengers, usually agents of good will.
4. Angels are mentioned 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 in the New Testament.
--They are so numerous that the Bible says that they number, "Ten thousand times ten thousand and
thousands of thousands" (Rev. 5:11)
5. They can appear and disappear in a moment.
--The night Jesus was born an angel suddenly appeared to a group of sleepy shepherds tending
their flock out in a pasture.
B. That’s pretty spectacular if you were one of the shepherds, but if you were an angel it would seem
that the announcement of the birth of God’s Son was vastly understated.
1. This was the most significant event that ever occurred. The Son of God had been born. God was
intervening in history.
2. Usually a new father finds the most dramatic way possible to announce the birth of a child.
a. If I had been God, and my only son had been born, and I had His resources at my disposal, it
would have been thunder over Bethlehem with brilliant lightning, earth shaking thunder,
spectacular meteor showers, a lunar eclipse, volcano’s erupting, and the world would have
noticed.
b. When a child is born to a member of British royalty; for instance, when Prince Charles’ sons Harry
and William were born, they didn’t send a messenger down to the docks to break the news first to the
longshoremen and the people who sold bait. They didn’t issue personal invitations to the cab drivers
of London to come visit in Windsor castle.
--I’m guessing that if any announcements or invitations were sent out, they were printed in gold leaf
and hand delivered to political leaders and foreign heads of state.
c. But the Bible says that God’s ways are not our ways.
3. One of the attributes about God we seldom discuss is that God is humble; He chose to announce
the birth of His Son by an angel quietly slipping up on a shepherds guarding their sheep at
night.
--Compared to what could have been, that is a restrained notification with the most impressive
part of the announcement in Luke 2:13-14, “Suddenly a great company of heavenly host
appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the Highest and on earth
peace to men whom His favor rests”
a. The Bible does not say how many angels were there but it says that Jesus had at His disposal
ten thousand angels, so I would expect thousands of angels illuminated the sky.
b. There is something seriously wrong with this picture from a marketing standpoint. Ten
thousand angels performing, but most likely fewer than ten shepherds in the audience
observing.
c. The announcement of Jesus’ birth was spectacular but only to a handful.
C. Not only is God humble, but the first announcement of His intervention was proclaimed to humble
shepherds
1. In a survey, nearly a third of those questioned stated that, of all the persons mentioned in the Christmas
story, they identified the most with the shepherds. They were your average, ordinary, everyday working
people and were invited to see the birth of the King of kings
2. In the musical Child of the Promise by Michael and Stormie Omartian, the song “Nothing Ever Happens
to a Shepherd” captures what it was like for these rugged but humble men:
"It’s cold outside in this God-forsaken place and we’re stuck here with a thousand sheep.
While life is exciting for everybody else, the highlight of our day is sleep.
It’s lonely out here in this isolated job.
Our position is without esteem.
We’re socially challenged.
We’re society’s scourge.
We’re not exactly every woman’s dream.
Shepherds have a humble purpose.
Of our fate few people care.
Sometimes I wonder if God knows we exist.
If he does he’s forgotten where.
Nothing ever happens to a shepherd.
Life is boring as can be.
While exciting things occur all over the world, nothing ever happens to me."
II. The Second Stanza Emphasizes WHO JESUS WAS
--“Christ by highest heav’n adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of the virgin’s womb: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail, the incarnate deity Pleased
as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.”
A. This carol teaches His Deity (Jesus is God).
--Jn. 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
B. It teaches His Incarnation.
--Jn. 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory
of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
C. It teaches His Virgin Birth.
--Is. 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
D. It teaches His Humanity.
-- Heb. 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but
we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.”
E. It teaches His Atoning Death.
--Rom. 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.”
F. It teaches His Bodily Resurrection.
--Acts 2:23-24 – “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you,
with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the
dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
III. The Third Stanza Teaches WHAT JESUS DOES FOR US
--“Hail the heav’n born prince of peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He
brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.”
A. Jesus brings light.
--Jn. 8:12 – “"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life."
1. The world suggests that if you follow Jesus you will be unenlightened and commit intellectual
suicide by believing in myths like creation, the Bible, sin.
2. But we must ask, what makes a person enlightened? What determines whether a person is
intelligent or not?
3. Jesus sheds light on the most vital issues of life. His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light
unto our path.
B. Jesus brings life.
--Jn. 1:4 – “In him was life, and that life was the light of men….”
1. The adversary will try and persuade you that if you follow Jesus, you will be repressed and
bored and miserable.
2. Jesus brings life and the more you follow Him the more abundant that life becomes.
C. He brings healing.
--1 Peter 2:24 – “2He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live
for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
D. He brings victory over death.
--1 Cor. 15:54-57 – “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
CONCLUSION: A. I heard something unusual a few years ago. In the Eastern part of the U.S. a cookbook
was recalled. Now, I’ve never heard of a cookbook being recalled before. I’ve heard of
automobiles being recalled, & toasters & baby seats. But I had never before heard of a
cookbook being recalled.
This cookbook was recalled because one recipe had left out an important ingredient.
And the producers of the book realized that if someone followed the directions of that
recipe & left out that ingredient, that the ingredients they put together could actually
blow up in their faces. So because of that hazard, the cookbook was recalled.
--I thought to myself, "There must be a sermon there someplace."
1. You see, God has given us the recipe for life. He says, "You want peace? Then here is
the recipe. Find forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Live according to My rules &
principles, the ingredients that make it all possible."
2. But if you leave out some of His ingredients, or stick in some of the ingredients of the
world, then what happens? Life can blow up in your face. That is why there is so
much depression & so much suicide & so much rejection. Because too many are
following the wrong recipes for life.
B. Christmas is about God’s ultimate intervention in history
1. There had been numerous times when God interposed Himself into human activities in
the Old Testament
a. But the Old Testament is also filled with God’s promises about the ultimate
intervention
b. The “first” gospel: Gen. 3:15 – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike
his heel."”
2. Intervention was necessary because of sin
a. Is. 53:6 – “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
b. Is. 9:2 calls us, “the people walking in darkness…”
c. Is. 9:6 refers to us as “those living in the land of the shadow of death”
3. But God loved us and made plans and preparations for this ultimate intervention
--Gal. 4:4 –“ But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of
sons.”
C. The word “Hark!” means pay attention, something important has happened.
--God has intervened in history.
1. He came down to earth to dwell among men, to die for your sins and to demonstrate
that death can be conquered.
2. Jesus often said, “He who has ears, listen!”
D. The word “Hail” means to acclaim, salute, acknowledge.
1. When we acknowledge who Jesus is and what He did for us, He promises to grant us
light, life, healing, and eternal salvation.
2. But those blessings are only granted to those who salute Jesus as the King of Kings
and Lord of Lord
