The Angel's Announcement Series

“THE ANGEL’S ANNOUNCEMENT” Luke 2:8-20

FBCF – 12/21/25

Jon Daniels

INTRO – We talk a lot about “Making Much of JESUS.” Why? B/c of what we just sang & proclaimed. Did you hear what we said as we sang, “Hark…”? We proclaimed that this Jesus:

- Amazingly reconciles us imperfect sinners to our perfect God when we trust Him as our Savior

- Adored as the everlasting Lord by every angel in the highest heaven

- The 2nd Person of the Trinity – “the incarnate Deity” – who, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2, was “in very nature God” but “did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges…& took the humble position of a slave & was born as a human being.” (NLT).

- He is Immanuel, which means He dwells w/ us right now

- He is the Prince of Peace who is ready to give light & light & salvation to anyone who desires to be born again right now.

- That this Jesus, the new born King of kings & Lord of lords - He ALONE is worthy of glory!

This Jesus: “He was conceived by the union of divine grace and human disgrace. He who breathed the breath of life into the first man is now Himself a man breathing His first breath. The King of kings now sleeping in a cow-pen. The Creator of oceans and seas and rivers afloat in the womb of His mother. God sucking His thumb…He who was once surrounded by the glorious stereophonic praise of adoring angels now hears the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the stammering of bewildering shepherds. He who spoke the universe into being now coos and cries. Omniscient Deity counting His toes… From the robes of eternal glory to the rags of swaddling clothes. The omnipresent Spirit, whose being fills the galaxies, confined to the womb of a peasant girl.” (https://gracequotes.org/?s=shepherds)

This is who the angels announced.

EXPLANATION – Luke 2:8-20 (857) I’m going to let someone else read the first part of this passage. VIDEO

3 groups of people in our story today:

SHEPHERDS – I love that the Lord in His sovereignty determined that these shepherds should be the first people to hear about the birth of Jesus. In that day, they were considered to be close to the bottom of the social ladder, just ahead of lepers. Their work w/ the animals kept them away from the temple & synagogue which meant they could not participate in corporate worship. Also made them ceremonially unclean which meant they could not interact w/ others. But most people wouldn’t have wanted to interact w/ them anyhow b/c they were known to be gruff, dishonest, ostracized dudes. We see them on Christmas cards & in Christmas pageants wearing clean robes & well-trimmed beards when they most likely were filthy, ragged renegades. THIS group of rowdy rogues is the group that the God of the universe turned to his angel & said, “Go tell them first.” Love it!

ANGELS – Heavenly beings – Created by God to serve Him according to His will – “The joy of angels lies only in obedience to God’s will” (E.M. Bounds). They worship & praise God, deliver messages from God, fight unseen spiritual battles, minister to us, serve & protect us, & will one day carry us into the presence of God when we die.

“ALL WHO HEARD” – v. 18a – Wonder who “all” were? Normal people – Common people – People just like you & me – People just going about their normal lives – People like Joseph & Mary, in Bethlehem for the census – Sinners in need of a Savior – Spiritually dead people who need to be made alive – Sick people – Single people – Married people – People w/ kids – Affluent people – Destitute people – Popular people – Unknown people – Don’t know much about them other than they were ordinary people who were hearing the most extraordinary thing they’ve ever heard in their lives. People like US hearing that God has come down to us as a baby born in Bethlehem.

APPLICATION – The angel’s announcement brings radical change to our lives.

We are changed…

FROM TERRIFIED TO TRANSFORMED – “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, & the glory of the Lord shone around them, & they were FILLED with GREAT fear” – “they were sore afraid” (KJV) – “great” – Gk – “mega” – “astronomic, colossal, enormous, gigantic, humongous, monumental, tremendous, whopping” – Not just startled, like I like to do to Vicki every time she comes in the house, but bone-deep, paralyzing fear.

Not all fear is the same – Natural fear – anxiety due to circumstances or uncertainties. Sometimes the fear is b/c of what we realized COULD have happened – Studying at Stone Ground Coffee Gluckstadt – went to buy cup of coffee – wallet not in pocket – checked backpack – went back to truck, opened door, not in there – realized I was standing on it! “Thank you, Lord!”