The Virgin Series

‘Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.’

[LUKE 2:13-14]

You can be certain that these shepherds practically ran into Bethlehem. Nearing Bethlehem, every cave in that immediate vicinity was subjected to careful investigation until they discovered that one particular cave in which an infant was laid in a manger—a feed trough where untold generations of sheep had fed. Resting near the child, perhaps reclining in the straw, they witnessed a young mother and the young man who was her husband. The shepherds were granted a privilege, the significance of which not even they were like able to fully comprehend. They only knew that angels had announced something wonderful, and they had been granted this high privilege of being witnesses to something that revealed the glory of God in a way no one could have expected.

These shepherds may not have been reporters in the sense we think of reporters, but they faithfully “reported the message they were told about this child” [LUKE 2:17 CSB]. Well, what else would we expect these men would do? A throng of angels had appeared after the first angel had given them such a precise description of what they would find at that very time in the little village called Bethlehem. The angel had specifically informed them that this child whom they would find lying in a rude manger was Christ the Lord. An angel wouldn’t lie about such a thing, would he? And who among them would miss the opportunity to see the promised Messiah? No one of them would dare remain behind, missing this occasion.

I should imagine that each of those shepherds would speak of what happened for the remainder of their lives. And I am equally assured that everyone who heard what the shepherds said, wondered at what they heard. However, that young mother, watching her child lying in the manger, “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” [LUKE 2:19]. That is precisely what we would expect of her. As a young virgin, Mary had accepted the assignment divinely given her when Gabriel announced that she would bear a son into the world, but this would not be just any little boy. According to the Word of the Lord delivered through Gabriel, God’s holy messenger, the child Mary would bring into the world would be called “holy—the Son of God.” Now, the arrival of these shepherds provided additional verification of what she had received and believed nine months earlier. Perhaps she didn’t need verification, but it was verification, nonetheless.

We read, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” [LUKE 2:20]. We cannot doubt that their wonder, their praise of God’s grace, their worship of the Living God, was shared by all who heard their account. However, the vast number of people living at that time, even of those living in Judea during those days, never heard of this birth. Those that did hear would respond by either glorifying God because He was at work in the world and because He was fulfilling the promise He had given so many years in the past, or they would dismiss what was said as so outlandish that it surely never happened. That is what happens in this day whenever a follower of the Christ announces forgiveness of sin and life in the Beloved Son for all who look to Him in faith. People either believe the message of life and praise God for His grace and goodness, or they ridicule the message as fantastic while they continue living without God and without hope in the world.