10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
I don’t know about you, but Edith and I have basically turned
off the news on our TV. We are tired of hearing nothing but bad and
discouraging news about politics and world affairs. I love good news! And that
is what Luke is giving us in this passage. It is amazing how Luke goes from the
first verses in this chapter where he gives us a detailed description of the birth
of Jesus in a stable, to “Now there were in the same country shepherds
living out in the fields…” in verse 8.
Every time we visit Israel, we always take our tour group
to these very same fields outside the town of Bethlehem and think about how three-thousand
years ago a little shepherd boy named David was watching and protecting the
sheep of his father. This is where he killed a bear and a lion! This makes me
think about how Peter described the devil as a “roaring lion” seeking to
destroy the flock of God but then the Great Shepherd Jesus came and we read in Hebrews
2:14-15, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He
Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him
who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
How amazing! At these fields we reflect upon how
two-thousand years ago near these very same fields outside Bethlehem, the
Savior was born into the world for this very purpose to love, to live, to die,
and to give Himself as a sacrifice for the sheep! Yes, it was in a broken world
full of sin, darkness, evil, suffering and pain that Jesus came! This is where
an angel shows up with a message of “good tidings of great joy…”! Good
News for broken, hurting humanity!
The world tries to heal its brokenness, hurt, insecurity,
fear, worry, pain and sickness, with entertainment, with amusement, with
education, with money, with pleasure in immorality, with drugs, alcohol, and pills.
They try everything but the Right thing that only God can do through His Son
Jesus Christ! This is the message that the angel shared that night to the
shepherds in the fields, and today it is still the same message that will heal
our broken hearts and lives!
This is the message that I have been trying to share for
the last fifty-three years since I found and received this Good News in 1971 as
a nineteen-year-old teenager in Cincinnati Ohio! What an amazing, awesome
message that can change lives. The angel said to the shepherds, "Do not
be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to
all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord”.
My friend, that is the Gospel! That is the Good News! This is a mysterious message! This is not a
message that can be explained but must be proclaimed! The Gospel is not
something you figure out, not something you have to understand. How can a human-being
understand how the Creator God of the universe robes Himself in flesh by becoming
a helpless, speechless, infant baby, in a dirty stable. You can’t explain that,
you simply proclaim it, and this message has the power to transform the life of
anyone who will believe and accept it!
When God got ready to save the world, He didn’t send a
philosopher, He didn’t send an educator, He didn’t send a scientist, He didn’t
send a soldier, He didn’t send a politician, He didn’t send a Democrat or a Republican,
He didn’t send a president, king, or dictator. No, God sent a Savior! Someone Who
would live a pure sinless life and take upon Himself our sins and bear them on
an old rugged cross. He would die, be buried, and rise again from the grave the
third day!
He alone is the only Savior who can save you and me today!
This is still the “tidings of great joy”! Have you ever trusted Jesus as
your Lord and Savior?
God bless!
