…behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people! (Luke 2:10 WEB)
You would think bad news would take a break during the holiday season. But sadly, it does not. Life can be hard even during what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year. So I am glad that, although bad news does not seem to take a break during the holidays, neither does God’s good news.
Today we are going to read about some good news that an angel brought to the shepherds in Bethlehem one starry night as they watched their sheep.
Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
(Luke 2:9-11 WEB)
Well, that would wake you up! Imagine being the shepherds and receiving this good news. The promised Savior, Emmanuel, God with us, had finally come! The people of Israel had been waiting and hoping for the Messiah to come for so long. And now, the Lamb of God was here!
When the angel gave the shepherds this good news, he expected that they would want to go and see the baby for themselves. And he was right. He didn’t have to coax them to go. No, they were very eager to see the Messiah for themselves.
“This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”
(Luke 2:12 WEB)
The angel didn’t have to give clearer directions than that. It’s a pretty good guess that there were no other babies in Bethlehem that night using an animal trough for a crib! To add a little more sparkle to this spectacularly good news, the angel was then joined by a heavenly host of angels.
Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.”(Luke 2:13-14 WEB)
What an amazing night for the shepherds! They couldn’t wait to see this baby.
When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They came with haste and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.
(Luke 2:15-16 WEB)
Nothing could keep these shepherds from seeing this newborn baby! And now that they have seen him, they couldn’t keep the good news to themselves.
When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds.
(Luke 2:17-18 WEB)
This was such good news, they had to share it with everyone!
Now, I don’t suppose you have ever had a host of angels brighten up your night sky to give you a message from God. Sometimes we wish God would send a message as clear as that. But if you stop to think about it, God has given us just as much good news as he gave the shepherds, and much more! For we have the entire Bible to read and study and share with others. It tells the rest of the story of the Messiah’s mission here on earth and how that impacts our lives.
This means that we have enough good news to help us every day. It can even help us on a day that we receive bad news. Now, this doesn’t mean that the bad news won’t hurt. But it does mean that we have something firm to hold onto when our world seems out of control. God’s Word can give us hope and a more God-centered perspective.
But just as the shepherds had to run to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus for themselves, we need to go to our Bibles and read the truth for ourselves. It will do us no good to have it nearby and yet not read it. Though the shepherds told the townspeople about the birth of the Messiah, we do not read that any of them went to see him for themselves. How sad to have had the Messiah so close and yet miss out on seeing him!
Let’s not be like those townsfolk. Let’s run to Jesus and see the good news for ourselves. He’ll speak to us and help us to learn to walk in his ways. And then we can share God’s good news with others, especially when they need hope on a bad news day.
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings,” by Selah
Scripture verses are taken from the World English Bible (WEB), Public Domain