Hi, thanks for listening to Him We Proclaim with Pastor John Fawnville. I'm Joshua Montez. We're in a series called the Five Songs of the Nativity, and we've just wrapped up two beautiful songs from that wonderful couple. I would like to meet them in heaven someday. Yes, Zachariah and Elizabeth.
Yeah. And John the Baptist, too, as he was leaping. Exactly.
So, do you remember? I would like to ask John the Baptist: hey, John, do you remember when you left in Elizabeth's womb? Your mother? I'm sure he does, right? That was just a little take, but yeah.
So, next, we have the song of the angels. And this one is, you know, fascinating. And I've heard some great renditions of it, but glory to God in the highest. Why were the angels saying that? Yeah, that's a great question.
Here's why: because God is glorified in the salvation of sinners. Which comes through Christ. Christ is the glory of God. And when God in Christ is bringing salvation to sinful men like us, that's the height of his glory. That's exciting, John.
I'm looking forward to listening to this one. I hope our listeners are enjoying the series called The Five Songs of the Nativity. Here is the Song of the Angels. We're going to look today at Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 14.
So let's read this passage together. In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy.
which shall be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men.
with whom he is pleased.
So, what we've been looking at for the season of Advent is the five songs of the Nativity, the five songs that cluster around the Nativity stories in the Gospels. And the songs that we've looked at so far is the first one was the Song of Elizabeth. That was a hymn of blessing. The next we looked at was the Song of Mary, the Magnificat. That is a hymn of praise, a hymn of faith.
And last week, we looked at the song of Zachariah, the Benedictus. That is the hymn of hope. This week, we're coming to the fourth song that clusters around the Nativity. In these opening chapters of Luke's Gospel, and this song is the song of angels, and it is a hymn of praise to God.
Now what is interesting about this in Luke's Gospel is that the first three songs in Luke's Gospel are all sung by humans, and it is earth addressing heaven. In all three of those first songs, where the humans are singing these songs, they are all waiting in hopeful expectation for the coming offspring of the woman who will come to crush the serpent's head and give victory to God's people. We hear in these three songs earth addressing heaven and telling us about the significance of the coming birth of Christ and the significance of his miraculous conception. But now in Luke chapter 2, everything changes. Because what we have in Luke chapter 2 is a rare glimpse into the praise of heaven.
We had the song of angels. We had the language of the inhabitants of heaven itself.
So in Luke chapter 2 Heaven is now addressing earth. And heaven is addressing earth through the praise of angels. concerning the significance of Jesus' birth, which is the fulfillment of this long-awaited hopes of God's people for centuries and centuries and centuries.
So, the Song of Angels is the first hymn of praise to God that is uttered for God manifest in human flesh. The song is very simple. The song is in verse 14. It's very short. And the angel song can be really divided up into two stanzas, two parts.
The first part of the song is the angels are praising God for his outworking of salvation. For his outworking of salvation through the birth of Jesus. But then the second stanza, the second part of this hymn, is that the angels are praising God for the saving benefits that He gives to His people. Let's look at the first part of this hymn. This is in verses 13 through 14.
Actually, this is an introduction to verse 13. The hymn is actually verse 14. But the angels are first of all praising God for his outworking of salvation through the birth of Jesus. Let's listen to how the song begins. Verse 13, this is kind of like the introduction.
Verse 13, it says, Suddenly, unexpectedly, that's what that word means: unexpectedly, suddenly, these shepherds were out in the fields.
Now, remember, this was 2,000 years ago, so there weren't light posts, right? It was dark. Maybe there were some stars or something. We don't know, but it was dark. These shepherds, these common folk that are out in their fields watching their sheep.
And unexpectedly there appeared with the angel of the Lord a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest.
Now I don't know about you, but I think I would be like these shepherds who were terribly frightened. It was daylight in the middle of the night all of a sudden. That just doesn't happen.
So, the first thing that we note is that the birth of Jesus is first announced by angels. This long-awaited promise of the offspring of Eve, Genesis 3:15, of the offspring of Abraham, Genesis chapter 12, of the offspring of David, 2 Samuel chapter 7. Has arrived and he's being announced by the angels from heaven.
Now, what are angels? Angels are set forth in Scripture as simply this: they're created beings. who are zealous, obedient servants Who surrounds God in great glory in heaven? Let me just give you one example besides this. In Daniel chapter 7, where you have the vision of the ancient of days, it's the Messiah, Christ.
God is seated on his throne in a heavenly courtroom, and Daniel is having this vision of God reigning as judge over the whole world. And as God sits on his throne, Daniel 7, verse 10. He surrounded by myriads upon myriads of angelic servants. God, as he sits upon his throne, is surrounded by thousands upon thousands of these glorious, zealous, obedient servants, ready to do his bidding when he gives the command as the great king. Many tens of thousands standing ready to serve him.
in his throne room in heaven. And so we come to Luke chapter 2, verse 13, and look at verse 13. Look what the Gospel of Luke says. It says, Suddenly there appeared a multitude of the heavenly host.
Now, the word host is a very interesting term because it is a military term. It was common in ancient Greek used to denote a group of soldiers. God's heavenly army of angels, his heavenly army of soldiers, of his servants, his zealous and obedient soldiers. suddenly appear to these shepherds. John Calvin says that the Lord's hosts surround him.
They adorn His Majesty and they render His Majesty conspicuous. That is eye-catching. He says they are like soldiers that are ever intent upon their leader's standard and thus are ready and able to carry out his commands.
So, the first thing we note about this angel, the song of the angels, is that the birth of Jesus. waited for millennia, are announced by the army of heaven.
Soldiers. God's zealous, obedient servants. The second thing that I want you to note about the Song of Angels is that it is a divine message originating from heaven. Look what the hymn says. Look at chapter 2, verse 14.
It says, Glory to God in the highest. Glory here means praise to God. It is a hymn of praise directly to God, and it is in the highest. This phrase means the highest place. It means the sphere of heaven.
The angel song is literally the ascription of praise to God that is being offered in heaven, and you now are being addressed on earth to hear it. And so we have this rare glimpse into the praise of heaven. We hear the language of the inhabitants of heaven praising God for coming to earth and assuming human flesh. And so the song of angels originates from heaven. And it is praising God for his outworking of salvation through the birth of Jesus.
Now listen carefully. The good news of Christ, the gospel, is a doctrine which is not in us by nature. What is in us by nature? The law. Every single culture in the world knows you don't kill somebody, you don't steal from somebody.
I've never taught my little toddler. not to take a toy or if somebody takes a toy from him, he immediately knew that was wrong. Come to my house and you can watch it. That is in him by nature. God has created all of us with his law called a conscience.
The moral law, you can't escape it. But the gospel is not in us by nature. It is revealed from heaven. This announcement, this praise to God is coming from heaven. This is heaven addressing earth.
In response to Peter's confession, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus answers Peter in Matthew 16, verse 17. And listen to what Jesus says to Peter. He says, You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah. Because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. But my Father in heaven, The gospel totally surpasses natural knowledge.
The gospel is clear and understandable, and it is so clear and understandable that a child can grasp it. Yet it is so unsearchable and deep that the greatest mind who has ever lived will never plumb its depths for an eternity. The gospel is so deep, Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8: it is incomprehensible. It is the unsearchable riches of Christ. Therefore, listen, the gospel is mysterious because God is mystery.
God in human flesh is a mystery. Two natures and one person, and a baby who soils his diapers. If Jesus was born today, he would wear pampers, he would suck a pacifier and drink from his mother's breast. He would be a human. He would burp and he would throw up on you.
He he would drink too much and get an upset tummy. He was a human. God in human flesh is a mystery. 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, when Paul speaks of God's entire plan of salvation, revealed in the gospel, the Apostle Paul says by common confession: great is the mystery of godliness. What is this mystery of godliness?
He who was revealed in the flesh. The word became flesh. His deity was not converted into our humanity in the incarnation, the eternal Son of God. Who has forever existed, not subordinate to the Father, but equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, as we confess in our Nicene Creed. In the incarnation, the eternal Son assumed our human nature.
Can't explain it. It's what happened. Great is the mystery of godliness. You know, I don't want to worship a God I can fully understand. I want mystery.
I want wonder. I want to be amazed, and you're going to see in a moment that these folks, when this happened, they were amazed. The incarnation is the most amazing event in all of history. The eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinitely holy Son of God, assuming human nature, living among us as the God-man in one person. Who wants to explain that today?
Even the religious pluralist John Hick. who didn't believe anything in the Bible. Wrote this. If Jesus was indeed God incarnate, Christianity is the only religion founded by God in person and must as such be uniquely superior to all other religions. I think he's exactly right.
Here's the third thing I want you to note about the Song of the Angels. The Song of the Angels is in keeping with the humility of God in the incarnation. The birth of a king's son Was typically made an occasion of public reveling and rejoicing, right? The kings had a son. That's a big deal.
But the announcement of the birth of Jesus, the great Prince of Peace, was made privately at midnight without any worldly pomp and no ostentation whatsoever. It came to a bunch of common shepherds in the middle of a field. When we consider the condescension of the eternal Son of God, he did not come in glory and splendor riding on the great white horse. Oh, he will. Don't forget.
But not this time. He was born in a stable and he was laid, Luke says, in a manger. Do you know what the word manger really means? We need to get rid of the word manger. Because it doesn't give you the Punch.
He was laid in an animal feeding trough. Who has a dog? Where's the cat? Have you ever smelled your dog or cast bowl if you haven't cleaned it out for two or three weeks, maybe a month? Where he eats from, it's not too clean, it doesn't smell too good.
Jesus was laid in an animal feeding trough. The Great King. He came to common people, shepherds. He didn't come to rulers and to the mighty. He came to an obscure Jewish virgin in her humble state.
She was the ordinary wife of a village carpenter, unheard of. What an amazing condescension by the Lord of glory. to stoop to such a low and poor state for our sake. This is amazing.
Now look again Because The amazing thing to note about this Song of Angels is that instead of assembling his heavenly army to fight and destroy his enemies, God sends his heavenly army to announce terms of peace on the battlefield. Look at verse 14. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased. The angels revealed to the shepherds through their praise what the result of Jesus' coming means for God's people.
So, this brings us to the second part of the hymn of praise, the second stanza. Here it is: they're praising God for the saving benefits He gives to His people through the birth of His Son. What are the two benefits that the angels praise God for? It's very clear. Peace on earth.
The angels praise God for the peace that He brings. Christ's birth brings peace. And they're praising God for this benefit of peace. The song continues: Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, peace.
Now last week, if you go back to Luke chapter 1, verse 79, Zechariah's song of hope, his hymn of hope, sets up and anticipates the angel song here. Because in verse 79, Zechariah He ends with this. He's prophesying that what Jesus will bring to sinful man, he says that when Jesus is born, man will come to have peace with God. Because the tender mercy of our God. Who is revealed in the sunrise from on high will visit us and guide us into the way of peace.
And what Zachariah in hope was prophesying through his song. The angels are announcing in their song fulfillment from heaven. Here's the piece. Right in front of your eyes. And so the angels announced that the great king has been pleased to announce peace to his enemies, with whom he was formerly in deadly opposition.
Do you know what the word peace means? It means the harmonious relationship that exists between God and humans. It's the Old Testament concept of the word that you've heard, shalom. Listen to the erotic blessing from Numbers chapter 6, verses 24 through 26. The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you shalom. Give you peace. Listen to Psalm 29, verse 11, where David declares this: The Lord Yahweh will bless his people with peace. He will bless his people with peace.
Look at Luke chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. Luke says that the shepherds are greatly terrified by the glory of the Lord, which shone around them like an overpowering light. All of a sudden, it was daylight at midnight. And so he says, in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.
Listen, sinful man should be terribly frightened by the glory of the Lord. They were rightly frightened. In other words, they were scared spitless. Listen to Revelation chapter 1, verse 17, where the Apostle John, who was called the beloved disciple of Jesus, he was the closest man who has ever been the closest with Jesus. But listen to what happens to the beloved disciple when he encounters the glorious risen Son of God.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. If Jesus at that point doesn't say to John, as you'll hear in a minute, fear not. John had every reason to remain on the ground and to be terribly frightened. The good news, however, is that because Jesus died and rose again, he has the keys of death and hell in his hands, and he gives those keys. to his people.
And so John doesn't have to fear.
So listen to the whole passage, Revelation 1:17 and 18. He placed his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid. Afraid. I am the first and the last, and the living one, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hell. In the same way, when the angel of the Lord announces to the shepherds, fear not, they had every reason to fear.
These are God's soldiers coming from heaven. And they perfectly obey the king's commands. But note this well: the king, through his ambassadors from heaven. have come to the battlefield announcing peace, not war. God is coming to his enemies announcing peace.
They are now seeing Good news of great joy. This war is over. Article 2 in the 39 articles says this. It says that the word or the son of God became truly man. He truly suffered.
He was crucified, died, and was buried. Why? To reconcile the Father to us. Did you know that's the only Reformed confession of all the Reformed confessions that uses that phrase to reconcile the Father to us? Most talk about us being reconciled to the Father, which is true.
But Jesus became a man, suffered, crucified, died, and was buried to reconcile the Father to us. Why? What does reconciliation assume? It assumes a previous state of alienation and hostility caused by the offensive actions of another. And in this case, our alienation from the Father is due entirely to our sinful rebellion, and this estrangement is solely our fault.
Psalm chapter 5, verse 5. You hate all who do wrong. Have you ever thought about that? In our sinful fallen state, we are enemies of God the Father. And he is hostile towards us.
His wrath is against us. His judgment stands over us. God's hatred is not to be thought of as some terms of sinful, human, murderous hatred where God's just like this overbearing ogre. His hatred is simply his just and holy revulsion against sin and all that is holy. Your eyes are too pure, Habakkuk says, to look upon evil.
And so reconciliation, this estrangement, we are enemies. Of God, and we need the Father reconciled to us. But despite their estrangement from God, the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40 verses 1 through 2 announces comfort to the people of God who are estranged from him in exile in Babylon. And listen to what the prophet says to these people who are alienated in exile from God. Comfort.
Comfort my people, says your God. It has been said that the first generation proclaims the gospel, the next assumes it, and the third denies it. To ensure every generation rediscovers the core truths of the gospel, you're invited to the Reformation Conference hosted by Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida from January 17 to 19, 2025. Presented by the Wittenberg Center for Reformation Studies, this conference will explore the five solas: scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and glory to God alone, truths rediscovered during the 16th century Reformation. These teachings are just as vital for the church today as they were back then.
Renowned scholars Dr. Ashley Null, Jonathan Leinbaugh, R. Scott Clark, and Michael Horton will lead us in a spiritually enriching exploration of these foundations of the faith. Visit conference.paramountchurch.com to secure your spot today. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended.
Because her iniquity is pardoned. We are no longer enemies at war with God. We are now at peace since we have been justified by faith. We have peace. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have peace because in Romans 5:10, listen carefully. While we were enemies, We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Peace. Honors. through this child.
This is good news. This is the reason the angel's announcement of peace is so amazing. The king's servants unexpectedly appear, announcing from heaven: We're not here to destroy you, we're here to announce the reconciliation back to the Father through Jesus, this child born to you today. This child is not a cause for fear. It is good news of great joy.
It's exactly what every terrified heart longs for. If your heart is terrified of God, if your heart is terrified of judgment, listen to Martin Luther. A troubled and sorrowful heart craves nothing more than peace and comfort to know that it has a gracious God. This is what the angels are announcing. You've got a gracious God.
He's brought peace through his son. Luther goes on to say You must not imagine that Christ is angry with you. For he did not come to earth and become man for that reason, that he might shove you into hell. Much less was he crucified and died for that purpose. Instead, he came that you might have great joy in him.
That was his Christmas Eve sermon over 500 years ago to his church. The war is over. The alienation, the divine displeasure toward us from the Father because of our sin has been removed. We're not enemies of God, we're at peace with God. And so, notice who the angels announced, who are the recipients of God's peace at the end of this hymn.
Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace. among men with whom he is pleased. What a song. Right?
God's peace extends to men with whom He is pleased. The war is not only over, and you're not only not God's enemies, who's in grave danger, you are the delight of His eyes. He's pleased with you. And so this brings us to the second benefit that the angels praise God for: not only his sovereign peace, but his sovereign favor. Christ's birth brings peace, which then brings us into the favor and the light of God.
This phrase, men with whom he is pleased, that was a technical phrase in first-century Judaism that stood for God's elect. You know, election in the church gets a bad rep. But election in the church is always tied to the goodwill of the Father. It's love before time. It's affection before time.
Listen, peace to those on whom God has poured out his delight and favor upon. Who are these people in this context? God's elect, those whom God has poured out his favor, is Mary. Look back at Luke chapter 1, verse 28. The angel Gabriel says to Mary, greetings.
Favored one. The Lord is with you. Look again, verse chapter 1, verse 30. Gabriel says to Mary, Do not be afraid. There it is again.
Do not be afraid. Mary, for you have found favour. With God. We have already seen from the Song of Elizabeth how Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, says that Mary is the object of the Lord's divine favor delight. She's the object of grace.
The angel Gabriel, Mary, you are the blessed one. You are the favored one. This is passive. This is all reception. Mary hasn't done anything.
It's God's election and grace that have singled her out among all women. All mothers of Israel, as we've learned from all these songs, we're living in thousands of years of anticipation. Who will be the mother to be the offspring of the woman? It's Mary. Why?
Just because God favored her. That's why. You have found favor with God. This, again, is a common Hebrew expression announcing God's unmerited favor. You haven't done anything for this favor.
God's favor is not only different from worthy, it's the very opposite. Mary even acknowledges her own unworthiness in her own song. And so Paul in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6. Uses the exact same verb that he uses for Mary. Mary, you found favor with God.
He uses the exact same verb in chapter 1, verse 6 of Ephesians to speak to us. He has made us accepted. He has made us favored, the object of God's sovereign delight in the beloved. In Christ. God's great favor with which He favored us through His dearly loved Son.
And so it is not in judgment, but in grace, that God has sent his army of heaven with this good news.
So, let me ask you a question as we think about Christmas. If someone were to ask you today, Is God pleased with you? What would you answer? How would you respond? Do you believe that you are the object of God's sovereign delight?
You see, the joyful astounding truth of the angel's announcement is that God is pleased with his people. Peace on earth. to those with whom he is well pleased. the object of God's pleasure and delight.
So, how can you be pleasing to God if you're in your sinful, rebellious state and not pleasing to Him? Right? Well, verses 9 through 12, Luke tells us. The angel announces good news of salvation. I bring you good news of great joy to the shepherds.
After centuries and centuries of waiting, The Lord's promise in the Davidic covenant has been fulfilled in Mary's womb, and she has birthed the Son of David, who will reign forever and ever and bless his people. And so look at verse 11. The angel announces to the shepherds why their message is good news. Look at verse 11. Again, this is why God can be pleased with you.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
Now I'll just note a couple of quick observations about this as we wrap this up. First of all, the angels say Christ is born this day. Galatians 4:4, in God, in the fullness of time, God the Father sent forth his Son. Just has been foretold and promised 800 years before Christ was born. The prophet Micah in Micah chapter 5, verse 2, foretold that Messiah, the shepherd king, would be born in Bethlehem.
the ancestral home of King David. And that's exactly what these angels are announcing. What was promised has been fulfilled.
Okay. But second, look at this, for unto you is born this day. A lot of babies are born on the day Jesus was born, right? But they weren't born unto you. This recalls the words of Isaiah 9:6.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. Many babies were born, but Jesus was born unto you. Jesus was given to us as a gift from the Father. And so you have not believed the gospel until you can say in faith. The Son was born and gifted by the Father to me.
to us. On this day he's been born unto you. Given to you by the Father. And then third note this. Look at this three-fold description of this baby who's laying in an animal feeding trough.
He is Savior Christ the Lord. All three titles appear over and over throughout the Old Testament. And so Mary's son, who is laying in an animal-feeding trough, is the Savior. That is a significant term in the Old Testament applied to God Himself. This term Savior in the Old Testament speaks of the God who delivers from various types of peril.
Let me just give you one example. Isaiah chapter 43, verses 3 and 11. Yahweh the Lord declares, For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I, even I am the Lord, and there is no Savior besides me. That is exactly what Peter says when he says, There's been given no other name under heaven and earth by which a man may be saved.
Jesus. Matthew chapter 1, verse 21, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, and he says, Mary She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Our sins are our greatest peril that we need deliverance and salvation from. And this is the child born unto you. He's Savior.
He is Yahweh of the Old Testament. Second, look at this, Mary's son is Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the anointed one. He is the anointed son of David.
Look back at Luke chapter 1, verses 31 through 33. This baby in the animal-feeding trough, listen, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. would be called the Son of the Most High. That's the descriptive title of deity.
And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. He is the anointed son Messiah of David. He is Savior God for the Old Testament. He is the Savior King because finally he's Lord. Savior Christ and Lord.
This word Lord, if you look at the Septuagint in the Greek translation in the Old Testament, that is the translation of the name Yahweh, and that is a covenant name that God gave himself. and revealed himself These two descriptive titles, Christ and Lord, Yahweh, further describe Savior. Listen to what these angels are announcing. They're describing Mary's newborn son in the highest possible terms that the Bible has. He is Savior.
He is anointed Messiah, son of David. He is Yahweh incarnate. He's God of the Old Testament in a baby's body. This baby was born above everything else to be a Savior, God incarnate, so that all who are terribly unpleasing to God can become exceedingly pleasing to Him. What greater joy is there to know that you are now the object of God's sovereign favor?
Why are you that? Because the Father's good pleasure comes to us in no other way than through Christ alone. Remember Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 I quoted just a second ago, it says that we have been favored. Grace. In the beloved capital B in Christ.
Listen carefully. Through the gift of faith, the Holy Spirit unites us to The Beloved. And when we're united to the beloved, you know what we receive from that? The same commendation that he receives from his father. Because over and over, the New Testament describes God's people as the beloved of the Father, as the beloved of God.
You have the exact same name as the son himself. And so the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9 verse 25 He quotes Hosea chapter 2, verse 23, and he says of the Christian, Those who are not my people, I will call my people, and those who are not beloved. They were not desirable. They were not an object of anything but enemies to me. Those who were not beloved, I will call beloved.
We who are in the beloved become the beloved of the Father through him. And so we must believe this good news. We must believe this good news. The good news announced by that angel in this hymn is that because there has been born for you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, a holy and righteous God, brings you peace where you are an enemy and brings you favor, makes you the beloved where you were not before. Do you begin to see why the angels are rejoicing about this?
This is something to sing about. We should sing this. This is something to sing about, isn't it? That you're not God's enemy, that you are His object of favor forever because you're in the beloved Son who was born for you this day. That's something to sing about.
What should be our response? Let me give you three suggestions, okay? First, amazement. Look at verse 18 of Luke chapter 2. All who heard it We're amazed.
And what the shepherds told them. This word translated amazed, it means to wonder, to marvel. When the shepherds came to the place of Jesus' birth and they shared with all who were present, Joseph and Mary and all the animals, right? The response to the things that they had just seen and heard, these people were in utter marvel amazement. You gotta be kidding.
Right? No, I mean, we were just sitting here. I mean, it was daylight. And this angel and then the whole Army of heaven came. And they said, Good news, don't be afraid.
This is good news, a great joy. And so we came, and now we're telling you, and here he is. I mean, this is amazing. That's what it would have been like. These people were flabbergasted.
The surprising appearance of a whole army from heaven. Darkness turned to immediate light, blinding light of the glory of the Lord, dispersing the darkness, bright as day. Good news of great joy, the long-awaited promise for over 2,000 years. Fulfilled in an obscure Jewish virgin's womb. Wow, let's get away from the sentimental, ridiculous song Away in the Manger.
Just throw that song away. No crying he makes. Really? He assumed all humanity.
So, as Gregory Nazianza said, what he did not assume, he did not heal. He assumed not only a body but a human soul. He was 100% me to save me. Let's be amazed. Over the mystery of God assuming human flesh.
Second, Let's give very careful consideration. Look at verse 19. Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. She treasured She stored up for careful consideration in her memory. The gospel.
I mean the gospel just came out of her. You ever thought about that? Come on, listen. She had a miraculous conception. She had an ordinary birth.
The birth wasn't miraculous. Because God had to be human. She was giving careful thought to God just came out of me. This is my Savior. This is my king.
This is Christ. The word Yahweh incarnate. Holy moly, right? I mean, good night. Just Go home and give As best you can, Careful.
Consideration like Mary. To this unsearchable, incomprehensible mystery called the God-man, and just chew on it for a while. And then third and finally, this is very simple. Praise Look at verse 20. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
as it had been told them. God's peace and favor. Revealed in the sending of the His Son to be a Savior for sinners, produced in the shepherd's heart a heart of glorifying and praising God. This was not the shepherd's returning with a bogey clap. This was the Shepherds at the last hole up in Augusta, where it's a tied match with the worst player who's ever played in the history of golf, and he's not even on the tour.
He's about to win the Masters, and he is a hole in one from a par five. This is better than that. And you just hear a master roar like, whoa. This is the most stupendous event in the history of the world. And the shepherds are glorifying and praising God, rejoicing.
Christ was born unto us by the good will of our Father. All of the benefits of our salvation are owing to the Father's good will towards us. The Son brings us peace. The Son brings us into favor. He is the blessed offspring of Eve, who is going to be born to crush the serpent's head.
He is the blessed offspring of Abraham, and whom all the nations will be blessed. And he is the offspring of David, and he will reign forever and ever, and his kingdom will know no end, and he will reign not in judgment, but in blessing to his people. That's who's born to you this day.
So, the good news leads us to echo the language of the inhabitants of heaven. And to sing the language of heaven, listen. Glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among men with whom he is well pleased. Praise be and thanks be to God.
Amen. No. Let's pray, Father. We thank you. We thank you for this amazing announcement of good news from the battlefield.
The war is over. You don't have enemies, but you have beloved. Thank you for the peace and favor that you have brought to us through the birth of your Son. Forgive us forever. Being haughty and prideful when the eternal Son condescended in such humility and stooped so low.
to be placed in a human body. and put in an animal feeding trough for our salvation. Help us. to give careful consideration to the Mystery of godliness, he who is revealed in the flesh. And give our hearts wonder and amazement.
We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Him Proclaim is heard daily on several radio stations, and if you're not near one of those stations and want to hear it live, there's a couple of ways. Go to ilovethetruth.com, or I'll put a link in the description for an app you can use as well. Two more things.
Don't forget about our Reformation conference. I'll put a link to that as well. And if you like audiobooks, John has a great audiobook that came from his series called Do You Not Know? All the links are in a description. On behalf of Pastor John, thanks so much for listening.
See you next time.
