In Luke Chapter 2, an angel's announcement of the long-awaited Messiah's arrival was a pivotal moment and the shepherds who heard the announcement didn't just huddle up to ponder the meaning of what they'd just heard.
They were compelled to action. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg investigates the remarkable sign and song that spurred the shepherds immediate journey to Bethlehem. Now, we've been considering these events as recorded for us by Luke, and we've tried to say to one another, to remind one another, that the events that are here for us in Luke's gospel belong to a time that can be precisely defined and belong to a geographical area that can be equally defined. And that's why, when we began at the beginning of Luke chapter 2, we tried to pay attention to the way in which Luke decides to tie things in to the position and the role of Caesar Augustus. Now, Augustus was regarded highly.
He was responsible politically for establishing the Pax Romana, the peace which lasted for a fair amount of time, and his rule and his ability to secure his boundaries and to provide for his people afforded him all kinds of accolades. So he's a big man. He's a big man in world history. And he is the big man who heads up chapter 2. You would think that after a brief consideration of his status, that if an announcement concerning something as significant as this was going to arrive anywhere in that context, surely it would come to his jurisdiction.
But no. The angelic announcement comes to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay. What is Luke doing here? Well, he's beginning to announce the way in which God works. And all the way through his gospel, he's going to make it clear that while people might expect that God would be peculiarly interested in those who had status, those who were powerful, those who were mighty, in actual fact, again and again, he goes for the least and the last and the left out.
He works in a way that we might not anticipate him working. To you, to the shepherds, is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. It is into an environment in which the emperor was regarded as Lord that we have the announcement of the arrival of one upon whose shoulders will be the government of the very world, the one who is the wonderful counselor, who is the everlasting Father, who is the mighty God, who is the Prince of Peace. Now, all of that, then, has been unfolding and leads us to this statement made by the angel and the reminder to them of what they might expect. And so, in verse 12, I want you to notice the sign. This sign appears in first reading to be entirely straightforward and yet quite unusual. Well, what kind of sign is it? Is this a sign in order to produce belief?
This doesn't look anything like that, does it? And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths. You'll find a baby in a nappy, or, as you say, in a diaper. You will find a baby in a diaper.
Well, really, that doesn't seem like very much. What kind of sign is this? Well, then I thought about it some more, and I said, well, clearly it's not a sign in order to produce belief, but rather it is a sign in order that they might recognize who this child is. So when they would have gone into Bethlehem, they would have known that we're looking not in a palace, we're not looking for a child in royal robes, we're not looking for somebody who lives in a big house and in an ornate bedroom, but we're actually looking for somebody in a cave or in a shed or amongst the animals.
So that would, of course, narrow their sedge. Now, we're not told whether they hid it first time, bull's-eye, the first time they asked. But we must imagine that they went into town, as they were bid to do, saying, we're actually looking for a baby, and he's wrapped in swaddling cloths.
To which anybody would have replied, well, you haven't exactly narrowed your search on that basis, have you? Because after all, whoever had a baby and didn't put it in diapers? He would be wrapped in swaddling cloths. Ah, but he will be laid in a manger. We're looking for one that's probably out amongst the animals.
Do you have…? No! Why would we put my baby amongst the animals? Get out of here, you crazy shepherds! Why are you coming, waking me up in the middle of the night like this for? Put the baby in a manger!
Whoever heard of such a thing? Get on with you!" They must have said to one another, Are you sure we're on the right track here? He says, Yes, oh, for sure we are, the angel told us expressly, and lying in a manger. And of course, they eventually come upon him, and they recognize him on the basis of the sign. It's not unusual to have a baby in swaddling cloths. It is unusual to have a baby in a manger.
But I don't think that exhausts it either. I don't think it's a sign that is simply to provide for recognition. I think it is a sign in order to give to them an inkling of Luke's purpose here as he is explaining the way in which God works. You see, they would have to be struck by how vastly different is this child in a manger from the power and majesty of the Roman Empire, from this Caesar Augustus figure, from the person who establishes the glory of his name and the might of the empire, and the vast contrast between the announcement about he who is born in the city of David being a Savior, being Messiah, being Lord. Savior, Messiah, Lord. You will find him in a manger.
What? You will find the creator of the universe in a manger? On what basis did they proceed? The fact that the Lord had made it known to them. Verse 15, let us go and see this thing which has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. The shepherds realized that this was a divine visitation. They realized that they were proceeding on the basis of God's Word. But nevertheless, they were looking for the Savior, for the Messiah, for God himself in Christ, wrapped up in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough.
Now, in this brief, descriptive statement, we see the love of God displayed. That here we begin to get the insight into a God who comes to his people who have rebelled against him. As John puts it, he came to his own, and his own received him not. The people of God turning their back on him, looking down through the centuries, figuring things out on their own.
Despite their rebellion, despite their disinterest, still he comes, down through the years. Jesus came seeking to save those that are lost. That's why our consideration of the infancy narratives has always inevitably to push us forward to Calvary, to take us from this cradle in a manger to this Jesus on a cross. And very quickly, in church history, iconographers and artists combine these two scenes.
And if you know anything of Christian art, religious art, you will have seen evidence of this. And what they did was they saw in this place, in this altar, as it were, in this manger scene, they saw a foreshadowing of Christ. If it is accurate that Christ here is in a cave, then they saw him in this cave in light of him being in that cave.
What am I referring? Well, here, in verse 7, they wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger. In Luke chapter 23, they wrapped his body in a linen cloth and laid it in a tomb. And they said, here, in the swaddling of Christ in these cloths is the picture of that in which he was one day swaddled—from one cave to another cave. How about, you know, only the eye of faith can look on each scene and find in it God?
Wouldn't you agree? So, loved ones, if you do say that, then get down on your knees before you go to sleep tonight and bless God that he opened your blind eyes and softened your hard heart and made you one of his own and included you in the company of those with whom he is well pleased. Because by nature, our response is to say, There's no chance that that child in there is God.
There is no chance that that man up there is the Savior of the world. Only by grace, through faith, will the sign in its simplicity introduce us not to belief but to recognition and to interpretation. And finally, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to woo us and win us by the love of God. Oh, that you would love me like this! Oh, that you would prepare a gift for me like this! Oh, that you would marshal all the hosts of heaven in order to announce it for me!
I can't believe you love me! Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan! And, oh, the grace that brought it down to man! And the mighty gulf that God spent! Love was when God became a man. The sign.
Secondly, the song. And suddenly there was with the angel the multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Now, it makes sense that the multitude of the heavenly host should arrive to reinforce what has been said. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, reinforcing what this single angel had said, I'm here to let you know this good news of great joy. You'll find him in a manger.
Wow! And suddenly the reinforcements appeared. The Redeemer has come, and the angels of heaven are there to announce it for them. There is glory, and there is peace. It's an appropriate response that the heavens should ring with the glory of God. Because remember, the heavens declare the glory of God.
The firmament shows his handiwork. Therefore, with the apex of the self-revelation of God, surely the heavens would be filled with his glory once again. Here is the glory of God in all of its beauty, in all of its truth, in all of its love, in all of its justice, in all of its purity. And the angel sang, Glory to God, and on earth peace.
The Pax Romana is about to be dwarfed by the coming of he who is the Prince of Peace. So, the people are living. They're living in a political realm that is granted to them a measure of security. They are essentially walking in darkness, and into the darkness a light shines. That light shines in such a way that it reveals the darkness in which they live—not simply the darkness of an environment that is without God, but a darkness that shines into their hearts. And so we discover that the peace of God that is referenced here, on earth peace amongst those with whom he is pleased, or peace amongst those upon whom his favor rests, is one of the most difficult little phrases.
As you consider a variety of New Testaments in English, you will find that to be the case. But what is being said here? Well, the peace of God that invades a life is on the basis of the discovery of peace with God. You see, there is a direct relationship here with glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. Today, our newspapers are filled with all kinds of attempt at peace—peace between husbands and wives, peace between family members, peace between nations, and so on.
But this first-century observer is right. No matter how well we do at trying to establish that kind of peace, until we discover what it is to have peace with God, we're not gonna discover the peace of God. And the story of peace that is conveyed throughout the Gospel of Luke—indeed, throughout the Bible—is the story of a peace that is brought about by the intervention of God himself. Because as individuals, the Bible tells us we are alienated from God. We're separated from God.
We're separated on account of the fact that we have broken his law, that we've offended against him, that we are indifferent to him, that we've decided that we will try and fix everything in our own way. And so we try to find peace in our own way—peace through stuff, peace through a bottle, peace through whatever it might be. But we're not gonna give any glory to God. No, but you see, without the glory that is due to God alone, unless we are there, we will never discover the peace that he provides. So let me finish in this way, because we need to come to significance.
Let's say something along those lines. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds then said, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. It's interesting that they didn't say to one another, Well, you know what?
Let's give it a couple of days till all this settles down, and we'll go over and check it out later on. No, what an amazing announcement that has been made! What a discovery that we're going to have the opportunity now to go and see the Messiah of the world. Here is God breaking into time.
Here is he who is Lord and Savior, and they came with haste. Now, I've preached to you for a long time, many of you. And I've said these things to you hundreds of times, if not thousands.
And many of you still walk out the door. And in your mind, presumably, you say, I think he's got a point, or I think the Bible has a point, but you know, I'm gonna get to that later on. You will never be converted from the position of detached curiosity. When God opens your eyes, when God softens your heart, you will do as these shepherds did.
You will proceed directly to the place where you might meet him. You will not allow another hour to pass in your life. You will not allow another day to elapse in the calendar of your existence if and when he opens your eyes and shows you that this thing that you've known about for a long time is directly related to your dispiece, to your dysfunction, to your lostness, to your sin, to your rebellion, and that it is a manifestation of his love that he has been so patient with you as to allow you to keep walking away from his grace again and again and again. And they came with haste, and they found Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. If they discovered peace, they discovered it in Jesus. If you would discover peace, it is to Christ you need to go. Incidentally, don't get all off track when someone says to you, Look at all the wars in the world. If Christianity worked, there wouldn't be any wars in the world.
That's just silliness. There's nowhere in the Bible that it talks about all the wars in the world being stopped as a result of the coming of Jesus, not until the day when the lion lies down with the lamb, not until the day when all things are put to rights. And in the meantime, man's rebellion against God is revealed in the disquiet and discomforts of our everyday existence, and into time has come the Lord Jesus Christ. Our society this morning is sagging—sagging—beneath the burden of emptiness.
Every person with any kind of sensible ability to think knows that whatever the incurable sickness of our world is, it does not lie in economic inequity. It does not lie in the superficial things that we've tried for decades and centuries to fix. It lies in the fact that we are by nature at war with God and God at war with us. And into that warfare he has sent the one who is the Prince of Peace, and in whom there is peace, and without whom there is no peace. This is a peace that isn't found in something. It's a peace that is found in someone.
And it is a peace that pursues us, seeks us, comes knocking on the door of our lives through books we read and friends who talk to us, and every so often through a sermon that's preached. But you remember what gave rise to this whole scenario, this whole manger thing. Why was he in a manger in the first place? Why is he in a feeding trough? Why is the God of heaven in a feeding trough? Because there was no room anywhere else. There was no room. He made the entire universe. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. He made the universe, and when he came to his universe, there wasn't a sensible place for him to be.
What kind of thing is this? Well, let's be honest. In many of our lives it's a nap metaphor, isn't it? Because we have no room for him either. No room for the baby at Bethlehem's Inn, only a cattle shed. No room on this earth for the dear Son of God, nowhere to lay his head.
Only a cross did they give to our Lord, and only a borrowed tomb. And today he is seeking a place in your heart. Will you still say to him, no room? You'll fill your emptiness up with something.
Your substitute gods will never satisfy you. You were made for a relationship with God himself. He calls out to you.
He loves you. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. At Truth for Life our prayer is that today would be the day you hear God's voice and make room in your heart for the Savior, the Prince of Peace, God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The global outreach of the Gospel through Truth for Life is made possible by God's grace and your financial support. And as we come to the final days of 2024, we rely on your giving to close this year with the financial resources necessary to meet our obligations. So would you give a needed donation today? Any amount supports our work. And to show our gratitude, we want to invite you to request a copy of the book Every Moment Holy Volume 3. This is a book of short, thoughtful prayers that will help you recognize the presence of God in small things we so often overlook. Our offices are closed this week while our team celebrates Christmas, but you can still make a year-end donation securely online at truthforlife.org slash donate.
Or you can mail your donation to Truth for Life at post office box 398000 Cleveland, Ohio 44139. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow we'll learn why Christmas isn't just a holiday we can choose to celebrate. It's an event that confronts us with a critical decision. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.
