Christmas causes us to ask the question, “Who is this?” If you were to ask the people of Nazareth, they may say: “he was Mary and Joseph’s son, who grew up a carpenter.” Jesus was not warmly received by everyone. In Mark 6, He went to his hometown of Nazareth and was coldly received by his peers and others with whom He was raised.
If you were to ask the disciples, they would say: “He is the Lord of glory, who even the wind and waves obeyed Him!” (See Mark 4:35-41)
If you were to ask the angels of heaven, they would say: “He is good news for all people- the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2 is a familiar Christmas passage, one about the Greatest Gift of All. It contains an announcement, news made public. Announcements are as useful to today as they were 2,000 years ago. Throughout history, they have come in varied mediums. In the Ancient Near East, they were given audibly. Today, we see them come across the ticker on our television set. We hear them over an intercom, or read them on the front page of the newspaper. An announcement is meant to inform, to prepare us. With this in mind, we must ask, what was the greatest announcement of all time? Its bearers: the angels of heaven. Its hearers: the shepherds of Palestine. It’s content: God. It was and remains today the most important announcement of human history.
But today, we see how the angels appeared to the shepherds and answered the question: “Who is this?”
THIS GIFT WAS GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE.
Let me explain. Luke 2:10 reads, But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. The angel brought to the shepherds of long ago, …good news of great joy that will be for all the people. When was the last time you heard some really good news? If we pick up our local newspapers or flick on the news at ten, we are given plenty of bad news. But the angels said this would be good news for all people. In other words, all people without distinction. We see this in the message’s first recipients. It would not be for just the rich or ruling. It was not exclusive to the merchant class. Shepherds were not your upper middle class of ancient Palestine. They were poor and smelled bad. Rather, this announcement would be good news for all people: black and white, men and women, poor and rich, ruling and ruled.
Do you need good news? The application to you this: Jesus came for you regardless of your race, your gender or your assets. He came in spite of who you are or what you have done. He came to provide for your greatest need. Christ came for you. Do you know that if you were the only one on this earth, Jesus still would have come to die on the cross for you? And this is good news. But why, you might ask? Next, we find that…
THE GIFT WAS A PERSON, BUT NO ORDINARY PERSON.
Once again, …the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. The reason that Christmas is good news to you and me is because Jesus is the world’s only Savior. In order to appreciate the good news, you must first understand the bad news. You see each one of us has disobeyed God from birth. Since the fall of humankind, not a one of you was taught how to lie, how to be selfish, how to steal. You do that naturally. The late R.C. Sproul said, “We are not sinful because we sin; we sin because we are sinful.” Because the God of the universe is perfect in character, all sin greatly offends Him, and requires His judgment.
But God, in His love, sent Jesus to be the answer to our horrible predicament.
Jesus was God’s promised gift. At the time of the fall, we see from Genesis chapter three that God promised to put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Genesis 3 15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Jesus is the One who crushes Satan’s head. And for that, we must be thankful.
The birth of Christ answers our hearts greatest longing. He is the fulfillment of God’s promise Christmas is a reminder of hope, that God saw our greatest need and provided it for us. Someone once wrote:
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
Think about it. God, looking upon your plight, sent His only Son to deliver you from such a dilemma. This is why Jesus is called Savior. The Greek word means one who rescues, one who delivers, one who preserves. It is the same word used in Matthew 1:21 in which the angel said to Joseph concerning his fiancée Mary: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” That has been good news for me. Whereas I have offended God through my actions, a relationship with God can be reestablished through faith in the who came and gave His life for me.
Kevin DeYoung states:
“The point of the gospel is not that Jesus saves us from low self-esteem, or from singleness, or from our crummy job. Sin is our deepest, most fundamental, most pervasive problem. Other teachers and heroes may be able to save us from life’s stresses and disappointments, but with this problem of sin, there is only One who can save, and His name is Jesus.”
Jesus was also called Christ. This was His title. Christ was the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew term Messiah, God’s chosen One who was promised to come to redeem Israel.
And He was also known as Lord. Jesus is Lord. That means He is Master. He is God in the flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity, and the One who the angels worship.
Not to be overlooked was the fact that this message was delivered by angels, God’s messengers. Luke 2:13: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”
These angels bore the message to the shepherds. God’s most important messages were always delivered by angels. They would sometimes bring messages of judgement. Other times they would announce warning or doom. Still other times they would deliver messages of encouragement. Here, they chose to appear to shepherds, which tells us that God cares for the common person.
CONCLUSION
This gift is exactly what we needed. Dare I say Jesus is the reason we give gifts at Christmas time. American author E. B. White said: “To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year.”
I could never erase the guilt of my disobedience, Christ did it for me when He died on the cross. By virtue of His death, he saves those who come to Him by faith. Hebrews 7:25 tells us, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him… Christmas is good news because of what Christ did for us.
Let us never miss the meaning of Christmas. In December 1903, after many attempts, the Wright brothers were successful in getting their “flying machine” off the ground. Thrilled, they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: “We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas.” Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, “How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas.” The editor had completely missed the point! Don’t miss the point of Christmas. Jesus came for you.
Central to Life 