LUKE 2:8-20

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WE ARE NOW IN OUR FOURTH WEEK OF A SERIES OF MESSAGES ON CHRISTMAS. We have learned that Jesus’ birth was prophesied hundreds of years before the event. And we have learned that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and in that study we looked into a lot of the fascinating details of His birth.

THIS WEEK CHRISTMAS AND NEXT WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THE SHEPHERDS WHO played such an important role in the events surrounding Jesus’ birth…

AGAIN FROM OLD AND REVERED KING JAMES BIBLE…

^KJV Luke 2:8-20 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  ¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  ¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  ¹⁵ And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  ¹⁶ And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.  ¹⁷ And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  ¹⁸ And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.  ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.  ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

ISN’T THAT MAGNIFICENT?! The haunting simplicity of Luke’s description, the matchless poetic language of the Bible. Together with last week’s message from the first 7 verses of chapter two, we have the Christmas Story from the gospel of Luke. In verses 8-20 Luke turns from the birth of Jesus to the proclamation, of that miraculous, unprecedented event. This week and next we will look at a number of details in Luke’s account of the Christmas story and be blessed by our time in God’s Word concerning the Christmas Story, specifically Jesus’ birth, the shepherds’ abiding, and the marvelous proclamation of “Glory to God in the Highest!”

“EVENTS OCCUR ACCORDING TO THE PROPHETIC WORD OF GOD (2:15, 20, 21). God is at work, while heaven speaks and watches. Shepherds are amazed, while parents reflect. Before a vast audience of varied responses, salvation comes into the world of time and space in a new way, in the unprecedented, incomparable form of unique being, the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 2:8-20 is a simple picture of profound truth, painted with a flurry of activity. With a song in its heart, heaven sent Jesus to earth.” – Bock/TAR

“HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING, ‘Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled.’ Joyful, all ye nations, rise, Join the triumph of the skies; With angelic hosts proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’ Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.’”

THE BEAUTIFUL SIMPLICITY OF THE BIBLICAL TEXT…

^KJV Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

THE SCENE HAS SWITCHED FROM THE INTERIOR OF BETHLEHEM TO THE EXTERIOR, FROM THE MANGER TO THE COUNTRYSIDE. “In the same country” connects v. 8 and what follows to v. 7 and what went before. It is night, the same night that the baby Jesus was being born. The Shepherds are in the “same country.” This note, along with the fact, as we shall see, that the shepherds were able to travel from the fields to the place where Jesus was born in a short while, leads scholars to believe that the shepherds were tending sheep for future sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem, just 6-7 miles away. Why do scholars believe this? Because shepherds wouldn’t be in close proximity to the villages and cities of Israel unless this was the case…

“SHEPHERDS WERE DESPISED BY THE ‘GOOD,’ RESPECTABLE PEOPLE of that day. According to the Mishnah (Jewish commentary on the O.T. – TAR), shepherds were under a ban. They were regarded as thieves. The only people lower than shepherds at that particular time were lepers (other sources include prostitutes – TAR).

THAT IS FASCINATING, IS IT NOT? The shepherds might have been raising and tending sheep who would be killed for religious sacrifice in the “same country” where the Lamb of God was born…

^NKJ John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

MAY WE NEVER FORGET AT CHRISTMAS: JESUS WAS BORN TO DIE…

^NAS Matthew 1:21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”

HE WOULD TAKE AWAY SIN AND SAVE FROM SIN BY DYING. The precious Lamb of God…

LET ME SHARE WITH YOU MORE ABOUT SHEPHERDS…

“SHEPHERDING IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST PROFESSIONS, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat, and especially their wool. Over the next millennia sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as pigs and chickens. To maintain a large herd, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture, this required the development of a profession separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing. In ancient times shepherds also often milked their sheep and made cheese from this milk.” – Internet…

“THESE SHEPHERDS WERE MODEL HEARERS… They were eager listeners, instant seekers, ardent believers, reverent worshippers, and earnest preachers. Note that ‘they came with haste’ (v. 16), and ‘they made known abroad the saying’ (v. 17).” – W.H. Griffith Thomas

SHEPHERDS WERE ON THE BOTTOM RUNG OF THE SOCIAL LADDER. It didn’t take much to be a shepherd, as was demonstrated by many children being shepherds. Shepherds were uneducated. Being around their flock constantly they smelled horrible. And yet many of the Patriarchs from the O.T., as you know, were shepherds. Those who teach that because the shepherds were so lowly, they should be seen as pictures of sinners teach wrongly. Shepherds in the Bible are seen in a positive light, even describing N.T. church leaders as shepherds. Abraham was a shepherd (Gen 13). Isaac was a shepherd (Gen 26). Jacob and Jacob’s sons were shepherds (Gen 30, 37). David was a shepherd (1 Sam 16). And, of course, in the N.T., none other than Jesus Himself is called a Shepherd: “the Good Shepherd” John 10. Though ancient shepherds were social outcasts, in the Bible the profession is treated with the utmost respect and even exaltation…

^NKJ Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

“THE ANGEL WAS NOT SENT TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS or the elders (they were not prepared to receive these tidings), but to a company of poor shepherds.” – Henry

SHEPHERDS WERE LOWLY, HUMBLE, RECEPTIVE TO THE WORD OF GOD.

I AM PRAYING WE WILL ALL LEARN A GOOD LESSON THIS WEEK FROM THE SHEPHERDS.

A COUPLE OF INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT V. 8… In reading through this passage in the Greek I noticed that the word “watch,” as it reads in our English Bibles is actually a plural in the Greek: “watches,” meaning the shepherds likely tended the sheep in shifts. The plural “shepherds” along with the plural “watches” probably indicates that there were several shepherds with their flocks out in the fields. Instead of a few sheep, there were probably hundreds.

IT IS BELIEVED THAT MORE THAN 250,000 LAMBS WERE NEEDED annually for sacrifices in the Temple. Shepherding may have been a lowly occupation, but it was a vital one in ancient Israel…

IN LUKE 2 IT IS OUT IN THE BARREN, PROBABLY COLD FIELDS around the little city of Bethlehem… No cars, no planes flying overhead, no lights, no incidental sounds of televisions, iPods or computers. It would be very still and very dark.

AND THEN, SEEMINGLY OUT OF NOWHERE AN ANGEL APPEARED!

^KJV Luke 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

AN (not “the”) ANGEL OF THE LORD “CAME UPON THEM,” THE KJV SAYS. The Greek word εφιστημι (ef-is-tay-me) literally means to stand beside, to come suddenly upon. Can you imagine? Luke uses this particular word more than any other writer in the Bible. For example, he uses it to describe the angels attending the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ…

^NAS Luke 24:4 And it happened that while they (the women at the tomb – TAR) were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel;

LUKE USES THE SAME WORD IN ACTS 12:7 when the angel came to Peter who was in jail at the time for having been a bold witness of the Lord…

^NAS Acts 12:7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.

AND NOT ONLY THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE, BUT THE TEXT ALSO SAYS THAT “THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE ROUND ABOUT THEM”!

“’GLORY’ IS THE SPLENDOR ASSOCIATED WITH GOD’S PERCEPTIBLE PRESENCE.” – Nolland from Word Biblical Commentary.

GLORY IS THE MANIFESTED PRESENCE OF GOD, OFTEN DISPLAYED IN DAZZLING MAGNIFICENCE; it is His character, His attributes expressed; it is His weight, His inestimable worth revealed in His creation. “The glory of God refers first and foremost to the sheer weight of the reality of His presence” – Hard Sayings

IN MY STUDIES OF THE WORD IN BOTH HEBREW AND GREEK, I have found that definition to be most accurate.  I also like this abbreviated statement about God’s glory: “His weighty presence” – Tommy Tenney

THE HEBREW WORD FOR “GLORY” IS כָּבוד(ka-vode). The word literally means weight; something that is impressive because of its weightiness.

WHENEVER I TEACH ON GLORY, I AWAYS STRESS TWO CHARACTERISTICS: IT IS SHINEY AND IT IS HEAVY.

“TERRIBLY FRIGHTENED,” THE NAS SAYS, “Absolutely terrified,” the NET Bible says. “Filled with fear,” the ESV says. Again, can you imagine what that must have been like for the shepherds? And then, the angel spoke to them!

^KJV Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

THE BIRTH OF JESUS BRINGS GREAT JOY! I pray you are experiencing that joy this Christmas season.

“ALL PEOPLE” SHOULD NOT BE SEEN IN THE SENSE OF INCLUDING GENTILES, non-Jews. The entire context up to this point in Luke has been about the people of Israel (1:68, 72-74; 2:32). Jesus coming, the Messiah’s coming, was first a blessing to the Jews; only later was this blessing conveyed to Gentiles…

^KJV John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

“HIS OWN,” IN THIS VERSE – THOUGH THERE ARE CONVINCING ALTERNATE TRANSLATIONS – IN MY OPINION MOST LIKELY REFERS TO JEWS. Non-Jews are just as important to God, of course, but this fact should not cloud our understanding of the gospel accounts, which are heavily Jewish in all aspects…

^KJV Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

SEE? TO THE JEW “FIRST.”

THIS ONE WHO IS BORN IS A “SAVIOR” – THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD…

THE TERM “SAVIOR” SHOULD BE SEEN HERE AS THE JEWS OF THAT DAY would have understood it… “While referring to anyone who delivered from enemies, like a judge, in the O.T. the term primarily referred to God, the one who delivers man from various types of peril: enemies that seek to destroy and disease that seeks to kill” (Bock)…

^NAS Deuteronomy 20:4 for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

“IN GREEK CULTURE, ‘SAVIOR’ REFERRED EITHER TO gods who delivered or to humans who saved other humans from dangers; for example, doctors, rulers, and philosophers could be labeled ‘savior’ (σωτηρ so-tere). The term was popularly used of Roman rulers. Luke intends the reader to see the meaning in terms of rescue or delivery from peril, in both its physical and spiritual senses.” – Bock

MARY RECOGNIZED GOD AS SAVIOR…

^KJV Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

IS JESUS YOUR SAVIOR? Do you see Him as the One, the only One, who can deliver you from all dangers? He is that one; He is the only Savior…

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK…

– Professor Thomas A. Rohm