September 05 2024

Thursday September 05

“Which Will Be to All People”

Luke 2:8-14

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, 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, goodwill toward men!"

For several days we have been looking at this first public proclamation in Luke of the Gospel by the angel to the shepherds “living out in the fields”. Remember Luke was writing his Gospel to confirm the historical account of Jesus and His life on earth (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3). I believe that Luke may have taken the time to find one of these shepherds and to personally interview him about that night when they were paid a surprise visit by this angel and then later joined by “a multitude of the heavenly host”. I’m convinced that this detailed account was not made up to enhance the story of Christmas!

The shepherds were terribly shaken and afraid as this angel appeared standing before them, and the light of the “glory of the Lord” must have lit up the whole area around them. They no doubt were aware of the stories of the appearances of angels and God’s glory in the Old Testament, and usually that meant some type of immediate judgment. Now fear can be both a bad thing and a good thing.

There is a fear that we might have that paralyzes us, like fear of failure, fear of opposition, fear of rejection, and so on. This fear keeps us from doing the will of God and proves we are not really trusting and believing Him and His Word. But there is another fear that is good. In Jude 1:22-23 we are told: “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”  

Some people, like myself, respond to the Gospel message because of the fear of spending an eternity in hell apart from God. I had memorized Mark 8:35-38 as a child and couldn’t get away from it as a teenager. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

It was fear of eternal judgement that brought me to repentance as a nineteen-year-old teenager! For sure, this “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, as the Scriptures repeat many times. The devil and Bible haters would like to use this fear of eternal punishment in the Bible to cause you to reject this kind of God that threatens to do this to those who reject Him. But listen to what the angel went on to say! He continued to say that he was bringing a “message of great joy which shall be to all people.”

Jesus did come first to His own people; the Jews, and they rejected Him (John 1:11-12). “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”  Oh, how I love the next word, “But”!!!!! The message of hope, peace, and salvation is for everyone and anyone who will believe and receive!!!!  “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”.

As the angel said, this message of “great joy” is for “all” the people of the world! It is for the rich and poor, the servant and the king. It is for the head-hunter in the jungle as much as the person in America. It is for the people in every tribe, kindred, and nation. For the greatest of sinners and for those who don’t seem to be so bad! Yes, it is for anyone, everyone, anywhere!

Thank the Lord, one day I realized that I was one of those “all” people. There is a Savior for me!!!! Jesus died for me! If you have never received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I plead with you to do so today before it is eternally too late!!!!

God bless!