December 4

While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By Night

by Joe Core

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djsrHS2_aP0

This Christmas song provides us with a means to remember and proclaim each year the joyful announcement of Christ’s advent. This announcement is an invitation by God’s angel to hardworking shepherds who were faithfully attending their flocks to visit His Son lying in a manger in Bethlehem.

The shepherd’s initial reaction to the appearance of the angel was extreme fear. The angel kindly instructed them not to fear because he was bringing a message to them of good news of great joy for all people… “for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you:  you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

The word gospel literally means “good news” and this song and its gospel text, Luke 2:8-14, are chock-full of good news. It is good news because all people, young and old, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile can receive it (Rom 1:16). It is good news because Jesus, mankind’s Savior, has been born, and because Jesus is the promised One to come, the Messiah who frees all who believe in Him from enslavement to sin (Isaiah 53).

Unlike so many in Bible times and in our present day culture, these shepherds heard the angel’s message of Christ’s birth, believed it, and they were the first to see Jesus. Today all who hear and believe that Jesus is the Christ, behold Him as their risen Savior who takes up residence within their hearts allowing them to experience everlasting joy. Rejoice!