Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 2:10

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

10. good tidings ] the rendering of the verb euangelizomai (see on Luk 1:19).

of great joy ] See Isa 52:7; Isa 61:1; Rom 5:11; 1Pe 1:8. The contrast of the condition of despair and sorrow into which the heathen world had sunk and the joy of Christians even in the deepest adversity as when we find “ joy ” to be the key-note of the letter written to Philippi by the suffering prisoner St Paul is a striking comment on this promise. Even the pictures and epitaphs of the gloomy catacombs are rail of joy and brightness.

to all people ] Rather, to all the people, i. e. of Israel.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Luk 2:10

I bring you good tidings of great Joy.

Christmas-day lessons

1. The whole thought and idea of all that is told us about Christmas Day suggests the consoling, the cheering thought, that however gloomy our lot, however distressed our portion, God, the Almighty God, has not forsaken us.

2. There is the truth which the heathen, and we must also add, which Christians have often been very slow to acknowledge, that the Divine is only another word for the perfectly good, that God is goodness, and that goodness is God.

3. Let me take one special mark of the life of Christ which extends through the whole of it, by which His career from the cradle to the grave is distinguished from that of any of the other founders of religions. Let me sum it up in one expression which admits of many forms: He was the Mediator between the Divine and human, because He was the Mediator, the middle point, between the conflicting parts of human nature. (Dean Stanley.)

The joy-producing power of Christianity

1. What is Christianity itself, that is said to have this power of producing joy? It is that system of influence, which was designed of God, and which is destined to educate the whole human race to perfect manhood.

2. When we say that Christianity tends to produce joy, we are instantly pointed to the wretched condition of things which exists. Men say, Christianity produce joy! Have there ever been such bloody wars as it has produced? such quarrelling and dissensions? Where is your joy? Besides, these flighty angels may have said something about joy, but what did the Master Himself say! Did He not say Take up your cross &c.? I do not say, however, that Christianity instantly produces joy. I do not say that it produces joy always. While man is being educated into, I concede that there is much suffering. But it is not suffering for the sake of the suffering–not aimless void and useless suffering.

3. But while this grand education is evolving we must not think that joy is absent wholly, and we must not pass too summarily by what has actually been gained by Christianity in the production of joy in the world. The earliest period of Christian life I suppose to have been transcendently joyful. The apostles had nothing that men usually call elements of happiness. Yet I will defy you to find in literature, ancient or modern, so high a tone of cheerfulness as you will find in their history. And since the days of the apostles how many Christian men have there not been who have been lifted up into that sphere where joy abode with them. There is yet to be a revelation of what Christianity has done for the internal man. The whole range of joy throughout the world has been augmented and elevated. The civilized world in ancient times was never so happy as it is now. The world is better off to-day than it was at any five hundred years previous. Agassiz says that the growth of a plant is in three stages: first, by the root, which is invisible, and is the slowest and longest; second, by the stem, which is perhaps not half as long; third, by maturation or ripening, which is the quickest of all. So it is in history. The past has been largely occupied with root-growth in moral things. The present may be considered the period of growth by the stem. And I think we are standing on the eve of a period of growth by maturation and ripening. It is for me, therefore, a very joyful thought, not only that we have a religion which is joy-producing in its ultimate fruits, but that, looked upon comprehensively, it has already produced vast cycles of joy, and is going forward, not having expended half its force yet, to an era in which joy producing shall be more apparent, and upon a vaster scale, and with more exquisite fruit, and in infinite variety. (H. W. Beecher.)

Glad news

Christianity is glad news.

I. BECAUSE IT REVELED GOD TO MAN. Consider the state of the world before Christianity was born. Here and there an old sage had groped his way to a knowledge of the alphabet of truth. Here and there the Divine Spirit had communicated to a tribe or nation so much of the Divine wisdom that they lived faithful to their marriage vows, knew the blessings of home, acknowledged the rights of property and life to such an extent that they would not steal nor kill. But of God they knew little–of the life beyond the grave nothing. But when Christianity was born, a sun arose into the darkness of the world. Men saw what they had felt must be, but what they had never before seen. And chiefest among all sights revealed, stood God. The heavens were no longer a vacuum, Christianity told them that God is their Father.

II. BECAUSE IT REVEALED MAN TO HIMSELF. Never till Jesus was born–never till he had lived and passed away–did man know the nobility of his species. Never until God dwelt in the flesh could any man know what flesh might become. Never until the fulness of God was in man bodily, might the race get even a hint of that Divine receptiveness that, above all else perhaps, most nobly characterises human nature.

III. BECAUSE IT REVEALS GOD IN MAN. The proclamation of the angels is confirmed in our experience and corroborated by our knowledge that the birth of Christianity was indeed glad news to men, because it brought God out of distance and darkness into light, and made Him nigh, as He is nigh who shares our burdens, consoles our sorrows, and in every pinch and stress of disastrous fortune rescues us from peril and saves us from loss. (W. H. Murray.)

Christian joyfulness

Have you no song in you to-day? Have you received no mercy that can make you tuneful? Do you not know that birds sing when they get wings? And shall God wing you with powers and yet you remain silent? Look abroad over the world and see how it is being lifted towards Christ; how the old barbarisms are melting away; how the dungeons of old oppressions are crumbling into ruins; how the tyrannies that trampled on men are being shorn of their power. See the torch and the sword drop from the hand of persecution, now nerveless, but once potent to strike and to light the martyrs fire! Hear the chains of slavery snap! The ring and clash of the fetters falling from wrist and ankle sound round the world. What is doing it! Jesus is doing it. The Galilean has triumphed! Old things are passing away; behold, all things are becoming new! Is there no joy in our hearts at the sight of all this? Shall we sit stolid and unmoved while before our eyes the influence of the Birth is moving to its triumph, Should we do so, Religion would disown us as unworthy of her favours, and piety itself rebuke us as incapable of gratitude. (W. H. Murray.)

Joy born at Bethlehem

In our text we have before us the sermon of the first evangelist under the gospel dispensation. The preacher was an angel, and it was meet it should be so, for the grandest and last of all evangels will be proclaimed by an angel when he shall sound the trumpet of the resurrection, and the children of the regeneration shall rise into the fulness of their joy. The key-note of this angelic gospel is joy–I bring unto you good tidings of great joy. Nature fears in the presence of God–the shepherds were sore afraid. The law itself served to deepen this natural feeling of dismay; seeing men were sinful, and the law came into the world to reveal sin, its tendency was to make men fear and tremble under any and every Divine revelation. But the first word of the gospel ended all this, for the angelic evangelist said, Fear not, behold I bring you good tidings. Henceforth, it is to be no dreadful thing for man to approach his Maker; redeemed man is not to fear when God unveils the splendour of His majesty, since He appears no more a judge upon His throne of terror, but a Father unbending in sacred familiarity before His own beloved children. The joy which this first gospel preacher spoke of was no mean one, for he said, I bring you good tidings–that alone were joy: and not good tidings of joy only, but good tidings of great joy. Man is like a harp unstrung, and the music of his souls living strings is discordant, his whole nature wails with sorrow; but the son of David, that mighty harper, has come to restore the harmony of humanity, and where His gracious fingers move among the strings, the touch of the fingers of an incarnate God brings forth music sweet as that of the spheres, and melody rich as a seraphs canticle.

I. THE JOY mentioned in the text–whence comes it, and what is it?

1. A great joy.

2. A lasting joy.

3. A pure and holy joy. But why is it that the coming of Christ into the world is the occasion of joy? The answer is as follows:

(1) Because it is evermore a joyous fact that God should be in alliance with man, especially when the alliance is so near that God should in very deed take our manhood into union with His Godhead; so that God and man should constitute one Divine, mysterious person. From henceforth, when God looks upon man, He will remember that His own Son is a man. As in the case of war, the feud is ended when the opposing parties intermarry, so there is no more war between God and man, because God has taken man into intimate union with Himself. Herein, then, there was cause for joy.

(2) But there was more than that, for the shepherds were aware that there had been promises made of old which had been the hope and comfort of believers in all ages, and these were now to be fulfilled.

(3) But the angels song had in it yet fuller reason for joy; for our Lord who was born in Bethlehem came as a Saviour. Unto you is born this day a Saviour. God had come to earth before, but not as a Saviour. The Lord might have come with thunderbolts in both His hands, He might have come like Elias to call fire from heaven; but no, His hands are full of gifts of love, and His presence is the guarantee of grace.

4. This Saviour was the Christ. Anointed of God, i.e., duly authorized and ordained for this particular work.

(5) One more note, and this the loudest, let us sound it well and hear it well. which is Christ the Lord. Now the word Lord, or Kurios, here used is tantamount to Jehovah. Our Saviour is Christ, God, Jehovah. No testimony to His divinity could be plainer; it is indisputable. And what joy there is in this; for suppose an angel had been our Saviour, he would not have been able to bear the load of my sin or yours; or if anything less than God had been set up as the ground of our salvation, it might have been found too frail a foundation.

II. Follow Me while I briefly speak of THE PEOPLE. to whom this joy comes.

1. Observe how the angel begins, Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day. So, then, the joy began with the first who heard it, the shepherds. To you, saith he; for unto you is born. Beloved hearer, shall the joy begin with you to-day?–for it little avails you that Christ was born, or that Christ died, unless unto you a Child is born, and for you Jesus bled. A personal interest is the main point.

2. After the angel had said to you, he went on to say, it shall be to all people. But our translation is not accurate, the Greek is, it shall be to all the people. This refers most assuredly to the Jewish nation; there can be no question about that; if any one looks at the original, he will not find so large and wide an expression as that given by our translators. It should be rendered to all the people. And here let us speak a word for the Jews. How long and how sinfully has the Christian Church despised the most honourable amongst the nations! How barbarously has Israel been handled by the so-called Church! Jesus the Saviour is the joy of all nations, but let not the chosen race be denied their peculiar share of whatever promise Holy Writ has recorded with a special view to them. The woes which their sins brought upon them have fallen thick and heavily; and even so let the richest blessings distil upon them.

3. Although our translation is not literally correct, it, nevertheless, expresses a great truth, taught plainly in the context; and, therefore, we will advance another step. The coming of Christ is a joy to all people. Goodwill towards–not Jews, but men mall men. There is joy to all mankind where Christ comes. The religion of Jesus makes men think, and to make men think is always dangerous to a despots power. It is joy to all nations that Christ is born, the Prince of Peace, the King who rules in righteousness.

III. THE SIGN. The shepherds did not ask for a sign, but one was graciously given. Wilful unbelief shall have no sign, but weak faith shall have compassionate aid. Every circumstance is therefore instructive. The Babe was found wrapped in swaddling clothes.

1. There is not the remotest appearance of temporal power here.

2. No pomp to dazzle you.

3. Neither was there wealth to be seen at Bethlehem.

4. Here too, I see no superstition.

5. Nor does the joy of the world lie in philosophy. Gods work was sublimely simple. Mysterious, yet the greatest simplicity that was ever spoken to human ears, and seen by mortal eyes. In a simple Christ, and in a simple faith in that Christ, there is a deep and lasting peace, an unspeakable bliss and joy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

God incarnate, the end of fear

I. As to THE FEAR of the text, it may be well to discriminate. There is a kind of fear towards God from which we must not wish to be free. There is that lawful, necessary, admirable, excellent fear which is always due from the creature to the Creator, from the subject to the king, ay, and from the child toward the parent. To have a holy awe of our most holy, just, righteous, and tender parent is a privilege, not a bondage. Godly fear is not the fear which hath torment; perfect love doth not east out, but dwells with it in joyful harmony. The fear which is to be avoided is slaving fear–that trembling which keeps us at a distance from God, which makes us think of Him as a Spirit with whom we can have no communion, as a Being who has no care for us except to punish us, and for whom consequently we have no care except to escape if possible from His terrible presence.

1. This fear sometimes arises in mens hearts from their thoughts dwelling exclusively upon the Divine greatness. Is it possible to peer long into the vast abyss of Infinity and not to fear? Can the mind yield itself up to the thought of the Eternal, Self-existent, Infinite One without being filled first with awe and then with dread? What am I? An aphis creeping upon a rosebud is a more considerable creature in relation to the universe of beings than I can be in comparison with God. We have had the impertinence to be disobedient to the will of this great One; and now the goodness and greatness of His nature are as a our rent against which sinful humanity struggles in vain, for the irresistible torrent must run its course, and overwhelm every opponent. What does the great God seem to us out of Christ but a stupendous rock, threatening to crush us, or a fathomless sea, hastening to swallow us up? The contemplation of the Divine greatness may of itself fill man with horror, and cast him into unutterable misery!

2. Each one of the sterner attributes of God will cause the like fear. Think of His power by which He rolls the stars along, and lay thy hand upon thy mouth. Think of His wisdom by which He numbers the clouds, and settles the ordinances of heaven. Meditate upon any one of these attributes, but especially upon His justice, and upon that devouring fire which burns unceasingly against sin, and it is no wonder if the soul becomes full of fear. Meanwhile, let a sense of sin with its great whip of wire flagellate the conscience, and man will dread the bare idea of God.

3. Wherever there is a slavish dread of the Divine Being, it alienates man most thoroughly from his God. Those whom we slavishly dread we cannot love. Here is the masterpiece of Satan, that he will not let the understanding perceive the excellence of Gods character, and then the heart cannot love that which the understanding does not perceive to be loveable.

4. Fear creates a prejudice against Gods gospel of grace. People think that if they were religious they would be miserable. Oh, could they comprehend, could they but know how good God is, instead of imagining that His service would be slavery, they would understand that to be His friends is to occupy the highest and happiest position which created beings can occupy.

5. This fear in some men puts them out of all heart of ever being saved. Thinking God to be an ungenerous Being, they keep at a distance from Him.

6. This wicked dread of God frequently drives men to extremities of sin.

7. This fear dishonours God.

8. This fear hath torment. No more tormenting misery in the world than to think of God as being our implacable foe.

II. THE CURE FOR THIS FEAR. God with us: God made flesh–that is the remedy.

1. According to the text they were not to fear, because the angel had come to bring them good news. He who made the heavens slumbers in a manger. What then? Why, then God is not of necessity an enemy to man, because here is God actually taking manhood into alliance with Deity. Is there not comfort in that?

2. The second point that takes away fear is that this man who was also God was actually born. He is more man than Adam was, for Adam never was born; Adam never had to struggle through the risks and weaknesses of infancy; he knew not the littlenesses of childhood–he was full-grown at once; whereas Jesus is cradled with us in the manger, accompanies us in the pains and feebleness and infirmities of infancy, and continues with us even to the grave.

3. Christs office is to deliver us from sin. Here is joy upon joy.

III. APPLY THE CURE TO VARIOUS CASES. Encouragement to the weak, the sinful, the lonely, the tempted. There is no cause for any to keep away from God, since Jesus has come to bring all to Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The joyful tidings of Christmas

Now, if, when Christ came on this earth, God had sent some black creature down from heaven (if there be such creatures there) to tell us, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men, and if with a frowning brow and a stammering tongue he delivered his message, if I had been there and heard it, I should have scrupled to believe him, for I should have said, You dont look like the messenger that God would send–stammering fellow as you are–with such glad news as this. But when the angels came there was no doubting the truth of what they said, because it was quite certain that the angels believed it; they told it as if they did, for they told it with singing, with joy and gladness. If some friend, having heard that a legacy was left you, should come to you with a solemn countenance, and a tongue like a funeral bell, saying, Do you know so-and-so has left you 10,000? Why, you would say, Ah! I dare say, and laugh in his face. But if your brother should suddenly burst into your room, and exclaim, I say, what do you think? You are a rich man. So-and-so has left you 10,000! Why, you would say, I think it is very likely to be true, for he looks so happy over it. Well, when these angels came from heaven, they told the news just as if they believed it; and though I have often wickedly doubted my Lords good will, I think I never could have doubted it while I heard those angels singing. No, I should say, The messengers themselves are proof of the truth, for it seems they have heard it from Gods lips; they have no doubt about it, for see how joyously they tell the news. Now, poor soul thou that art afraid lest God should destroy thee, and thou thinkest that God will never have mercy upon thee, look at the singing angels and doubt if thou darest. Do not go to the synagogue of long-faced hypocrites to hear the minister who preaches with a nasal twang, with misery in his face, whilst he tells you that God has goodwill towards men; I know you wont believe what he says, for he does not preach with joy in his countenance; he is telling you good news with a grunt, and you are not likely to receive it. But go straightway to the plain where Bethlehem shepherds sat by night, and when you hear the angels singing out the gospel, by the grace of God upon you, you cannot help believing that they manifestly feel the preciousness of telling. Blessed Christmas, that brings such creatures as angels to confirm our faith in Gods goodwill to men! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The joy of Christmas

The incarnation, such a great and manifold blessing to our race, must bring with it a feeling of joy; and not to our race alone, but also to other beings whose destinies are bound up with ours. The nativity brought joy–

1. In heaven, to the angel spirits. Their ruin was now repaired (Isa 51:3). Zion here represents those who are ever beholding the Fathers face; who rejoice that the loss to their heavenly country is now made good, for the Lord will be able to lead all the faithful thither, where with the angels they will be in eternal joy.

2. In the unseen world, to the faithful departed, Joyful to the old fathers, it is their longed-for redemption. Adams sin brought our race into captivity to the devil. Redemption began to-day.

3. In the world, among all people. Joy for the new manifestation. He who before was invisible was made visible to-day by opening the eyes of the human race. The light of wisdom has put to flight all the darkness of ignorance, and brought joy in the place of despair. (Anon.)

Joy at the birth of Jesus

To us men, more than to the angels or to any other created beings, is this days joy. It is the great festival of humanity. He who was born to-day was–

I. A REDEEMER. Delivering us from the servitude of sin and Satan–a worse bondage than that of Egypt. Think what songs of praise (Exo 15:1) are due to Jesus Christ to-day, who, by the baptism reddened by His blood, hath delivered us from the power of our spiritual foes.

II. A SURETY. Taking upon Himself all our debts and the condemnation of their punishment. A new, the greatest and unheard-of benefit Col 2:14). He came to-day to remit that vast debt, of sin which God alone could pay; that the bond might be burnt in the fire of His love, or be affixed to the cross on Mount Calvary.

III. A HEAVENLY PHYSICIAN. Prepared and willing to heal all diseases, again and again, without fee or reward, without pain to the patient Mat 9:12; Luk 4:23).

IV. A SUN TO THE WORLD. Enlightening a darkness more dense than any natural or physical darkness (Joh 1:9; Joh 9:5). A light–

1. Eternal.

2. Cheering.

3. Glorifying.

V. A GUIDE TO THE TRUE AND BLESSED LIFE (Mic 2:13). Going before in difficulties, smoothing rough ways.

VI. A NOURISHER OF THE WORLD. Sustaining us in the way with living bread.

VII. A PRINCE OF PEACE. Bringing peace–

1. With God.

2. To ones own conscience.

3. With each other. (Psa 11:6-7.)

VIII. A SAVIOUR. Who will, after this life, bring us safely to the blessed and eternal country and being. Think on all these things and say (Psa 117:1). (M. Faber.)

Joy follows sorrow

It is the presence, or the memory, of something avoided, which gives point to our warmest rejoicings. In man grief is linked on to happiness, and suffering to joy. Just as a life without need of care is not a happy life, so if there were no fasts there could be no feasts You must have shadow to show the light. So if there had been no fall there could have been no rising again. If there had been no Adam, there could have been no Christ. It was not only for His own pleasure, and not at all for His own profit, but for us, that Christ was born. Not for Adam, nor the old patriarchs, nor for very wicked men, but because we are what we are–that is why God must needs deny His own nature, and be born. Thus thelittle Infant Child appeals to us, as from the cross the Saviour crucified. Shall we then be sad and sorrowful on such a day? It is not sadness to remember an escape from danger, nor sadness to see a harbour in a storm. Those to whom this Christmas-time is not all mere pleasure, but whose sad memories and present troubles are too heavy, may sympathize with the Child born to suffer, and rejoice in the Lord born to save. It is for you to whom the world is not too dear, that you may have a world where sorrows enter not, that Christ was born. And for those who have no weight of care and sorrow, let the memory of Christ make them generous and thoughtful and kindhearted; not hard and selfish in their enjoyment, but longing to make all as merry and lighthearted as themselves, remembering that the first Christmas gift was given by God to us, when the Son of God gave to mankind Himself. (Bp. E. Steere.)

Good tidings

The gospel may be called good tidings.–

1. Because it is so beneficial.

2. Because it is so appropriate.

3. Because it is so personal,

4. Because it is so unexpected.

5. Because it is so subservient to the illustration of all the other dispensations of God toward us. (G. Brooks.)

The duty of Christian joy

We are incapable of omniscience in the region alike of enjoyment and of suffering. God has so made the eye of this body that it discerns not the animalcules swallowed in water, nor the tiny reptiles that are crushed by each tread of the foot. This limitation of the natural vision is a type to us of a principle which is the very condition of being. We are not to scrutinize sufferings which we cannot alleviate. We are not to allow pain to annihilate pleasure. We are not to set Gods dispensation of sorrow at variance with Gods other dispensation of joy. Where there is the remotest chance of alleviating, there we are to be keen-sighted in investigation. The eye is to be open–but let it be the natural eye, not the microscope. We are not intended so to realize the woe which cannot be mitigated, as to foster a general depression of tone, or a practical insensibility to the blessings which are largely mingled (none can deny it) in the cup of human being. It is needful, too, that we should none of us so enjoy as to forget the suffering which is for another and which shall be for us. On this ground, with this view, to this extent, we are bound to remember, and to take into our reckoning, the hardships, the calamities, and the miseries, which abound in the world. But it is not by refusing to rejoice that we shall really either learn to feel or learn to bear. (J. Vaughan.)

The gospel to be presented as great joy

It is the bounden duty of each one of us, in his own place and sphere, to present the gospel to the world as good tidings–of great joy–to all people. If we once lose this view of it, we have parted with its chief power over one large section at least of mankind. To the young, to the strong, to the busy, to the happy, it is idle to offer a consolation which they need not, or a gloom which they repudiate. Tell them that the gospel is a great joy–that it heightens all other joys, that it makes that everlasting which else must be temporal, that it makes the strong man stronger, and the young man younger, and the wise man wiser, and the delightful man more delightful, and thus completes and perfects every part and every kind of human vigour and of human usefulness and of human hope–you make Christ then what prophecy writes Him, the Desire of Nations; and you make the gospel what the angel calls it, great joy, and to all people. Nor do you, in so painting it, detract from any one of its charms for the struggling and the sorrow-laden. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. (J. Vaughan.)

Christmas Day the turning point

Do you remember that Christmas Day is the first day in the year in which the days begin to lengthen? On the 21st, the 22nd, the 23rd, and the 24th of December they are substantially at a standstill; but on the 25th of December the hand of the poetic year cuts one lock from the head of darkness, and hangs it like a star on the forehead of the day; and to-day is a minute longer than yesterday. And the sun will not go back now. It has set its face toward the summer; and though there are going to be great storms in January, though vast shrouds of snow will cover the ground, yet you know and I know that the sun has gone to its farthest limit, and has begun to turn back; and that just as sure as nature is constant in her career, that sun is retracing his steps with summer in his bosom, and that there are fruits, and there are flowers, and there is a whole realm of joy coming. You have no doubt of this in the natural world. And I say that though the days of the worlds winter are not over, yet I believe that the Sun of righteousness has gone as far away as He ever will, and has turned, and is coming back; and that there is to be a future summer of joy and rejoicing in things spiritual as well as in things temporal. (H. W.Beecher.)

Heathen religions and Christianity

There have been many religions which have made men much more joyful than Christianity has; but they played upon the nature just as it was, and never sought to change it. The religion of the Greeks was a gay and festive religion. They wreathed themselves with flowers; they anointed themselves with sweet perfumes; they surrounded their temples with every attraction; they invoked every pleasure that they could think of; they sought to make the hour of their worship a beautiful and charming hour. They sought joy without seeking manhood. Theirs was a religion which took men just where they were, and left them where they were, and wrung out of them all the joy that there was in them at that point of development–and that was all. But Christianity takes men, and says, Ye are capable of mightier things than these, and so begins to open up the nature, to accord the nature, to discipline the nature, and make manhood vaster with the volume of joy by-and-by wrung out of their faculties–so vast that it shall transcend immeasurably that which was possible in the beginning or at the earlier stages. It is a great comfort to me, that have looked with so much sympathy upon the whole long requiem of time past, and upon the groaning and travailing in pain until now that is in the world, to believe, as I do heartily believe, that the future of Christianity is to be far brighter, and that the day of struggle is comparatively past. (H. W. Beecher.)

All creatures interested in the incarnation of Christ

Men did share in Him in His own sex and person; women in the womb that bare Him; poor men in the shepherds, great ones in the sages of the East; the beasts by the stable whereto He was born; the earth in the gold that was offered; the trees in the myrrh and frankincense; and to reckon up no more, the heavens in the star that blazed. All the works of God, even they which by natural obedience bless Him and magnify Him for ever, did claim some office to make one in the solemnity when their Creator was born. Why surely some room was left for the angels. It was fit they should be in the train at the inauguration of this mighty Prince, and their place, according to their dignity, was very honourable; they were Gods ambassadors, and as if they had a patent to use their office frequently, they had many errands from heaven–to Mary, to Joseph. (Bishop Hacker.)

Behold

Of which word standing in this place I note three things–admiration, demonstration, and attention.

1. Ecce, see and admire this is the greatest wonder that ever was. If you love to cast your eyes upon that which is miraculous, look this way, and see the greatest miracle that ever was brought to light.

2. To cry out unto the shepherds, behold, is an adverb of demonstration. Things hard by make us look towards them more than those that are farther off; we sit still and muse upon that which we hope will come to pass, but when we hear the bridegroom coming, then we bustle and look out. And though the senses of our body do not fix themselves upon Him, yet faith will perceive Him strongly and certainly that He is truly present; faith will assure itself how He stands at the door and knocks, and how it hears His voice. Furthermore let this demonstrative direction put you in mind to live so justly and inoffensively as if you did always behold God in the flesh. But–

3. Ecce, behold, it cloth not beg, but command, attention. When the Lord sends a messenger, is it not fit to note him diligently, and to ponder his sayings in your mind? (Bishop Hacker.)

Good news to all people

A good harvest is not welcome to one village, but it is gladsome to the whole country round about; and when spoils are divided after the vanquishing of an enemy, every soldier is enriched, and hath his share. Such a communicative blessing is our Saviours incarnation–every man fills his bosom with the sheaves of the harvest; everyChristian soldier that fights a good warfare plucks somewhat from the spoils of the enemy. (Bishop Hacker.)

The birth of Jesus

I. THE MESSENGER EMPLOYED. One of the dignified sons of light. An ambassador from heaven to earth, from God to man. A service of unrivalled glory and benevolence, calculated to excite wonder and abundant praise. By the redemption which is in Christ angels become our brethren, our friends, and our companions for ever. It is Probable their joys and honours are greatly enhanced by the work of the Messiah.

II. THE PERSONS ADDRESSED. Jewish shepherds. What a contrast between the ambassador and those to whom he appeared. How different, too, to the doings of men and to human expectations. It would have been supposed the tidings should have been given to kings, or philosophers, or assuredly to the priests. But Gods ways are not our ways. In all the work and life of Christ God poured contempt upon worldly glory and distinctions.

III. THE MESSAGE COMMUNICATED.

1. The angel describes the person of Him who is born.

(1) Saviour.

(2) Christ.

(3) The Lord.

2. He announces His birth. The end of prophecy. The fulfilment of types. The fulness of the times.

3. He affirms this to be an event of good tidings. Tidings of Divine grace and salvation–all others are insignificant in comparison. Life, light, happiness, eternal glory.

4. He notices the universal application of these good tidings.

(1) To the Jew first. You.

(2) All people. None shut out. How comprehensive. Wherever we find even a horde of wandering savages, Christ is born for them.

Application:

1. Is the end of Christs birth answered in you?

2. If so, rejoice.

3. Caution against the temptations of the season. Let your joy be in the Lord. (Jabez Burns, D. D.)

The angels message to the shepherds

1. The time. Not in the meridian splendour of the sun, when his unnumbered glories might have added to the lustre of the scene, and charmed and gratified senses and imagination. Silence of night is more favourable to devotion than bustle of day. The errand of the heavenly messengers was of a religious nature, therefore they arrive in the darkness and stillness of night. Long before this silent hour the sun had set in the western sky. The stars appeared, and the moon could not certainly withhold her light and her attendance upon such an occasion; everything conspired to direct the pious mind to solemn contemplation.

2. The persons. Not to rulers or great men was the message sent, but to humble shepherds. Why, then, say the poor, that religion is not for them, that they are neglected and forgotten? It was to poor men that this wondrous announcement was made.

3. The tidings revealed. Were they not good tidings? Would not the poor afflicted and oppressed debtor, who was just about to be dragged by a merciless creditor from his home and family, to be shut up in prison, esteem it glad tidings if he should be in that hour informed that one, completely able, had sent an express messenger to the hard-hearted creditor, saying, Place all this mans debt to my account; set him at liberty to go home to his afflicted wife and famishing children? And was it not good tidings to the children of Israel in Egypt when Moses was sent by God to be their deliverer, and to lead them to the promised land? But what is here announced far exceeds the joy of such occasions as these, for they refer to temporal concerns, this to eternal. (H. Venn, M. A.)

Great joy is often

1. Secret.

2. Silent.

3. Childlike.

4. Modest.

5. Elevated. Christ is the only source of rational joy among fallen men. (Van Doren.)

The Christmas festival festival for the whole world

1. This it is designed to be.

2. This it can be.

3. This it must be.

4. This it will be. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)

The message to the shepherds

I. HOW SURE IS GODS WORD. Ages had rolled by since the promise was first made. Saints had waited; types had prefigured; prophets had foretold: at last, when all preparation is complete, the Divine decree is accomplished.

II. HOW WONDERFUL ARE GODS WAYS.

III. HOW GLORIOUS IS GODS SALVATION. God, and yet man; a babe, and yet Lord of all. How great the Fathers love; how wonderful the Sons condescension! (W. S. Bruce, M. A.)

Christianity a cheerful religion

It is necessary for some people to remember that cheerfulness, good spirits, light-heartedness, merriment, are not unchristian nor unsaintly. We do not please God more by eating bitter aloes than by eating honey. A cloudy, foggy, rainy day is not more heavenly than a day of sunshine. A funeral march is not so much like the music of angels as the song of birds on a May morning. There is no more religion in the gaunt naked forest in winter than in the laughing blossoms of the spring, and the rich ripe fruits of autumn. It was not the pleasant things in the world that came from the devil, and the dreary things from God; it was sin brought death into the world and all our woe; as the sin vanishes, the woe will vanish too. God Himself is the ever-blessed God. He dwells in the light of joy as well as of purity, and instead of becoming more like Him as we become more miserable, and as all the brightness and glory of life are extinguished, we become more like God as our blessedness becomes more complete. The great Christian graces are radiant with happiness. Faith, hope, charity–there is no sadness in them; and if penitence makes the heart sad, penitence belongs to the sinner, not to the saint. As we become more saintly, we have less sin to sorrow over. No; the religion of Christ is not a religion of sorrow. It consoles wretchedness, and brightens with a Divine glory the lustre of every inferior joy. It attracts to itself the brokenhearted, the lonely, the weary, the despairing; but it is to give them rest, comfort, and peace. It rekindles hope; it inspires strength, courage, and joy. It checks the merriment of the thoughtless who have never considered the graver and more awful realities of mans life and destiny; but it is to lead them through transient sorrow to deeper and more perfect blessedness, even in this world, than they had ever felt before the sorrow came. (T. Dale, M. A.)

The great birthday

I. THE BIRTH OF CHRIST SHOULD BE THE SUBJECT OF SUPREME JOY. We have the angelic warrant for rejoicing because Christ is born. It is a truth so full of joy that it caused the angel who came to announce it to be filled with gladness. He had little to do with the fact, for Christ took not up angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham; but I suppose that the very thought that the Creator should be linked with the creature, that the great Invisible and Omnipotent should come into alliance with that which He Himself had made, caused the angel as a creature to feel that all creatureship was elevated, and this made him glad. Besides, there was a sweet benevolence of spirit in the angels bosom which made him happy because he had such gladsome tidings to bring to the fallen sons of men.

1. The birth of Christ was the incarnation of God. This is a wondrous mystery, to be believed in rather than to be defined. Mankind is not outlawed or abandoned to destruction, for, lo! the Lord has married into the race, and the Son of God has become Son of Man. This proves that God loves man, and means mans good; that He feels for man and pities him; that He intends to deliver man and to bless him.

2. He who was born is unto us a Saviour. Those who will be most glad of this will be those who are most conscious of their sinnership. If you would draw music out of that ten-stringed harp, the word Saviour, pass it over to a sinner. Saviour is the harp, but sinner is the finger that must touch the strings and bring forth the melody.

3. This Saviour is Christ the Lord, and there is much gladness in this fact. We have not a nominal Saviour, but a Saviour fully equipped; one who, in all points, is like ourselves, for He is Man, but in all points fit to help the feebleness which He has espoused, for He is the Anointed Man. The godlike in dominion is joined with the human in birth.

4. The angel called for joy, and I ask for it too, on this ground, that the birth of this child was to bring glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men. The birth of Christ has given such glory to God as I know not that He could ever have had here by any other means. We must always speak in accents soft and low when we talk of Gods glory; in itself it must always be infinite and not to be conceived by us, and yet may we not venture to say that all the works of Gods hands do not glorify Him so much as the gift of His dear Son, that all creation and all providence do not so well display the heart of Deity as when He gives His Only-Begotten, and sends Him into the world that men may live through Him? What wisdom is manifested in the plan of redemption of which the incarnate God is the centre! What love is there revealed! What power is that which brought the Divine One down from glory to the manger; only Omnipotence could have worked so great a marvel! What faithfulness to ancient promises! What truthfulness in keeping covenant! What grace, and yet what justice!

II. Let us consider TO WHOM THIS JOY BELONGS.

1. It belongs to those who tell it.

2. It belongs to those who hear it.

3. It belongs to those who believe it.

III. How THAT JOY SHOULD BE MANIFESTED.

1. Proclaim the Saviour.

2. Sing Gods praises.

3. Spread the news–as the shepherds did.

4. Ponder this miracle of love–as Mary did.

5. Go and do good to others.

Come and worship God manifest in the flesh, and be filled with His light and sweetness by the power of the Holy Spirit. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christs Nativity

1. Observe the interest which the angels felt on the occasion. While mens minds are intent on the decree of the emperor, theirs are centred on Christ.

2. Not only did an angel appear to the shepherds, but the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Evidence of a message immediately from God.

3. The effect it had upon the shepherds. Sore afraid, but afterwards cheered.

4. The object proclaimed is the Saviour. Not themselves, but Christ.

5. The good news was common to all people, not to one nation only.

6. The good news, though common to all people, was more immediately addressed to the shepherds, who like many others were waiting for the consolation of Israel. The gospel is addressed to individuals, as if they only were the objects of it. Salvation is directly offered to every soul.

7. In this heavenly message particular attention is paid to time, place, and other circumstances, to show their agreement with ancient prophecy. Not even an angel may speak anything contrary to the Scriptures (Gal 1:8).

I. CONSIDER THE SUBJECT OF THE ANGELIC MESSAGE, AND SEE WHAT GOOD TIDINGS ARE CONTAINED IN IT.

1. The birth of Jesus Christ was itself good news. The great object of prophecy from the beginning of the world, and the hope of the Church in all ages.

2. The gracious design of His incarnation imparted good tidings to a guilty and ruined world.

3. The way of salvation, which was effected by the coming of Christ, forms an essential part of the good tidings brought to us by the angel. Repentance and remission of sins preached among all nations.

II. THESE TIDINGS ARE MATTERS OF JOY, OF GREAT JOY TO ALL PEOPLE. The word used is strong, and only used for such great occasions as the joy of harvest or an important victory; but is fully applicable to this subject.

1. The coming of Christ was the joy of the Old Testament Church, while they lived only in hope of this great event (Isa 25:9; Joh 8:56). How much more when it is fully realized.

2. All the joy of believers during the lifetime of our Saviour centred entirely in Him.

3. All the joy in the times of the apostles had an immediate reference to Christ and His salvation. The apostles triumphed in every place, but it was because the savour of His name was spread abroad.

4. Christ and His salvation made all their troubles and sorrows light and momentary; yea, they counted not their lives dear for His sake. The history of the primitive Church is a history of sufferings in the cause of Christ, and of joy and rejoicing in His holy name. This also is the way for us to bear up under all the sorrows, trials, and afflictions of this life.

III. INQUIRE WHAT IS NECESSARY TO RENDER THESE GOOD TIDINGS A MATTER OF REAL JOY TO US. It is an undoubted fact that they do not produce joy in all: they did not then, and they do not now. Many think the tidings of the gospel not worth hearing. Many who hear, neglect them, or feel no interest in them. Some who seem to rejoice for a time become indifferent, and afterwards wither away.

1. To become the subject of real joy, these tidings require to be believed as true, and to be received with the utmost cordiality.

2. It requires a deep conviction of our guilty, lost, and ruined state, which is presupposed by the gospel, and which must be felt and realized before it can convey to us tidings of great joy.

3. A cordial reception of the gospel itself, as revealing the only way of salvation; obeying it from the heart, and receiving the truth in love. (Theological Sketch-book.)

The first Christmas

I. THAT A SCENE OF FRIGHT OFTEN BECOMES A SCENE OF EXALTATION. Josephs way to authority led through the pit, slavery, and prison. How many through affliction have found spiritual triumph.

II. WE SEE WHY CHRIST FINDS SO POOR A RECEPTION UPON EARTH. ROOM for outward pomps, but none for the lowly Son of God. In yonder store there is room for trade, for money, but no room for Christ. There is no war between prosperity and Christ.

III. THAT WHILE VIRTUE IS OFTEN FORCED TO PLAIN LODGINGS, WICKEDNESS IS PROVIDED WITH FINE QUARTERS. Guilt on the throne, innocence in the cabin; Nero in the palace, Paul a prisoner; Nebuchadnezzar walking in the hanging gardens, Shadrach in the fire. Remember the order: first the manger; second, the cross; third, the crown.

IV. THAT JOY IS A DOMINANT ELEMENT IN RELIGION. (Dr. Talmage.)

The first Christmas morning

I. THE ADVENT OF CHRIST WAS GOOD TIDINGS TO THE SLAVE. When He came, a large part of the race were held in abject servitude. Slavery prevailed extensively in cultivated Greece, in imperial Rome, and even in Palestine–in the very shadow of the temple of the Most High. Some Roman masters held from ten to twenty thousand slaves, and the condition of the slave was hard in the extreme. He was treated and held simply as a thing; bought and sold as men deal in sheep and horses, he was absolutely the property of his master; he had no rights as a man–no place under the law; could be beaten, scourged, and put to death at the will of the master. Such was the condition of half the world when the angel choir sang their Gloria in Excelsis. But that song was the death-knell to human bondage. The Infant that lay in the manger hard by was to be the great Deliverer. Glorious emancipation! Glorious harbinger of that spiritual liberty which Christ is yet to achieve!

II. THE ADVENT OF CHRIST WAS GOOD TIDINGS TO THE LABOURER. The mass of men belong to the labouring class–are forced to earn their bread in the sweat of their brows. The honour, the dignity, of labour was not at all understood before Christs advent. Philosophers taught that all forms of manual labour were degrading. In Rome only three kinds of occupation were considered respectable, viz.: medicine, commerce, and architecture. Free men had to work side by side with slaves. But Christ taught a new doctrine. He consecrated and made honourable all honest labour, both by the precepts He taught and by His own example. And just as the spirit and teachings of the great Master prevail, the labouring classes will be elevated and prosperous, and human society will approximate the heavenly world.

III. THE ADVENT OF CHRIST REVEALED TO EARTH THE TRUE IDEA OF HUMANITY. The ancients had no just conception of man as man. At best, he was considered of no account, except as related to the State or the crown.

IV. THE ADVENT OF CHRIST WAS GOOD TIDINGS TO THE FAMILY. The ancients had very imperfect ideas about it. Marriage was simply the means the State had to produce citizens. But, oh, the power, the blessedness, of the religion of Jesus on the family !V. THE ADVENT OF CHRIST WAS GLAD TIDINGS BECAUSE IT GAVE THE WORLD A NEW HOPE, The song of the angels on that eventful Christmas morning was the song of hope to a despairing world. (D. W. Lusk.)

Good tidings of great joy

The sweet air of the gospel hath some harsh tidings, to take up the cross, and endure unto blood, and death, but these were tidings of joy.

1. Joys are of several sizes, this is a great one, nay, none so great.

2. Joys and great ones are quickly done, this is joy that shall be and continue.

3. A man may be a conduit-pipe to transmit joy to others, and have no benefit himself; this is joy to you, to every ear that hears 2:4. A good nature would not engross a blessing, but desires to have it diffused, and so was this joy to all people. The angel said unto them, Fear not. What should they not fear: first, non a splendore divine, let not their hearts be troubled because the glory of the Lord shone round about them, Sore eyes are distempered at much light, and it is a sign there is some darkness within us all, which loves not to be discovered; that the best of us all are much perplexed if any extraordinary brightness flash upon us. (Bishop Hacket.)

Fear not

So if there be not a mixture of fear with our love, it falleth asleep, it waxeth secure, and loseth her Beloved. If the comfort of our joy be not allayed with some fear, tis madness and presumption. Again, if our fear be not intermixed with the comfort of some joy, tis sullenness and desperation. As the earth cannot be without summer and winter to make it fruitful, the pleasure of the one and the austerity of the other make up the revolution of a good year, so faith is the parent both of a cloudy fear, and a smiling hope: faith begets fear in us in regard of our own weakness, and hope in regard of the goodness of God; hope ariseth out of the faith of the gospel, and fear out of the faith of the law. These cannot be parted. (Bishop Hacket.)

That bondage which makes us liable to judgment is naught; but the fear which issues from a conscientiousness of that bondage flying to God that it may fly from judgment is holy and good. Briefly, let them thus be compared together; a filial fear, which loves God for His own goodness, is like a bright day which hath not a cloud to disfigure it; a servile fear, that dreads God because it dreads the wrath to come, is like a day that is overcast with clouds, but it is clearer than the fairest moonshine night. It is good to have the spirit of adoption, but it is better to have the spirit of bondage than the spirit of slumber; it is good to be in Canaan, but it is better to be in the wilderness than in Egypt; it is good to be a child, but it is better to be a servant than a stranger to the Lord. (Bishop Hacket.)

This, then, is another fear which belongs to our allowance, but there is a fear which hath a nolite set before it, an immoderate horror of heart, a symptom of desperation, or at least of infidelity and diffidence; this is that quivering with which God strikes His enemies, as a tree is shaken by the wind to unfasten it from the root. (Bishop Hacket.)

Nothing, you see, is comfortable to them that have not the true comforter, the Holy Spirit in their soul. (Bishop Hacket.)

Satan feels some horror that gnaws and torments him, but he feels not the blessing of that fear which should discipline him from sin, and amend him. (Bishop Hacket.)

Then it were good, methinks, that discretion and consideration of Christs merciful gospel did mitigate their zeal, who think they are bound to thunder nothing so much to the people as fears, and terrors, like the writer of Iambiques that spoke anger and poison to put Archilochus into desperation. Let vices be threatened, but let the hope that accompanies true repentance go together. Let judgment be put home to the obdurate conscience, but let mercy be an advocate for tile broken in heart. Let the strictness of law and the curse thereof fetch a tear from our eyes; but let the ransom of our sins be set before us, and that Christ will wipe all tears from our eyes. St. Paul wished himself at Corinth, not to affright them, but to rejoice with the brethren; as it was said of the mild nature of the Emperor Vespasian, he never sent any man from him discontent, but gave him some comfort and satisfaction. So the gospel is such a sweet demulcing lesson, that if it be truly preached it must always revive the heart, it cannot leave a sting behind it. You see the angel delights not to scare, but to comfort the shepherds, Fear not. (Bishop Hacket.)

Gospel joy continuous

This spiritual gladness and festivity is the principal assistance to vanquish Satan, and all desperate doubts with which he would perplex our conscience: it is a royal joy which comforts us that we shall be heirs of a glorious kingdom; it is a sanctified joy which gives us promise that we shall not only be kings but priests for ever, to offer up the sweet odours of our prayers to God; it is a superlative joy which cries down all other petty delights, and makes them appear as nothing; it is endless joy of durance and lasting for ever and ever; for my text says it is joy that shall be unto you. Times of feasting have a period, every man is glutted at last; he that hath his fill of sport is weary by the late of night, and glad to take his rest. But the joy that you have in Christ is with you all the year, in all your sorrow, in all your adversities; it sleeps with you, it grows old with you, it will change this life with you, and follow you into a better: And My joy shall no man take from you, says our Saviour (Joh 16:22). Christmas joy was not only for the first twelve days when the Son of God was born, but for all the twelve months of twelve hundred years, and many hundreds after them unto the worlds end. So St. Peter cloth solace us with black sails of sorrow; as if he had never made a saving voyage. All their laughter is like the joy of Herods birthday.; dancing, and revels, and offering of great gifts last for a while, but before evening you shall see an alteration; and when their surfeited tables are removed away, the last service in the platter is the head of John the Baptist. But the mirth which we have in the Mediator of our salvation is a song which hath no rest in it, nor ever shall have a close. We begin the first part here, that we may sing the other part in psalms and hallelujahs with the saints for ever. As Christmas is celebrated part of the new year, and part of the old, so it is joy that is in this life, and shall be in the life to come. (Bishop Hacket.)

The nativity of our Lord, tidings of great joy

1. Let us consider that the nativity doth import the completion of many ancient promises, predictions, and prefigurations concerning it; that whereas all former dispensations of favour and mercy were as preludes or preambles to this; the old law did aim to represent it in its mysterious pomps; the chief of providential occurrences did intimate it; the prophets often in their mystical raptures did allude to it, and often in clear terms did express it; the gracious designs of God, and the longing expectations of mankind being so variously implied in regard thereto; now all is come to be fulfilled, and perfected in most clear, most effectual, most substantial accomplishment. Now what can be more delightful, or satisfactory to our mind, than to reflect on this sweet harmony of things, this goodly correspondence between the old and new world; wherein so pregnant evidences of Gods chief attributes (of His goodness, of His wisdom, of His fidelity and constancy), all conspiring to our benefit, do shine? Is it not pleasant to contemplate how provident God hath ever been for our welfare? what trains from the worlds beginning, or ever since our unhappy fall, He hath been laying to repair and restore us? how wisely He hath ordered all dispensations with a convenient reference and tendency to this masterpiece of grace? how steady He hath been in prosecuting His designs, and how faithful in accomplishing His promises concerning it? If the holy patriarchs did see this day, and were glad; if a glimpse thereof did cause their hearts to leap within them; if its very dawn had on the spirits of the prophets so vigorous an influence, what comfort and complacence should we feel in this its real presence, and bright aspect on us!

2. Let us consider what alteration our Lords coming did induce, by comparing the state of things before it with that which followed it. The old world then consisting of two parts, severed by a strong wall of partition, made up of difference in opinion, in practice, in affection, together with a strict prohibition to one of holding intercourse with the other. Such was the state of the world in its parts; and jointly of the whole it may be said that it was shut up under sin and guilt, under darkness and weakness, under death and corruption, under sorrow and woe: that no full declaration of Gods pleasure, no clear overture of mercy, no express grant of spiritual aid, no certain redemption from the filth or the force of sin, from the stroke of death, from due punishment hereafter; no encouragements suitable to high devotion, or strict virtue, were anywise in a solemn way exhibited or dispensed before our Lords appearance: so that well might all men be then represented as Cimmerians, sitting in darkness, in the region and shadow of death. Now the Spirit of God (the Spirit of direction, of succour, of comfort spiritual) is poured on all flesh. Now the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men. Now Jew and Gentile are reunited and compacted in one body; walking in the same light, and under obligation to the same laws. But farther, that we may yet more nearly touch the point–

3. Let us consider that the nativity of our Lord is a grand instance, a pregnant evidence, a rich earnest of Almighty Gods very great affection and benignity toward mankind; for, In this, saith St. John, the love of God was manifested, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world: and, Through the tender mercies of our God, sang old Zachariah, the Day-spring from on high did visit us: this indeed is the peculiar experiment, wherein that most Divine attribute did show and signalize itself. And what greater reason of joy can there be, than such an assurance of His love, on whose love all our good dependeth, in whose love all our felicity consisteth? What can be more delightful than to view the face of our Almighty Lord so graciously smiling on us? Should we not be extremely glad, should we not be proud, if our earthly prince by any signal mark would express himself kindly affected to us? How much more should we resent such a testimony of Gods favour t how worthily may our souls be transported with a sense of such affection!

4. We may consider our Lords nativity, as not only expressing simple good-will, but implying a perfect reconciliation, a firm peace, a steady friendship established between God and us or that it did not only proceed from love, but did also produce love to us. Now, then, what can be more worthy of joy than such a blessed turn of affairs? How can we otherwise than with exceeding gladness solemnize such a peace?

5. Our Lords nativity doth infer a great honour, and a high preferment to us: nowise indeed could mankind be so dignified, or our nature so advanced as hereby: no wisdom can devise a way beyond this, whereby God should honour His most special favourites, or promote them to a nearness unto Himself. This is a peculiar honour, to which the highest angels cannot pretend; for He took not the nature of angels, but He took the seed of Abraham. And is it not good matter of joy to be thus highly graced? When are men better pleased than when they are preferred; than especially, when from the meanest state, from the dunghill, or from the dust, they are raised to be set among princes, and made to inherit the throne of glory?

6. Finally, if we survey all principal causes of joy and special exultation, we shall find them all concurring in this event. Is a messenger of good news embraced with joy? Behold the great Evangelist is come, with His mouth full of news, most admirable, most acceptable: He, who doth acquaint us that God is well pleased, that man is restored, that the adversary is cast down, that paradise is set open, and immortality retrieved; that truth and righteousness, peace and joy, salvation and happiness are descended, and come to dwell on earth. Is the birth of a prince by honest subjects to be commemorated with joyous festivity? Behold a Prince born to all the world! a Prince undertaking to rule mankind with sweetest clemency and exact justice. May victory worthily beget exultation? See the invincible warrior doth issue forth into the field, conquering and to conquer: He that shall baffle and rifle the strong one, our formidable adversary; that shall rout all the forces of hell, and triumph over the powers of darkness. Is a proclamation of peace, after rueful wars, to be solemnized with alacrity? Behold then everlasting peace between heaven and earth, a general peace among men. Is satisfaction of desire and hope very pleasant? Behold the desire of all nations, the expectation of Israel, He for whom the whole creation groaned, is come. Is recovery of liberty delectable to poor slaves and captives? Behold the Redeemer is come out of Sion; the precious ransom, sufficient to purchase the freedom of many worlds, is laid down. Is an overture of health acceptable to sick and languishing persons? Behold the great Physician, endued with admirable skill, and furnished with infallible remedies, is come, to cure us of our maladies, and ease us of our pains. Is mirth seasonable on the day of marriage? Behold the greatest wedding that ever was is this day solemnised; heaven and earth are contracted; divinity is espoused to humanity; a sacred, an indissoluble knot is tied between God and man. Is the access of a good friend to be received with cheerful gratulation? Behold the dearest and best Friend of all mankind. Is opportune relief grateful to persons in a forlorn condition, pinched with extreme want, or plunged in any hard distress? Behold a merciful, a bountiful, a mighty Saviour and succourer. Is the sun-rising comfortable after a tedious, darksome, and cold night? See, the Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing in His wings, dispensing all about His pleasant rays and kindly influences. (J. Barrow, D. D.)

Religious joy

Let us consider this more at length, as contained in the gracious narrative of which the text is part.

1. What do we read just before the text? that there were certain shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, and angels appeared to them. Why should the heavenly hosts appear to these shepherds? What was it in them which attracted the attention of the angels and the Lord of angels? Were these shepherds learned, distinguished, or powerful? Were they especially known for piety and gifts? Nothing is said to make us think so. Almighty God looks with a sort of especial love, or (as we may term it) affection, upon the lowly. Perhaps it is that man, a fallen, dependent, and destitute creature, is more in his proper place when he is m lowly circumstances, and that power and riches, though unavoidable in the case of some, are unnatural appendages to man, as such. And what a contrast is presented to us when we take into account who were our Lords messengers to them! The angels who excel in strength, these did His bidding towards the shepherds. Here the highest and the lowest of Gods rational creatures are brought together. A set of poor men, engaged in a life of hardship, exposed at that very time to the cold and darkness of the night, watching their flocks, with the view of scaring away beasts of prey or robbers. We know the contracted range of thought, the minute and ordinary objects, or rather the one or two objects, to and fro again and again without variety, which engage the minds of men exposed to such a life of heat, cold, and wet, hunger and nakedness, hardship and servitude. They cease to care much for anything, but go on in a sort of mechanical way, without heart, and still more without reflection. To men so circumstanced the angel appeared, to open their minds, and to teach them not to be downcast and in bondage because they were low in the world. He appeared as if to show them that God had chosen the poor in this world to be heirs of His kingdom, and so to do honour to their lot.

2. And now comes a second lesson, which I have said may be gained from the festival. The angel honoured a humble lot by his very appearing to the shepherds;, next he taught it to be joyful by his message. The angel said, Fear not, when he saw the alarm which his presence caused among the shepherds. Even a lesser wonder would have reasonably startled them. Therefore the angel said, Fear not. We are naturally afraid of any messenger from the other world, for we have an uneasy conscience when left to ourselves, and think that his coming forebodes evil. Besides, we so little realize the unseen world, that were angel or spirit to present himself before us we should be startled by reason of our unbelief, a truth being brought home to our minds which we never apprehended before. A little religion makes us afraid; when a little light is poured in upon the conscience, there is a darkness visible; nothing but sights of woe and terror; the glory of God alarms while it shines around. His holiness, the range and difficulties of His commandments, the greatness of His power, the faithfulness of His word, frighten the sinner, and men seeing him afraid, think religion has made him so, whereas he is not religious at all. But religion itself, far from inculcating alarm and terror, says, in the words of the angel, Fear not; for such is His mercy, while Almighty God has poured about us His glory, yet it is a consolatory glory, for it is the light of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2Co 4:6). If all these things be so, surely the lesson of joy which the incarnation gives us is as impressive as the lesson of humility. St. Paul gives us the one lesson in his Epistle to the Philippians: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. (J. H.Newman, D. D.)

Glad news

The days of life are not lived on one level range. There are days that are lifted, and days that are depressed; days which stand out radiant with opportunity, as summits of mountains stand forth to the eye when the sun shines upon them. Now and then you come to a day so auspicious, so prophetic of good, that it sings through all its hours, and is as a hymn and a psalm. Not only do men come to such days, not only do individuals find themselves lifted by Gods mercy to such summits of feeling and expression, but nations and cities, governments and institutions, come to the same happy fortune. There are days in national life linked with such victorious memories, full with such present triumphs, that at the rising of the sun every patriotic citizen flings out to the morning air the national banner. Institutions, too, have their glorious days. Popular movements that represent great causes and grand effects roll up like waves to their cresting, and the power of the forces which moved them on culminates in popular gladness. Religion shares in the action of this law. And it is because Christianity helps men that it is properly named glad news; and it may be well for us who are in worship assembled to ask ourselves and to consider wherein Christianity is glad news, and why, being accepted, it brings joy to the human heart. In the first place, it is glad news because it is a revelation of God–both as to what He is in Himself, and what His feelings are toward man. The highest conception the human mind can form is that of Deity. It is too great in itself to go on without conceiving of a greater. The human constitution is of so noble a sort, is so majestic in its vision, so profound in its necessities, that it must have a God. The greatness of man is seen in the fact that in him is an actual graving to bow down to some one or to something that symbolises some one. Look, then, at and consider the state of the world before Christianity was born. Here and there an old sage, by sixty years of studentship, had groped his way up until his fingers had felt out a knowledge of the alphabet of truth which taught him the rudiments of righteousness. But of God they knew little. Of the life beyond the grave they knew nothing. The consolation which comes from knowledge they had not amid their trials. They died blindly submissive; they died wretchedly patient; they died stoically indifferent. And those that were left to mourn above their graves mourned without hope. But when Christianity was born, a sun rose into the darkness of the world. Men saw what they had felt must be, but what they bad never before seen. And chiefest among all sights revealed stood God. It told them of His affection, of His patience, of His mercy. It told them that He was mindful of them, that His ears were open to their cries, and His eyes noted the falling of their tears. What a revelation was this! How satisfactory in its nature! How sublime in its significance! How far-reaching in its influence! How could piety ever become intelligent? How could devotion ever be ardent and sincere until, in the person of God, the source and pattern of all purity, of all justice, of all affection, should be revealed unto man? Let it be known, then, and profoundly felt by us all here to-day, that Christianity was glad news unto man, first and foremost, because it revealed God. We do not realize, so familiar are we with the thought, what a gap would be made in our lives if from our minds the knowledge we have of God were stricken. Such a removal would be like taking ones heart from his bosom. As in the one case physically we could not survive, so in the other case spiritually we could not survive. And the second great and emphatic reason is, as it seems to me, because it revealed man to himself. Never till Jesus was born–never till He had lived and passed away–did man know the nobility of his species. Never until God dwelt in the flesh could any man know what flesh might become. For natures are measured, not by what they can impart primarily, but by what they can receive. The ox can receive but little. The sweetness of the grass, the pungency of the budding shrubbery he crops, the coolness of the water that he drinks when athirst–these measure his being. They minister to his structure, and its wants being supplied his life is satisfied. The dog can receive yet more. He craves food, but he also craves affection. A life higher than his own is needed for his happiness. He looks at the hand of his master as the inferior looks at the superior when itself is great-enough to discover greatness. The dog finds deity in his master. From him he learns law and love both. From him he receives joy so intense that even his master marvels at it, and wonders that so slight a motion of his hand, so brief an utterance from his lips, can make any being so happy. It is because the dog can receive so much that thought ranks him so high. And the capacity of receptiveness gives accurate measurement and gradation to animals and to men. I say to men; for the same law holds good in the human species. There are some who receive little. On the other hand, there are those who are as a house when its windows are all open, and the sun and the wind play through its chambers. There is no form of beauty; there is no shade of loveliness; there is no odour or perfume, nor any melodious sound, that appeals to them in vain. And when we view them on the higher levels of receptiveness–the levels of mind and soul–we find that their intellect and their spirits alike are as pools that stand waiting for the streams to flow into them. From history and poetry, from science and art, from past and present, they are ministered unto ceaselessly. Nor is there anything religious, anything sacred and devout, anything spiritual and Divine, which does not find ready entrance into their natures. So freely do they receive of these, that by them at last they are possessed. Renewed in mind, transformed in spirit, sanctified in soul, they become like Him of whom they have received. So that their walk and conversation is with God. Never, as we have said, until Christ came was the greatness of this capacity to receive demonstrated. Christ showed what man might be, and thereby fixed his value. Heaven paid such a price for man that man himself was astonished. Gods acts are based on knowledge. The second reason, then, why Christianity is glad news is seen in the fact that beyond any mere religion, beyond all philosophies, it tells me what man is. We who are here can rise up and say, We know what man is! The world, from east to west, from north to south, can say, speaking through all her myriad mouths, We know what man is! The great continents, the islands of the sea, the far shores and the far climes, through all their industries, through all their commerce, through their intelligence, through the glory of their bloom and the pendent wealth of their harvests, can say, We know what man is! Ay, and the spirits of the redeemed in heaven and the great angels that wait before God, mighty in their power and intelligence, can bow down before Him who made the revelation in His Son, and murmur, in the hush of holy awe, We know what man is! We have said that the first reason why Christianity was glad news was found in the fact that it revealed God; and the second great reason that it was glad news was found in the fact that it revealed man; and now we say, lastly, that the third great reason why Christianity is glad news is found in the fact that it reveals God in man. Theodore Parker, of pleasant memory to many, to whom this city owes much, and to whom humanity owes more, had a splendid conception of God. No nobler Deity was ever preached than he proclaimed. Many who deride him, but have never read him, would be richer spiritually than they are if in their minds and souls they had his conception of Divinity. In addition to his splendid conception of God, he had the noblest possible conception of man–of his nature, of his possibilities, of his rights, and of his destiny. But of God in man he seems to have had little, if any, conception. On his right hand stood God, like a hewn pillar, massive and polished to the finest gleam; on the left stood man, a companion pillar, of which in way of description it is enough to say that it was the reflection of the other. But God in man, or the God-man–that white arch that should connect and span the space between the two–he did not discern. And that the object of this incarnation of Deity was the salvation of men from their sins we know. The mighty and benevolent uses of incarnation are patent. Only so could God be revealed, in such a way that the human mind might apprehend Him clearly, and the human soul in Him find courage. Only by such an incarnation could the requisite authority be given to human utterance, and the requisite wisdom be imparted to human understanding. Only by such an incarnation could the holy example, whose presence was needed, be given unto the world, and the adequate inspiration be imparted to humanity. And only by such an incarnation, only through the lips of His own Son, could the Divine Fatherhood be properly declared, the Divine life properly lived, and the victorious sacrifice, required both for the justice of heaven and the moral necessities of men, be made. We rejoice, therefore, in the incarnation of God in Christ as those who apprehend the high spiritual uses it subserves, the profound spiritual necessities it meets, and the otherwise incomprehensible truths that it makes familiar unto us. (W. H. Aitken.)

Good tidings of great joy

The message was one bearing good tidings of great joy. Good tidings in view of the light which was to be shed, the deliverance which was to be wrought, and the union of the whole race which was contemplated, and shall in due course be effected.

I. Good tidings of great joy in view of THE LIGHT WHICH WAS TO BE SHED. Christ in His coming has shed light upon the Divine tenderness and grace. Christ, in His coining, has shed light upon the moral obligations of men. The law was given by Moses. And Christ in His coming has shed light upon human destiny.

II. Good tidings of great joy in view of THE DELIVERANCE WHICH WAS TO BE WROUGHT. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The deliverance Christ came to effect for all who should trust to Him is both a present and an eternal deliverance. He secures deliverance from the burden of unforgiven sin. He sets free from the defilement of sin. He preserves from remorse. And He saves from despondency and distrust. But He came to effect our eternal deliverance.

III. Good tidings of great joy, in view of the union of THE WHOLE RACE WHICH WAS CONTEMPLATED, AND WHICH SHALL, IN DUE COURSE, BE ACCOMPLISHED. Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Judaism was marked by its exclusiveness. (S. D. Hillman, B. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. Behold, I bring you good tidings] I am not come to declare the judgments of the Lord, but his merciful loving-kindness, the subject being a matter of great joy. He then declares his message. Unto you – to the Jews first, and then to the human race. Some modern MSS. with the utmost impropriety read , us, as if angels were included in this glorious work of redemption; but St. Paul says, he took not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, i.e. the nature of Abraham and his posterity, the human nature; therefore the good news is to you, – and not to yourselves exclusively, for it is to all people, to all the inhabitants of this land, and to the inhabitants of the whole earth.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Though God, in his appearances to his people, was wont so to appear, as to show them cause to revere his majesty, yet he always supported them, that their spirits might not fail under those apprehensions and consternations. The angel bids them not to fear, for they had no reason to be afraid, he came not to bring them any frightening tidings, but

tidings of joy, and that not to them alone, but to all people, both Jews and Gentiles, for to that latitude the text may be expounded. What was that?

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. You have heard of the promises of the Messias, of a Christ that should come, and of the house of David. The promises of that nature are this day fulfilled, he is

born this very day; unto you, but not to you alone; he had before told them that his tidings of joy should extend to all nations.

And this shall be a sign unto you, by this you shall know the truth of what I say, and you shall know also where to find him; in

the city of David (that is, Bethlehem, as was said before)

ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Where you find such a babe, that is he, therefore be not offended at his low and mean condition, let that be no stumbling block to you, I give it you as a sign by which you shall know him.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. to all people“to thewhole people,” that is, of Israel; to be by them afterwardsopened up to the whole world. (See on Lu2:14).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the angel said unto them; fear not,…. For he was not a messenger of bad, but of good tidings:

for behold, I bring you good tidings; tidings, that were both wonderful and amazing, and therefore a “behold” is prefixed to them, as well as to excite to attention; and which were good news, and glad tidings, for such the birth of Christ of a virgin is: in which the good will and amazing love of Cod to man are displayed, and the promises, and prophecies relating to him fulfilled; and the work of man’s salvation, his peace, pardon, righteousness, c. about to be accomplished, and so matter

of great joy: not carnal, but spiritual not feigned, but real; not temporary, but lasting; even such as cannot be taken away, nor intermeddled with; and not small, but great, even joy unspeakable, and full of glory:

which shall be to all people; not to every individual of mankind; not to Herod and his courtiers, who were troubled at it; nor to the greater part of the Jewish nation, who when he came to them, received him not, but rejected him as the Messiah; particularly not to the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, who when they saw him, said, this is the heir, let’s kill him, and seize on the inheritance; but to all that were waiting for him, and were looking for redemption in Israel; to all sensible sinners who rejoice at his birth, and in his salvation; see Isa 9:3 to all the chosen people of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, whom God has taken to be his covenant people, and has given to his Son, as such, to redeem and save; to these the incarnation of Christ, with all the benefits resulting from it, is the cause of great joy, when they are made a willing people in the day of Christ’s power.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

I bring you good tidings of great joy ( ). Wycliff, “I evangelize to you a great joy.” The active verb occurs only in late Greek writers, LXX, a few papyri examples, and the N.T. The middle (deponent) appears from Aristophanes on. Luke and Paul employ both substantive and verb very frequently. It is to Paul’s influence that we owe their frequency and popularity in the language of Christendom (George Milligan, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, p. 143). The other Gospels do not have the verb save Mt 11:5 and that in a quotation (Isa 61:1).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

I bring you good tidings of great joy [ ] . Wyc. is strictly literal : I evangelize to you a great joy.

Which [] . Of a class or character which, etc.

People (tw law). Rev., rightly, “the people;” the article pointing specially to the people of Israel.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And the angel said unto them,” (kai ei pen autoi ho angelos) “And the angel said directly to them,” the one that had come down from the Lord upon them, to inform them and instruct them, Luk 2:9; Heb 1:14.

2) “Fear not;” (me phobesthe) “You all fear not,” or do not be emotionally disturbed, as if I were bringing judgment warning to you, instead of good will, Luk 12:32; 2Th 1:7.

3) “For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,” (idou gar evangelizomai humin charan megalen “For behold, I proclaim good news of great joy to you all,” Gen 12:1-3; Luk 4:18; Rev 14:6. The Bible usually indicates that Gabriel is over a realm of angels that inform God’s people for God, give the understanding, while Michael leads a realm of Divine service angels that defend God’s children an property and executes or pronounces judgment on the wicked, Luk 1:19; Luk 1:26; Dan 12:1; Rev 12:7.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

10. Fear not The design of this exhortation is to alleviate their fear. For, though it is profitable for the minds of men to be struck with awe, that they may learn to “give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name,” (Psa 29:2😉 yet they have need, at the same time, of consolation, that they may not be altogether overwhelmed. For the majesty of God could not but swallow up the whole world, if there were not some mildness to mitigate the terror which it brings. And so the reprobate fall down lifeless at the sight of God, because he appears to them in no other character than that of a judge. But to revive the minds of the shepherds, the angel declares that he was sent to them for a different purpose, to announce to them the mercy of God. When men hear this single word, that God is reconciled to them, it not only raises up those who are fallen down, but restores those who were ruined, and recalls them from death to life.

The angel opens his discourse by saying, that he announces great joy; and next assigns the ground or matter of joy, that a Savior is born These words show us, first, that, until men have peace with God, and are reconciled to him through the grace of Christ, all the joy that they experience is deceitful, and of short duration. (147) Ungodly men frequently indulge in frantic and intoxicating mirth; but if there be none to make peace between them and God, the hidden stings of conscience must produce fearful torment. Besides, to whatever extent they may flatter themselves in luxurious indulgence, their own lusts are so many tormentors. The commencement of solid joy is, to perceive the fatherly love of God toward us, which alone gives tranquillity to our minds. And this “joy,” in which, Paul tells us, “the kingdom of God” consists, is “in the Holy Spirit,” (Rom 14:17.) By calling it great joy, he shows us, not only that we ought, above all things, to rejoice in the salvation brought us by Christ, but that this blessing is so great and boundless, as fully to compensate for all the pains, distresses, and anxieties of the present life. Let us learn to be so delighted with Christ alone, that the perception of his grace may overcome, and at length remove from us, all the distresses of the flesh. (148)

Which shall be to all the people Though the angel addresses the shepherds alone, yet he plainly states, that the message of salvation which he brings is of wider extent, so that not only they, in their private capacity, may hear it, but that others may also hear. Now let it be understood, that this joy was common to all people, because, it was indiscriminately offered to all. For God had promised Christ, not to one person or to another, but to the whole seed of Abraham. If the Jews were deprived, for the most part, of the joy that was offered to them, it arose from their unbelief; just as, at the present day, God invites all indiscriminately to salvation through the Gospel, but the ingratitude of the world is the reason why this grace, which is equally offered to all, is enjoyed by few. Although this joy is confined to a few persons, yet, with respect to God, it is said to be common. When the angel says that this joy shall be to all the people, he speaks of the chosen people only; but now that, the middle wall of partition” (Eph 2:14) has been thrown down, the same message has reference to the whole human race. (149) For Christ proclaims peace, not only, to them that are nigh, “but to them that are, far off,” (Eph 2:17,) to “strangers” (Eph 2:12) equally with citizens. But as the peculiar covenant with the Jews lasted till the resurrection of Christ, so the angel separates them from the rest of the nations.

(147) “ Ce n’est que fumee;” — “it is only smoke.”

(148) “ Parquoy apprenons de prendre tellement notre contentement en Christ seul, que le sentiment de sa grace nous face surmonter toutes choses qui sont dures a la chair, et finalement en oste toute l’amertume.”— “Wherefore, let us learn to take our satisfaction, in such a manner, in Christ alone, that the feeling of his grace may make us rise above all things that are unpleasant to the flesh, and finally may take away all their bitterness.”

(149) “ Au reste, il est bien vray que l’ange parle seulement du peuple esleu, assavoir des Juifs; mais pourceque maintenant la paroy qui faisoit separation est rompue, la mesme ambassade s’addresse aujourdhui a tout le genre humain.” — “Besides, it is very true that the angel speaks only of the elect people, namely, the Jews; but because now the wall of partition which made a separation is broken down, the same message is addressed, at the present day, to all the human race.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(10) Fear not.It is worth noting that this is almost the normal accompaniment of the angelic manifestations in the Gospel (Mat. 28:5-10; Luk. 1:13; Luk. 1:30). They were intended to lessen, not to increase the dread which men feel on being brought into contact with the supernatural world.

I bring you good tidings.The verb is formed from the word for glad tidings, which we translate as gospeli.e., good spell, good news.

Which shall be to all people.Better, to all the people. The words point, in the first instance, to the joy which shall be for Israel as Gods people, and as such distinguished from the other nations of the world. (Comp. Luk. 2:32.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

10. Fear not The same introductory dismissal of fear as Gabriel addressed first to Zacharias and then to Mary.

All people All the people; for as these shepherds were representatives of the Jews, so Israel is the people to whom is the immediate joy; yet it redounds to all the world besides.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people, for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” ’

The angel assured them that they need not be afraid. Rather they should rejoice. For he had brought them good news indeed, ‘glad tidings of great joy’ (for ‘joy’ compare Luk 1:14; Luk 1:47; Luk 1:58). It was glad tiding which would be for ‘all people’ (compare Isa 61:1). The shepherds would see this as meaning all classes of people in Israel, including themselves. Luke probably intends us to see its wider connections. And this good news was that on that very day, in the city of David (Bethlehem), was born ‘a Saviour Who is Christ the Lord’.

The words are expressed in the same kind of language that was used by kings and emperors when a new heir was born. It was the Birth Announcement of a King. The birth of Augustus was also said to have been heralded as ‘good tidings’. They were tidings of joy for all. In this case the words happened to be true. His birth really was good tidings

In Luk 2:1 Caesar Augustus had announced his decree. Now it was God’s turn to issue a decree as He called these shepherds to enrol and pay allegiance to the Saviour. Caesar had called the mightiest in the Empire to submit to him. Here, symbolically, God also called the mightiest in His empire, those who were meek and lowly. Two empires were progressing side by side. But the empire of the meek and lowly would eventually come out on top.

It is possibly not without significance that ‘shepherd’ was regularly a picture of God’s servants and ministers of the word throughout both Old and New Testaments (Num 27:17; 1Ki 22:17; Jer 23:4; Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24; Zec 13:7; Joh 21:15-17) fellow-shepherds with God (Psa 23:1; Psa 80:1; Isa 40:11; Joh 10:11-14; Heb 13:20 ; 1Pe 2:25; 1Pe 5:4). Caesar wanted great leaders and men of wealth and position (Luk 22:25), God wanted the humble and poor to be His shepherds and through whom to do great things (Luk 22:24-27; 1Co 1:27).

‘A Saviour.’ Compare Luk 1:47 where God is Mary’s Saviour; Joh 4:42 where Jesus is called the Saviour of the world by the Samaritan woman; Act 5:31 where Jesus is declared to be a Prince and a Saviour to bring repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins; Luk 1:77; Act 13:23 where Jesus is the Saviour Whom God has brought to Israel; Eph 5:23 where Christ is the Saviour of His body, the church; Php 3:20 where His people look for their Saviour to come from Heaven and totally transform them, making them like Himself; 2Ti 1:10 where our salvation has been revealed through the appearing of ‘our Saviour Christ Jesus’, Who abolished death and brought light and immortality to light through the Good News; Tit 2:13 where we look for the glorious appearing ‘of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’, Tit 3:6 where the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Saviour has appeared to bring us His merciful salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit ‘which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour’; 2Pe 1:2 where our standing is ‘in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’; and so on. In Jewish terms the description links Him with God (2Sa 22:3; Psa 106:21; Isa 43:3; Isa 43:11 (the only Saviour); Isa 45:15; Isa 45:21; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16; Isa 63:8; Hos 13:4 (the incomparable Saviour).

This idea of Jesus as the Saviour is prominent in Luke (see Luk 2:30; Luk 1:69; Luk 1:71; Luk 1:77). He has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luk 19:9-10), as is evidenced by the parables (see especially chapter 15). And His work is regularly spoke of in terms of ‘saving’ or ‘making whole’.

‘Christ the Lord.’ He is also both Messiah and Lord. Compare Act 2:36 where as the crucified and risen One He is made ‘both Lord and Messiah’. As Messiah He fulfils all the promises in the Old Testament of a great Deliverer from the house of David. As Lord He is superior to David as his Lord (Luk 20:41-44; Psa 110:1), and Paul takes it further by seeing in the title the Name above every Name, the Name of YHWH (Php 2:9-11). So the three titles reveal His saving power, His fulfilment of prophecy, and His position as supreme Lord. The chapter began with Caesar Augustus, who was regularly called Saviour and Lord. Now we are introduced to the greater and more effective Saviour and Lord as pronounced from heaven.

‘In the city of David.’ A clear indication that here was the promised coming ‘David’, the everlasting King promised by the prophets.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Luk 2:10. Which shall be to all people This plainly refers to the promise made to the patriarch, that in his seed all nations should be blessed. And as the Jews interpreted this prophesy of the Messiah, the angel’s address could not but be an intimation that this prophesy was now fulfilled; and certainly this declaration of the angel’s must for ever remain an invincible barrier against their opinion, who believe a partial redemption. The joy which the birth of Christ should occasion among them, according to the angel, is universal joy,to all people; but how could it be so to those, who from all eternity were reprobated, and consequently rendered incapable of any of the blessings and benefits of the gospel?

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 2:10 ff. ] to the whole (Israelitish) people.

] that (that, namely) there was born to you this day , etc. The , in reference to the shepherds, is individualizing .

. . .] a deliverer and now comes His special more precise definition: who is Messiah, Lord! is not to be taken together , as it never occurs thus in the N. T.

. .] belonging to . “Haec periphrasis remittit pastores ad prophetiam, quae turn implebatur,” Bengel. Mic 5:2 .

] the appointed sign of recognition. [49]

] not: the child (Luther), but: a child. The word denotes either the still unborn child (as Luk 1:41 ; Hom. Il. xxii. 266), or, as in this case (comp. Luk 18:15 ; Act 7:19 ; 1Pe 2:2 ; also as a strong expression of the thought, 2Ti 3:15 ) and very often in the classical writers, the newborn child.

.] adjectival: a swaddled child , Luk 2:7 .

[49] According to the notice , and in view of the smallness of Bethlehem, the sign specified by was sufficiently certain at once to guide inquiry to the child in the village. Olshausen, but not the text, adds to this the secret impulse of the Spirit , which led the shepherds to the right place.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1471
CHRISTS INCARNATION GLAD TIDINGS TO ALL

Luk 2:10-11. 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.

IT has pleased God on many occasions to confer upon the poor some peculiar tokens of his regard: he has even chosen them, in preference to all others, to be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom.But, as though he had designed to mark with special approbation the exertions of honest industry, he has vouchsafed his most distinguished favours to them at a time when they have been employed in the duties of their respective callings. Gideon, who was of a poor family of Manasseh, and the least in his fathers house, was threshing his fathers wheat, when he was called to judge and to deliver Israel [Note: Jdg 6:11; Jdg 6:15.]. Saul, who also was of the least family belonging to the least of all the tribes, was seeking his fathers asses, when he was anointed to be king over Israel [Note: 1Sa 9:3; 1Sa 9:20-21.]. David also, the least of Jesses family, was brought from the sheepfold, that, from tending his fathers sheep, he might be exalted to the throne, and be made the shepherd, and king, of Gods peculiar people [Note: Psa 78:70-71. with 1Sa 16:11.]. Thus, when God had sent his dear Son into the world, he commissioned an angel to announce the tidings of his advent. But to whom did he send the angel? to Herod, or the chief priests? No: but to poor shepherds, who, for the security of their sheep, and their own mutual convenience, were keeping their watches, in rotation, through the night [Note: , Keeping (by turns) the watches of the night. ver. 8.]. To fix their attention, and to counteract the scandal which the tidings themselves would occasion, (for it must seem strange indeed to hear of the Saviour of the world, and the Lord of Glory, lying in a manger,) the angel appeared clothed with light, such light as clearly indicated the dignity of the messenger, and the importance of the message. Having dispelled the fears which his first appearance had excited in their minds, he addressed them in the words which we have just read: in elucidating which, we shall consider,

I.

The tidings announced

The birth of Jesus is here declared: and the city wherein he was born is specified in appropriate terms, in order that the accomplishment of that prophecy which had foretold the place of his birth might be distinctly seen and acknowledged [Note: Mic 5:2.]. The description here given of Jesus is worthy of our deepest attention. The angel describes him by,

1.

His office

[Many saviours had been sent to Israel in former ages [Note: Neh 9:27.]: but here was one infinitely superior to them all; one who came to deliver, not one people only, but a whole world; not from temporal bondage or misery, but from sin and Satan, death and hell ]

2.

His right and title to it

[The name Christ, as also the name Messiah, signifies Anointed: and it was the name by which the great Deliverer was expected both by the Jewish and Gentile world [Note: Joh 4:25. It was not a Jewess, but a Samaritan, that said this.]. Now this name denoted his divine commission, together with his super-eminent qualifications for the performance of his office. The kings and priests, and, in some instances, the prophets also, were set apart for their respective offices by a holy unction. And he, in whom all these offices were combined, was consecrated to them by a public and immeasurable effusion of the Holy Ghost [Note: Luk 3:22; Luk 4:18. with Psa 45:7 and Joh 3:34.]. He was no unauthorized obtruder; but a Saviour duly sent and qualified.]

3.

His sufficiency for it

[Had the person announced as a Saviour been a mere creature, he never could have effected all that was necessary for those whom he came to save. But he was the Lord, even Jehovah himself. It had been said of him by the prophet, eight hundred years before, To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and his name shall be called, The Mighty God [Note: Isa 9:6.]: and that prophecy was declared to be now accomplished. Consequently, whatever he had undertaken, he was able to perform: his atonement would be sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world: his righteousness would be sufficient to justify all that should trust in it for acceptance: and his grace would be sufficient to make them conquerors over all their enemies.]

Together with the tidings themselves, the angel announced also,

II.

The importance of them

The term, behold, is always used to mark the importance of that to which it is prefixed. But here the precise view in which the tidings claim our attention is distinctly specified. They are a matter,

1.

Of exceeding joy

[To illustrate this, we need only observe by whom the message was delivered, and if whom. An angel was the messenger: but he was not privileged to say, To us is born a Saviour: no; there was no Saviour provided for the fallen angels: but for man, when he fell. God became incarnate: he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham [Note: Heb 2:16.]. Suppose then, that instead of being sent to men, the angel had been sent to his fallen brethren; and that, having opened the gates of hell, he had announced the tidings to the apostate spirits, To you is sent a Saviour! O what joy had been diffused through those miserable regions! How would the vaults of hell have rung with acclamations and hosannas! How would every spirit instantly have forgotten his pains, and pressed forward to hear the full import of this astonishing message! Thus then ought the tidings to be received amongst us: since the only difference between them and us is, that on them is executed the sentence they deserve, and we are shut up in prison, waiting to have the same executed upon us, as soon as the full measure of our iniquities shall be completed.]

2.

Of universal joy

[These tidings were equally interesting to Jews and Gentiles; to those of the apostolic age, and to us who live at such a distance, both of time and place. Nor is there one among the children of men who has not equal cause to value the Saviour that is here announced. Who is there that does not need the merit of his atonement and the efficacy of his grace? And who is there to whom they are not freely offered? There is not one on earth who can be saved without them; nor is there one, however abandoned, who may not, by a believing application to the Saviour, be interested in them. Well therefore may they be called good tidings to all people; since they are so to all, of every age, and of every description: and well may the prophet call on the whole creation to shout for joy [Note: Isa 44:23.].]

We conclude with inviting you all to imitate the shepherds:
1.

Inquire into the truth of the tidings you have heard

[The shepherds instantly went to Bethlehem, to see with their own eyes the truth of what they had heard [Note: ver. 15.]. To you then we say, Go to Bethlehem, or rather, Go to the Bible, and search whether these things be not as they have been represented? What would you have thought of the shepherds, if, when they had such an opportunity of obtaining satisfaction on the point, they had neglected it, and had laid themselves down to sleep? O be not ye such yourselves. You have incomparably better means of information than they had. You may see the whole record concerning this holy Child; his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, yea, you may see the union of the Godhead with his human-nature, and may read, in facts as well as in declarations, his ability to save you to the uttermost. O arise, and inquire into these deep mysteries, with all the humility and attention they demand.]

2.

When convinced of the truth of them yourselves, communicate them diligently to others

[The shepherds would not hide within their own bosoms the things they had heard and seen, but published them abroad for the information of others also [Note: ver. 17.]. And should you be silent? When you have so much clearer instruction to convey, should you, not impart it gladly to those around you? Remember, that if you have the knowledge of Christ as the only and all-sufficient Saviour, you are on no account to put that light under a bushel, but to make use of it that you may guide others also into the way of peace.]

3.

Make them the theme of your joyful praises in the midst of your earthly business

[The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen [Note: ver. 20.]: they forsook not their duty: but returned to it in a joyful and devout frame of mind. A discovery of the deep things of God is not intended to take us out of the situations in life which we have been called to fill; but to make us holy, and happy in them. Let this effect be wrought on you. Neglect not your worldly occupations, whatever they may be; but serve God in them, and abound in praises and thanksgivings for that which has been revealed unto you. However mean or toilsome your vocation be, care not for it; but make it to appear, that the knowledge of this Saviour can render any yoke easy, and afford a joy which the world can neither give nor take away.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

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.

Ver. 10. I bring you good tidings ] The first preacher of the gospel was an angel. God hath now taken this honour from the angels, and put it upon the ministers, who are in Scripture called angels,Rev 2:1Rev 2:1 , and angels ministers,Heb 1:14Heb 1:14 . The old church had , the promise, we have , the joyful tidings.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

10, 11. ] ., not (E. V.) to all people, here: but to all THE people, the Jewish people. To them was the first message of joy, before the bursting in of the Gentiles just as here the one angel gives the prefatory announcement, before the multitude of the heavenly host burst in with their proclamation of ‘peace on earth.’

] a Saviour, as E. V., the name being particularized afterwards.

. . ] This is the only place where these words come together. In ch. Luk 23:2 we have . , and in Act 2:36 . (In Col 3:24 we have, in a somewhat different meaning (said to servants), .) And I see no way of understanding this , but as corresponding to the Hebrew JEHOVAH.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 2:10 . , etc., I bring good news in the form of a great joy ( cf. Luk 1:19 ). , not merely to you, but to the whole people (of Israel, vide Luk 1:68 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

not. Greek. me. App-105.

behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.

I bring you good tidings. Greek. euangelizomai = 1 evangelize (announce) to you great joy.

which. Denoting the class or character of the joy.

people = the People [of Israel].

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

10, 11.] ., not (E. V.) to all people, here: but to all THE people,-the Jewish people. To them was the first message of joy, before the bursting in of the Gentiles-just as here the one angel gives the prefatory announcement, before the multitude of the heavenly host burst in with their proclamation of peace on earth.

] a Saviour, as E. V.,-the name being particularized afterwards.

. .] This is the only place where these words come together. In ch. Luk 23:2 we have . , and in Act 2:36 . (In Col 3:24 we have, in a somewhat different meaning (said to servants), .) And I see no way of understanding this , but as corresponding to the Hebrew JEHOVAH.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 2:10. , joy) Express mention of joy is here made, inasmuch as the causes for that joy were not as yet so clearly manifested: on the other hand, the angel who announced the resurrection does not expressly exhort to joy, inasmuch as the cause for joy was manifest, ch. Luk 24:5.-, shall be) even by means of the report of mere shepherds.- , to all the people) The angel speaks to the shepherds, who were Israelites, in a way such as was appropriate to that early time. Comp. ch. Luk 1:33, note.[25] [Afterwards it was about to be realized that the same blessing should be vouchsafed to the Gentiles also, Luk 2:32. But this fact was at that time hidden from the angels themselves, as Eph 3:10 implies.-V. g.]

[25] is not, as Engl. Vers. implies, all people of the world; but is peculiarly applied to the people of Israel; conformably to the fact that the angel was addressing Israelites, who would understand in this sense alone.-ED. and TRANSL.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Good Tidings of Great Joy

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

1. To the evangelist and to Christian faith the coming of Jesus into the world is the great event in its history. We divide time into the Christian era and the era before Christ. Yet we cannot be sure of the very year when Christ was born, any more than of the very year when He died; and though St. Luke was anxious to date the birth precisely, as we see from Luk 2:1-2, there are unsolved difficulties connected with the census which we have simply to acknowledge. That the Day-spring from on high visited the world to give light to them that sit in darkness is undoubted, though we may not be able to tell the hour of its rising.

The narrative of St. Luke is the most wonderful and beautiful in Holy Scripture, and has always touched the hearts of men. Not that Christmas, as we call it, was from the beginning the great festival of believers. On the contrary, the great festival of the early Church was Easter, the day of the resurrection. It was not till the thirteenth century that the infant Christ and the manger came to have the place they now hold in the thoughts and affections of Christians, and this was greatly due to the influence of Francis of Assisi, who visited Bethlehem and wept with holy joy over the lowly birth of the Saviour. He diffused his own devotion when he returned to Italy, and great artists found in the stable and the manger, the ox and the ass (borrowed from Isa 1:3), the mother and the Child, the shepherds and the angels, the highest inspirations of their genius.

2. It is long since the shepherds near Bethlehem beheld in the clear eastern sky the glory of the Lord, and heard the voice of the heavenly messenger proclaiming, Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Centuries have rolled by, but the lustre of that night has not passed away. The tones of that message have been caught and repeated by an increasing number of God-sent messengers. They swell in volume and majesty and power until now from all parts of the world the grand chorus resounds, filling the air with its message of joy and hope and faith and love, Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

I

The Circumstances

1. The Shepherds

There were many great men and many wealthy men in Palestine. There were scholars of the most profound and various learning. There were lean ascetics who had left the joys of home, and gone away to pray and fast in deserts. But it was not to any of these that the angels came, and it was not in their ears that the music sounded; the greatest news that the world ever heard was given to a group of humble shepherds. Few sounds from the mighty world ever disturbed them. They were not vexed by any ambition to be famous. They passed their days amid the silence of nature; and to the Jew nature was the veil of God. They were men of a devout and reverent spirit, touched with a sense of the mystery of things, as shepherds are so often to this day. Is it not to such simple and reverent spirits that God still reveals Himself in amplest measure? How fitting it was, too, that shepherds should be chosen, when we remember how the Twenty-third Psalm begins, and when we reflect that the Babe born in Bethlehem was to be the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep.

The Lord manifested to the sage, the sovereign, is now manifest to the shepherd. This last was peculiarly significant of the genius of Christianity. The people need Christ. They have their share of sin, suffering, sorrow. They deeply need the grace, consolations, and strengthening of the Gospel. The people are capable of Christ. Without the intellectual distinction of the Magi, or the social eminence of Herod, they have the essential greatness of soul which renders them capable of Christ and of His greatest gifts. The people rejoice in Christ. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen. From that day to this a new glory has shone on all common scenes, a new joy has filled the common heart that has been opened to the Prince of Peace, the Saviour of the World.1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson, The Gates of Dawn, 357.]

2. The Place

It is generally supposed that these anonymous shepherds were residents of Bethlehem; and tradition has fixed the exact spot where they were favoured with this Advent Apocalypseabout a thousand paces from the modern village. It is a historic fact that there was a tower near that site, called Eder, or the Tower of the Flock, around which were pastured the flocks destined for the Temple sacrifice; but the topography of Luk 2:8 is purposely vague. The expression, in that same country, would describe any circle within the radius of a few miles from Bethlehem as its centre, and the very vagueness of the expression seems to push back the scene of the Advent music to a farther distance than a thousand paces. And this view is confirmed by the language of the shepherds themselves, who, when the vision has faded, say one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass; for they scarcely would have needed, or used, the adverbial even were they keeping their flocks so close up to the walls of the city. We may therefore infer, with some amount of probability, that, whether the shepherds were residents of Bethlehem or not, when they kept watch over their flocks, it was not on the traditional site, but farther away over the hills.

It is difficult, and very often impossible, for us to fix the precise locality of these sacred scenes, these bright points of intersection, where Heavens glories flash out against the dull carbon-points of earth; and the voices of tradition are at best but doubtful guesses. It would almost seem as if God Himself had wiped out these memories, hiding them away, as He hid the sepulchre of Moses, lest the world should pay them too great a homage, and lest we might think that one place lay nearer to Heaven than another, when all places are equally distant, or rather equally near. It is enough to know that somewhere on these lonely hills came the vision of the angels, perhaps on the very spot where David was minding his sheep when Heaven summoned him to a higher task, passing him up among the kings.1 [Note: Henry Burton.]

3. The Time

The time is significant. Night is the parent of holy thought,the nurse of devout aspiration. Its darkness is often the chosen time for heavenly illumination. When earth is dark, heaven glows. The world was shrouded in night when Christ came, and into the thickest of its gross darkness His light burst. Yet the unobtrusiveness of His appearance, and the blending of secrecy with the manifestation of His power, are well typified by that glory which shone in the night, and was seen only by two or three poor men. The Highest came to His own in quietness, and almost stole into the world, and the whole life was of a piece with the birth and its announcement. There was the hiding of His power.

Christmas hath a darkness

Brighter than the blazing noon,

Christmas hath a dullness

Warmer than the heat of June,

Christmas hath a beauty

Lovelier than the world can show:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,

Birds that sing and bells that ring;

Heaven hath answering music

For all Angels soon to sing:

Earth, put on your whitest

Bridal robe of spotless snow:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

Brought for us so low.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, Verses, 54.]

4. How simply the appearance of the single angel and the glory of the Lord is told! The evangelist thinks it the most natural thing in the world that heaven should send out its inhabitant on such an errand, and that the symbol of the Divine presence should fill the night with sudden splendour, which paled the bright Syrian stars. So it was, if that birth were what he tells us it wasthe coming into human life of the manifest Deity. If we think of what he is telling, his quiet tone is profoundly impressive. The Incarnation is the great central miracle, the object of devout wonder to principalities in heavenly places. And not only do angels come to herald and to adore, but the glory of the Lord, that visible brightness which was the token of Gods presence between the cherubim and had been hid in the secret of the sanctuary while it shone, but which had for centuries been absent from the Temple, now blazes with undestructive light on the open hillside, and encircles them and the friendly angel by their side. What did that mean but that the birth of Jesus was the highest revelation of God, henceforth not to be shut within the sanctuary, but to be the companion of common lives, and to make all sacred by its presence? The glory of God shines where Christ is, and where it shines is the temple.

And now the day draws nigh when Christ was born;

The day that showed how like to God Himself

Man had been made, since God could be revealed

By one that was a man with men, and still

Was one with God the Father; that men might

By drawing nigh to Him draw nigh to God,

Who had come near to them in tenderness.1 [Note: G. MacDonald, Within and Without (Poetical Works, i. 52).]

II

The Preface to the Message

1. Reassurance

Be not afraid. This was the first bidding sent from heaven to men when Jesus Christ was born. It was no new message of reassurance; again and again in a like need a like encouragement had been vouchsafed: to Abraham, to Isaac, to Gideon, to Daniel, to Zacharias, the same tranquillizing, helpful words had come from the considerateness and gentleness that are on high. But to the shepherds of Bethlehem they came with a new power and significance. For now they had their final warrant upon earth; those attributes of God, those truths of the Divine Nature upon which the bidding rested, had their perfect expression now in a plain fact of human history. The birth of Jesus Christ was the answer, the solvent for such fears as rushed upon the shepherds when the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. They feared, as the mystery and stillness of the night were broken by that strange invasion, what might follow it. And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Within that glory was the love of God; and all that it might disclose must come from Him who so loved the world that He had sent His Son to be born, to suffer, and to die for men. There must, indeed, be awe in coming near to God, in realizing how near He comes to us: but it is like the awe with which even earthly goodness, greatness, wisdom at their highest touch us; it is not like our terror of that which is arbitrary and unaccountable. God dwells in depths of burning light, such as the eyes of sinful men can never bear: but the light itself, with all it holds, streams forth from love, and is instinct, informed, aglow with love.

These words which the angel spoke were but anticipations of the words with which Jesus Himself has made us familiar. They were His favourite words. He might have borrowed them from the angel, or more likely given them to the angel in advance. We hear from His own lips continuallyFear not. He meets us at every turn of life with that cheery invocation. He passed through His ministry day by day repeating it. It was the watchword of His journey and warfare. The disciples heard it every time they were troubled, cast down, and afraid. When they fell at His feet trembling, He lifted them up with the words Fear not! When their ship was sinking in the storm, they heard the cry Fear not! When they shivered at the thought of all the foes and dangers which awaited them, there came reassurance with the voice, Fear not, little flock. When He was leaving them, one of His last words was: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Christ has been speaking that word ever since. He came to speak it. He came to deliver man from those fears. He smiles upon our fears to-day. He almost laughs them away in the sunshine of His power and confidence. The Incarnation is Gods answer to human gloom, despondency, and pessimism. What are you afraid of? it says. Am I not with you always to the end? And all power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. You are afraid of your sins? Fear not! I am able to save to the uttermost. You are afraid of the world, the flesh, and the devil? Fear not! I have overcome the world, and cast out the prince of the world. You are afraid of your own weakness? Fear not! All things are possible to him that believeth. You are afraid of lifes changes and uncertainties? Fear not! The Father hath given all things into My hands. You are afraid of death and bereavement? Fear not! I have conquered and abolished death. You are afraid of all the ominous signs of the times, the perils of religion and the shakings of the Church? Fear not! I am the first, the last, the Almighty, and the rock against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.1 [Note: J. G. Greenhough, Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, 207.]

Thought could not go on much longer with its over-emphasis of the Atonement and its under-emphasis of the Incarnation without losing its relation to human society. The Atonement, as something done for and upon man, leaving him not an actor but a receiver, threw him out of gear with the modern idea of personality. This idea was rather to be found in the Incarnation, the inmost meaning of which is Divine Fatherhood and obedient Sonship. It means Christ, not dying for man to fill out some demand of government, but living in man in order to develop his Divineness, or, as Bushnell phrased it, that he might become Christed. It was getting to be seen that whatever Christianity is to do for man must be done through the Incarnation; that is, through the oneness of God and humanity, the perfect realization of which is to be found in the Christ.2 [Note: T. T. Munger, Horace Bushnell, 399.]

2. Universal joy

The angels message matches with the Jewish minds he addresses. The great joy he proclaims is to be, not for all people, but for all the peoplethat is, Israel; the Saviour who has been born in Davids city is the Messianic King for whom Israel was waiting. This was not all the truth, but it was as much as the shepherds could take in.

The Jews said, There is a Gospelto the Jews. And when the Gospel went out beyond the Jews the Roman Catholic Church said, There is a Gospelto the baptized. And they collected them together by the thousand in India, and sprinkled water on them, so as to give them a chance to be saved. Calvin, who has been condemned for his doctrine of election, by it broadened out the Church idea of salvation. When men said, Only Jews can be saved, when men said, Only the baptized can be saved, Calvin said, Anyone can be saved. It is for those who have been baptized, and for those who have not been baptized; it is for those who are Jews, and for those who are Gentiles; it is for those who are old enough to accept the Gospel, and it is for the little children not old enough to accept the Gospel. God can save anyone He will. That is the doctrine of election. And now we are growing to a broader view than this. It is not for the Jew only, but for the Gentile; not for the baptized only, but also for the unbaptized; not for the elect only, but for the non-elect, if there could be any non-elect; not only for those who have heard it, but for those who have not heard it. This is the message of glad tidings and joy which shall be for all people. It is salvation for all people.1 [Note: L. Abbott, in Christian Age, xli. (1892) 84.]

How could I tell my joy to my brother if it were not a universal joy? I can tell my grief to the glad, but not my gladness to the grieving. I dare not spread my banquet at the open window, where the hungry are passing by. Therefore, oh! my Father, I rejoice that Thou hast sent into my heart a ray of glory which is not alone for me. I rejoice that Thou hast given me a treasure which I need not hide from my brother. I rejoice that the light which sparkles in my pool is not from the candle, but from the moon. The candle is for me, but the moon is for all. Put out my candle, oh! my Father. Extinguish the joy that is proud of being unshared. Lower the lamp which shines only on my own mirror. Let down the lights that make a wall between myself and the weary. And over the darkness let there rise the starBethlehems star, humanitys star, the star that shines for one because it shines for all.2 [Note: G. Matheson, Searchings in the Silence, 52.]

III

The Message

1. There is born a Saviour. A Saviour! What a thrill of joy must have shot through the hearts of these astonished men as they listened to the word of wondrous import. A Saviour! Then indeed man is to be saved! Through the long, dark, weary ages man had been groaning in miserable captivity to the tyrant powers of sin, and nothing was more evident than this, that he had lost all power of saving himself. Now, at last, another is going to undertake his helpless cause. He who of old heard the cry of the Israelites in Egypt under the taskmasters whip, and saw the anguish of their heart while they toiled under the cruel bondage of PharaohHe who sent them a saviour in the person of Moses, and who subsequently again and again delivered them from their enemies by raising up a Saviour for them, He had at length undertaken the cause of ruined humanity, and was about to deliver a sin-bound world. A Saviour, and the champion of our race, was actually born and in their midst, ready soon to enter on His mysterious conflict, and to work out a complete deliverance, a full salvation. This was indeed glad tidings of great joy. This was the dawning of a new epoch. The Day-spring from on high was surely visiting a darkened, sin-shadowed world.

The birth of any man child is an interesting eventanother added to the many million lives, to the multitude which none can number, who are to stand before the judgment-seat of God; another life from the birth-source, which shall flow on through the channel of mortal life, the gulf of death, and the underground channel of the grave, to the boundless ocean of eternity:for, once born, one must hold on to think, and live, and feel for ever. Such is the birth of every one who has his time to be born behind him, and his time to die before him still. But how intensely interesting the birth of that child whose name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, but for whose birth we all must have died eternally, and but for whose birth, it would have been better none of us had been born.1 [Note: Life of Robertson of Irvine (by A. Guthrie), 256.]

Christ goes out into the world. He heals the sick, He feeds the hungry, He comforts the afflicted. But in all the healing and helping this one message He repeats, in different forms, over and over again: Thy sins be forgiven thee. They let down a paralytic through the roof of a house before Him, and this is His message: Thy sins be forgiven thee. A woman kneels before Him and washes His feet with her tears and wipes them with the hairs of her head, and this is His message: Go in peace, and sin no more. They nail Him to the cross, and His prayer breathes the same message: Father, forgive them. There hangs by the side of Him a brigand who has gone through sins of murder and robbery. He looks upon him with compassion, and says: This day thou shalt be with me in paradise. He is indeed the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is more than healing the sick, more than feeding the hungry, more than clothing the naked, more than educating the ignorant; this is taking off the great burden under which humanity has been crushed.1 [Note: Lyman Abbott.]

2. There is born Christ. He was born the Messiah, the Anointed One of Israel. To Israel He came fulfilling all the ancient covenant promises, and bringing with Him the tender mercies of our God. He is that Seed of the woman announced and promised to Adam and Eve in the garden, whose mission it was to bruise the serpents head. He was and is that Seed of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed, of whom Balaam prophesied and said, I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel. He was and is the One whose day Abraham saw afar off and was glad. He was and is that Wonderful Counsellor of whom Isaiah prophesied, the root out of a dry ground, whose visage was so marred more than any man; who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, on whom the Lord caused all our iniquities to meet; the prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren whom Moses foresaw and whom he bade all Israel hear; the Stem of Jesse; the Branch of Zechariah; the Messenger of the Covenant and the Sun of Righteousness, arising with healing in His wings, whom Malachi foretold as being nigh. He is the sum and substance of all the ceremonial sacrifices and feasts of the Jews; in a word, He is that One of whom Moses in the Law and all the prophets did speak and all the Psalmists sang.

He might have come in regal pomp,

With pealing of Archangel trump

An angel blast as loud and dread

As that which shall awake the dead

He came not thus; no earthquake shock

Shiverd the everlasting rock;

No trumpet blast nor thunder peal

Made earth through all her regions reel;

And but for the mysterious voicing

Of that unearthly choir rejoicing;

And but for that strange herald gem,

The star which burned oer Bethlehem,

The shepherds, on His natal morn,

Had known not that the God was born.

There were no terrors, for the song

Of peace rose from the seraph throng;

On wings of love He cameto save,

To pluck pale terror from the grave,

And on the blood-staind Calvary

He won for man the victory.1 [Note: N. T. Carrington.]

3. There is born the Lord.

(1) In the Child born at Bethlehem we find God.How steadily do the angels words climb upwards, as it were, from the cradle to the throne. He begins with the lowly birth, and then rises, step by step, each word opening a wider and more wonderful prospect, to that climax beyond which there is nothingthat this infant is the Lord. The full joy and tremendous wonder of the first word are not felt till we read the last. The birth is the birth of the Lord. We cannot give any but the highest meaning to that sacred name, which could have but one meaning to a Jew. It was much that there was born a Saviourmuch that there was born a Messiah. Men need a deliverer, and the proclamation here is best kept in its widest meaningas of one who sets free from all ills outward and inward, and brings all outward and inward good. The Saviour of men must be a man, and therefore it is good news that He is born. It was much that Messiah should be born. The fulfilment of the wistful hopes of many generations, the accomplishment of prophecy, the Divine communication of the Spirit which fitted kings and priests of old for their work, the succession to Davids throne, were all declared in that one announcement that the Christ was born in Davids city. But that last word, the Lord, crowns the wonder and the blessing, while it lays the only possible foundation for the other two names.

If, on the one hand, mans Saviour must be man, on the other, He must be more than man; and nothing short of a Divine man can heal the wounds of mankind, or open a fountain of blessing sufficient for their needs. Unless God become man, there can be no Saviour; nor can there be any Christ. For no mere humanity can bear the full gift of the Divine Spirit, which is Messiahs anointing for His office, nor discharge that office in all its depth and breadth. Many in this day try to repeat the angels message, and leave out the last word, and then they wonder that it stirs little gladness and works no salvation. Let us be sure that, unless the birth at Bethlehem was the Incarnation of Deity, it would have called forth no angel songs, nor will it work any deliverance or bring any joy to men.

A God in the sky will never satisfy men and women upon earth. God on the mountain will never suffice man on the plain. True, it is much, very much, to know that God is in heaven, The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, above earths petty discords and changing views and selfish passions. But this falls short, pitiably short, of mans demands. It is, at best, an icy creed, and not, by itself, the warm, loving creed of the Christian. For it leaves a gulf between God and man, with no bridge to pass over. It is the difference between Olympus and Olivet. Whatso the heart will askis the good of a God above the bright blue sky, when I am down here upon earth? What intimatcy can there be between the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity and an earth-born being such as I am? How could the missionaries persuade men that such a God loved them, cared for them, felt with them? How, indeed, could God Himself so persuade men, save by coming and living among them, sharing their lives, experiencing their temptations, drinking the vinegar and gall which they drank, suffering in the flesh as they suffered? There was no other way. Hence the Incarnation. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

It is related of a celebrated musician that, when asked to compose a National Anthem for the people of another country, he went and lived with them, studied them from within, shared their poverty, became one with them that he might become one of them, and was thus, and only thus, enabled to express their feelings in his music. This is what God did at the Incarnation.1 [Note: E. E. Holmes, The Days of the Week, 42.]

When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the finite met the Infinitethe temporal, the Eternal. Heaven and earth coalesced, not in semblance, but in reality; not by proxy, but in the wonderful Person that combined the highest characteristics of both. In Him all fulnessthe fulness of the Creator and the fulness of the creaturedwelt bodily. All things were gathered together in one in Himboth those which are in the heavens and those which are in the eartheven in Him. His Incarnation was the crowning miracle of grace, as the creation of man was the crowning miracle of nature.1 [Note: H. Macmillan, The Garden and the City, 32.]

If Moslems, Lull argued, according to their law affirm that God loved man because He created him, endowed him with noble faculties, and pours His benefits upon him, then the Christians according to their law affirm the same. But inasmuch as the Christians believe more than this, and affirm that God so loved man that He was willing to become man, to endure poverty, ignominy, torture, and death for his sake, which the Jews and Saracens do not teach concerning Him, therefore is the religion of the Christians, which thus reveals a Love beyond all other love, superior to that of those which reveals it only in an inferior degree. Islam is a loveless religion. Raymund Lull believed and proved that Love could conquer it. The Koran denies the Incarnation, and so remains ignorant of the true character not only of the Godhead but of God.2 [Note: S. M. Zwemer, Raymund Lull, 140.]

We make far too little of the Incarnation; the Fathers knew much more of the incarnate God. Some of them were oftener at Bethlehem than at Calvary; they had too little of Calvary, but they knew Bethlehem well. They took up the Holy Babe in their arms; they loved Immanuel, God with us. We are not too often at the cross; but we are too seldom at the cradle; and we know too little of the Word made flesh, of the Holy Child Jesus.3 [Note: Rabbi Duncan, in Recollections by A. Moody Stuart, 167.]

(2) Though Divine yet is He human.Behold what manner of love God hath bestowed upon us that He should espouse our nature! For God had never so united Himself with any creature before. His tender mercy had ever been over all His works; but they were still so distinct from Himself that a great gulf was fixed between the Creator and the created, so far as existence and relationship are concerned. The Lord had made many noble intelligences, principalities, and powers of whom we know little; we do not even know what those four living creatures may be who are nearest the Eternal Presence; but God had never taken up the nature of any of them, nor allied Himself with them by any actual union with His Person. He has, however, allied Himself with man: He has come into union with man, and therefore He loves him unutterably well and has great thoughts of good towards him.

The fact that such intimate union of the Divine with the human is possible unveils the essential Godlikeness of man. His nature is capable of receiving Divine indwelling. There is such affinity between God and him that the fulness of the Godhead can dwell bodily in a man. Christianity has often been accused of gloomy, depressing views of human nature; but where, in all the dreams of superficial exalters of manhood, is there anything so radiant with hope as the solid fact that the eternal Son of God has said of it, Here will I dwell, for I have desired it? Christianity has no temptation to varnish over the dark realities of man as he is, for it knows its power to make him what he was meant to be.

So we have to look on the child Christ as born to give the world assurance of a man, or, in modern phraseology, to realize the ideal of human nature. That birth in the manger was the first appearance of the shoot from the dry stump of the Davidic house, which was to flower into a plant of renown, and fill the world with its beauty and fragrance. One thinks of the loveliness of perfect deeds, the continual submission to the loved will of the Father, the tranquillity unbroken, the uninterrupted self-suppression, the gentle immobility of resolve, the gracious words, bright with heavenly wisdom, warm with pure love, throbbing with quick pity, as one gazes on the young child, and would, with the strangers from the East, bring homage and offerings thither. There is the dawn of a sun without a spot; the headwaters of a mighty stream without stain or perturbation in all its course.

The story tells us that Christ Himself was as poor and as unfamed as the shepherdsyet all Heaven was with Him. No trumpet-flourish told His coming, no posts rode swift from town to town to announce His Kingship. Earth and its glory took no notice of One who was laid in a manger. But far above in the world beyond, where earthly glory hath no praise, and earth no power, and rank no dignity, the Child who lived to love and die for men, was celebrated among the heavenly host. All the courts of Heaven began to praise God for the little Child for whom there was no shelter on earth but a cave in the rocks, Christianity has restored humanity to Man 1:1 [Note: Stopford A. Brooke, Sunshine and Shadow, 191.]

What means that star, the Shepherds said,

That brightens through the rocky glen?

And angels, answering overhead,

Sang, Peace on earth, good-will to men!

Tis eighteen hundred years and more

Since those sweet oracles were dumb;

We wait for Him, like them of yore;

Alas, He seems so slow to come!

But it was said, in words of gold

No time or sorrow eer shall dim,

That little children might be bold

In perfect trust to come to Him.

All round about our feet shall shine

A light like that the wise men saw,

If we our loving wills incline

To that sweet Life which is the Law.

So shall we learn to understand

The simple faith of shepherds then,

And, clasping kindly hand in hand,

Sing, Peace on earth, good-will to men!

And they who do their souls no wrong,

But keep at eve the faith of morn,

Shall daily hear the angel-song,

To-day the Prince of Peace is born!2 [Note: J. R. Lowell, A Christmas Carol.]

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Literature

Aitken (W. H. M. H.), The Revealer Revealed, 1.

Alexander (W.), Leading Ideas of the Gospels, 148.

Askew (E. A.), The Service of Perfect Freedom, 32.

Austin (G. B.), The Beauty of Goodness, 202.

Blake (R. E.), Good News from Heaven, 1.

Brooke (S. A.), The Kingship of Love, 215.

Carter (T. T.), Meditations on the Hidden Life of our Lord, i. 44.

Channing (W. E.), The Perfect Life, 215.

Collins (W.E.), Hours of Insight, 124.

Craigie (J. A.), The Country Pulpit, 49.

Doney (C. G.), The Throne-Room of the Soul, 95.

Ellicott (C. J.), Sermons at Gloucester, 11.

Greenhough (J. G.), Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, 204.

Hancock (T.), The Pulpit and the Press, 41.

Hare (J. C.), Sermons Preacht in Herstmonceux Church, ii. 167.

Harper (F.), A Year with Christ, 14.

Leathes (A. S.), The Kingdom Within, 1, 15.

Macmillan (H.), The Garden and the City, 31.

Marjoribanks (T.), The Fulness of the Godhead, 44.

Massillon (J. B.), Sermons, 407.

Miller (J.), Sermons Literary and Scientific, i. 211.

Moody (A.), Buy the Truth! 29.

Morrison (G. H.), The Footsteps of the Flock, 385.

Murray (W. H.), The Fruits of the Spirit, 201, 485.

Parker (J.), The City Temple, iii. 307.

Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chapel, i. 76.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xii. (1866), No. 727; xvii. (1871), No. 1026; xxii. (1876), No. 1330.

Thorne (H.), Notable Sayings of the Great Teacher, 250.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xix. (1881), No. 1171; xxi. (1882), No. 1204; xxvi. (1886), No. 1309.

Watkinson (W. L.), The Education of the Heart, 247.

Christian Age, xli. 83 (Lyman Abbott).

Christian World Pulpit, xliv. 161 (J. O. Dykes); lxxiv. 409 (W. D. Lukens).

Homiletic Review, xxxiv. 43 (E. D. Guerrant); xlviii. 459 (W. D. Lukens); liv. 461 (W. A. Quayle); lxiii. 51 (J. Denney).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Fear not: Luk 1:13, Luk 1:30, Dan 10:11, Dan 10:12, Dan 10:19, Mat 28:5, Rev 1:17, Rev 1:18

I bring: Luk 1:19, Luk 8:1, Isa 40:9, Isa 41:27, Isa 52:7, Isa 61:1, Act 13:32, Rom 10:15

to: Luk 2:31, Luk 2:32, Luk 24:47, Gen 12:3, Psa 67:1, Psa 67:2, Psa 98:2, Psa 98:3, Isa 49:6, Isa 52:10, Mat 28:18, Mar 1:15, Mar 16:15, Rom 15:9-12, Eph 3:8, Col 1:23

Reciprocal: Deu 32:43 – Rejoice 2Ki 7:9 – this day 2Ki 20:19 – peace and truth 1Ch 16:31 – let the earth Psa 21:6 – made Psa 89:5 – heavens Psa 89:15 – know Psa 96:11 – the heavens Psa 97:1 – the earth Psa 98:1 – for he Pro 15:30 – a good Pro 25:25 – so Son 1:4 – we will be Isa 40:5 – the glory Isa 41:10 – Fear Isa 44:23 – Sing Isa 49:1 – The Lord Isa 49:3 – General Jer 33:14 – General Nah 1:15 – upon Zep 3:14 – shout Hag 2:7 – and the Mat 1:16 – of whom Mat 2:10 – they rejoiced Mat 7:11 – good Luk 1:11 – appeared Luk 1:12 – he Luk 2:30 – General Luk 3:6 – General Luk 19:38 – peace Luk 19:42 – the things Joh 3:17 – but Joh 3:29 – this Joh 4:42 – and know Joh 13:31 – and God Act 2:30 – he Act 3:26 – sent Act 8:8 – General Act 10:3 – an Act 10:36 – preaching Act 13:23 – raised Act 13:48 – they Act 20:24 – the gospel Rom 1:1 – the gospel Rom 1:16 – the gospel Gal 3:14 – through Gal 4:4 – made Eph 3:4 – the mystery Phi 2:1 – any consolation Phi 2:29 – with 1Ti 1:11 – glorious 1Ti 2:5 – the man 1Ti 2:15 – she 1Ti 3:16 – seen 1Pe 1:6 – ye greatly

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE UNSEEN FROM HEAVEN

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.

Luk 2:10-11.

Let us be more careful that we catch the right emphasis of each word in this song from heaven.

I. Unto you.It begins with that without which it would be of little worththose two sweet words of appropriationUnto you. We all know the difference of a gift which is general to all and the gift which is specially to ourselves. God give us the faith to make it oursour very own. Who were these privileged ones? Shepherds! Poor shepherds! Men of no high birth or lofty attainment; men carrying on their humble work, attending to their sheep in the darkness and coldness of the hills of Bethlehem. And that whole picture is an allegory.

II. Is born.And there is much comfort and importance in the fact that He was born. Christ might have come in the fullness of His manhood; but in that He was born an infant, there was a thoroughness given to His work which otherwise there could not have been. He took the fullness of our human nature, and He is in sympathy with our whole life at every stage from the cradle to the grave.

III. A Saviour.Let us take care that we attach to that word its true meaning. Perhaps the old Saxon word will help us to do it better. Salvation is safety. A Saviour makes safe; He makes safe. Christ was born to make us safe.

IV. Christ the Lord.He was born Christ, Christ the anointed! Anointed for the three offices which required the holy oil. The prophetto reveal Gods truth to man; the priestto offer the atoning sacrifice; the Kingan absolute monarch. A Saviour which is Christthe anointedChrist the Lord.

Illustration

With no thought of fulfilling a prophecy did Joseph and Mary undertake that long journey of eighty miles to Bethlehem. Like other citizens they obeyed the Imperial edict that every one should go up to be taxed into his own city. It is a marked characteristic of the Scripture prophecies that there is no trace of human intention, no seeking on the part of the friends of Revelation to put themselves in accord with the Divine purposes. The immediate agents knew no more of the ends they were furthering than does the clay while being fashioned by the potter.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

0

The angel calmed their fears by telling them he was there to bring them good news. The thing he was going to tell them was a matter that concerned all people, not merely any certain race or nationality.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 2:10. Be not afraid. Comp. chap. Luk 1:13; Luk 1:30.

I bring you glad tidings of great joy. Lit., I evangelize to you great joy. The message is a gospel message, a joyous message; therefore they should not be afraid.

To all the people, i.e., of Israel. First of all to them, then through them to the Gentiles.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The angel reassured the frightened shepherds (cf. Luk 1:13; Luk 1:30). His appearing signaled an occasion for rejoicing, not fearing.

Significant terms characteristic of Luke’s Gospel occur in the angel’s announcement indicating its importance. These include "bring good news" (Gr. euangelizomai), "joy" (Gr. chara), "people" (Gr. laos), "today" (Gr. semeron), "Savior" (Gr. soter), "Lord" (Gr. kyrios), and "glory" (Gr. doxa). This angelic announcement then is a seedbed for important ideas that Luke traced through the rest of this book. The time had come for the fulfillment of Messiah’s predicted coming. A similarly worded birth announcement of Caesar Augustus that archaeologists have discovered shows that such terminology was not uncommon. [Note: See Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 109.] However in Jesus’ case, it was a cause for true joy. The unusual phrase "Christ the Lord" probably means "Messiah God."

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)