A Divine Birth Announcement - Clover Sites



A Divine Birth AnnouncementText: Luke 2:1-21Today’s text describes a royal birth announcement. Birth announcements are a big deal, especially when the announcement is about a baby born to royalty. When the baby is in line to inherit a throne there is a special protocol. Here is a description of the process when Prince William and Kate’s baby, George, was born last summer. Kate Middleton was admitted to a London hospital shortly before 6 a.m. EDT today [July 22]. For sure, the birth announcement of the new royal will follow many of the traditional modes that have been established for centuries. According to the Today Show—Queen Elizabeth will be the first to hear. Prince William will call her personally.A royal aide will walk outside of St. Mary’s Hospital with the official birth announcement where it will be carried from the hospital through the streets of London to Buckingham Palace to announce a child has been born. The two-mile ride will be broadcast live from a helicopter.The declaration will be displayed on a golden easel behind the palace gates where we learn of the gender and, possibly, eye and hair color. Prince William’s birth in 1982 was announced on the same easel.There will be a 41-gun salute in London Street Park and 62 cannon blasts from the Tower of London.Finally, [perhaps in one to three days] the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will appear on the steps of St. Mary’s Hospital with their new bundle of joy.And this time around, Kensington Palace will send “royal tweets” once the baby is born with all the important details. [2 million total]. An army of photographers and news reporters have been camped out at St. Mary’s hospital in London since July 1st?which should give readers one indication of how important this royal birth is to the legacy and vitality of the British monarchy. Today’s text is about the announcement of another Royal Birth. In fact, it is the ultimate royal birth, the only one that, when all is said and done, really matter. It concerns the birth of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. A Savior, Christ the Lord, has been born. BILLBOARD…The Birth Announcement10b “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “I bring you Good News of great joy.” The Gk. word translated “Good News” is the word evangelion. From it we get our words evangelism and evangelical. In the ancient world “Evangelion” was a proclamation by a royal messenger of Good News, usually of victory in battle or the birth of a Royal Son. Good News for the HumbleIt is important to note that God’s royal birth announcement is a matter of “great joy” to the angels and the Shepherds. However, it has not been “great joy” to millions. For many it is an utterly irrelevant message. For others it is an obnoxious message. For some it is a laughing matter. It is only a matter of great joy to the one who accepts their predicament, the problem from which this royal birth announcement delivers them. That takes humility. Here is the universal specter that confronts all people. God does not grade on the curve. God’s standards are perfection. No one can meet his standards. Because we are idolators, everything has been more important to us than God, God is angry with us. Therefore, without divine help, all men will die and spend eternity in hell suffering under God’s just judgment. But God doesn’t want to be angry with us. “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whoever would believe in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). In other words, God sent his Son to propitiate his own anger, in order to reconcile us to himself. In other words, the angel’s declaration is only Good News to those willing to humble themselves under the bad news. It is Good News to those willing to admit that we all suffer under the burden of a universal problem, a problem that no one can solve by human effort alone, a problem that God has sent his son to solve. To ShepherdsKate and William announced the birth of Prince George to the world. First to the high and might, the royal queen. Then the royal news travelled instantly by tweets, emails, blogs, television, and newspaper until all over the world it was front page news. But God, the Creator of all things, the omnipotent One, the absolute Sovereign, the One to whom all glory and worship is due, the Ruler of all things, the One who has always been and always will be, the One in need of nothing, and possessing absolute holiness, doesn’t declare this “Good News” to the social elites of the first century. Instead, he declares it to a group of Shepherds. He declares it to the poorest of the poor. He declares it to those on the bottom rung of the ancient world’s social ladder. He declares it to hard drinking, hard living, illiterate, blue collar workers. Why? God was making a statement: our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. Our ways are not God’s ways, and God’s ways are not our ways. What sinful man values is irrelevant to God. What God values is irrelevant to fallen man. We have everything upside down. In God’s kingdom the servants are the truly great ones. In man’s kingdoms servants are despised, pitied, and used. The wealthy, the powerful, the celebrities, the users are the great ones. So Jesus will continually remind us throughout this gospel that “the first will be last, and the last will be first.” That is why the angel preaches the first Good News to Shepherds.From AngelsIn addition, God’s messenger was a mighty angel. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.The Shepherds were watching their flocks. The stars were out. Some were sleeping. Others were chatting. Some were looking up into heaven, (It was probably June) when suddenly a mighty angel appeared. They immediately sensed the angel’s “otherness.” He was not like them. He was not like anyone they knew. The angel was holy, pure, sinless, spotless. The contrast between themselves and the angel intensified their feelings of uncleanness. When they sensed the glory of the Lord, their feelings of sinfulness only deepened. They were in trouble. Fear gripped them. Every nerve was taught with anxiety. These were not the chubby, harmless, cherubs on your Hallmark Christmas card. These were God’s holy warriors, mighty beings before whom we are utterly impotent. Luke tells us that the Shepherds “were filled with great fear.” Throughout the Bible fear is the common reaction to the presence of Angels. (Luke 1:12) "12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him." (Daniel 10:7) "7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves."In the book of Revelation John is so terrified that even he is before an angel, not God, he prostrates himself in worship (Rev 19:10, 22:8). For All MenIn addition, the angel declares a message that is “for all people.” It’s not a message for good people. In God’s sight there are none. It is not a message for the rich. Material riches are meaningless to God. Spiritual riches alone have eternal value. In fact, the newborn baby will sum up all of God’s riches. “Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). It is not a message for the sophisticated. The only sophistication that God honors is the wisdom that put his Son on a Roman cross. Again, this message is for “all men” rich or poor, mighty or lowly, who will confess that they are sinners and put their faith in Christ crucified. About the Child’s IdentityThe heart of the angel’s message to the Shepherds is the baby’s identity. 10b “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Bethlehem was the city of David. It is the place where King David was born. The prophets predicted a Son of David, One who would take his father’s throne and reign over the world forever. He would be born, like his father, in the City of David. The first thing the angel tells us is that the baby is a Savior. What has he come to save us from? He has come to save us from his own wrath/anger/displeasure. Your idolatry has offended God. But God so loved the world that this baby has come to extend an olive branch to you and I. He will grow to be a man. He will go to a Roman cross, and he will take all of the punishment that you and I deserve. As our Substitute he will absorb all of God’s anger. He will satisfy it. He will quench it completely. This is the measure of God’s love for you. In addition the angel tells us that this child is “Christ the Lord.” As we have discussed in recent weeks, the title “Christ” means anointed one. He is the One predicted by the prophets, the One whom the Holy Spirit will anoint without measure. He is also “Christ the Lord.” This baby, born to poor, illiterate, teen-aged parents, will be the ultimate “royal.” God will give him “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28). Someday, “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:10-11). He is the One about whom Paul will write with these words to the church at Colossae. (Colossians 1:16–18) “16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."In summary, the angel declared a royal birth announcement that was Good News for the humble. God declared it to lowly shepherds. He declared it by a fear-inducing angel. It was a declaration of the child’s identity. He is a “Savior.” He is “Christ the Lord.” The Sign of the Birth Announcement: A Baby in a MangerWhen Kate and William’s baby was born there was a sign. “A 41-gun salute went off in London Street Park, and 62 cannons blasted from the Tower of London.” God also confirmed the birth of his son with a sign. In fact, God often confirmed his word with signs. For example, when King Hezekiah was dying the monarch asked God through the prophet Isaiah to extend his life. God gave the king another fifteen years and then gave him a sign. (Isaiah 38:8) "8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined."In the same way the angel gave the Shepherds a sign, something that would indisputably confirm that the message was true. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. A baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths? Why and how was this a sign? First, it is important to note that the swaddling cloths were not the sign. These were the normal outfit for a new-born in the ancient world. The sign was the manger! Babies don’t lie in mangers. Mangers are feeding troughs for cattle. I am sure the shepherds had never heard of a baby lying in a manger. So bizarre was this idea that, if they found it, it would confirm the angelic message. Anecdote: Jim’s cradle. Im fact, the manger was a sign of the infant king’s authority. His authority would proceed from his lowliness, his willingness to serve, his unselfishness, his willingness to suffer for the good of those he came to save. What could be more humbling than poverty—poverty so profound that your child is born in a barn, and then laid him in a manger. Jesus entire life was one great substitutionary atonement. Under the law the curse for failure to obey God’s law was poverty. To save us, therefore, Jesus voluntarily took that curse upon himself. The End of the Birth Announcement: Glory for God 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” The Glory of God is the visible manifestation of his inward moral perfections. God sent his Son to earth to display this glory. It began with this story. Why would he God stoop this low? Love for those, “with whom he is pleased.” Love is the heart of God’s glory. God’s love is more than a feeling. It is a willingness to act, to suffer discomfort, for the sake of the beloved. Jesus put this love on display by his willingness to be born to a very poor, teen-aged couple in a backwater, oppressed village. Here is the glory of God’s love. Christ descended to earth to lift us up to heaven. Christ became a son of man to make you a son of God. Christ abased himself to exalt you and I. Christ clothed himself in the image and likeness of man that he might cloth us in the image and likeness of God. Christ lived in poverty in order to give each believer true riches. Christ wore rags so that he could clothe us in eternal glory. Christ united the divine nature to human flesh that he might unite our human nature with divinity. Christ submitted to death in order to give us life eternal. Christ was despised by Jew and Gentile alike that we might be eternally honored. Christ was rejected by God and man that we might be accepted by God and man. Christ fulfilled the law in order to set us free from the law. Christ was condemned and punished that we might be acquitted and rewarded.This is what the glory of God looks like. Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection open a window on the Glory of God! This is what Christ did for you. Yes, Jesus died for the world. But none of this is real and life changing until it gets applied to your personal heart and life. The Proper Response to the Birth Announcement: Works of faith 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."Saving faith always responds. It acts. False faith, by contrast, is passive. The angels responded. They went away from the Shepherds back into heaven. As the angel commanded, the shepherds went in search of the baby in the manger. When they found him they knew that they had heard correctly. They evangelized. They made “known the saying that had been told them.” Mary meditated on these truths. “She treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”The shepherds worshipped. They “returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had seen and heard.” So What? Why is this text in scripture? How does God want us to respond? He wants us to believe God’s Royal Birth Announcement. Either these things happened or they didn’t. Christianity is an historical religion. It is not about fantasies. It is about carefully researched historical facts. Luke was an historian. Here is how he begins this gospel. (Luke 1:3–4) "3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."If God’s royal birth announcement is true. It changes everything. “Unto you is born this day in the City of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.” This announcement is not for fence-sitters. A passive response will not due. It is spiritual death. A rejection of this birth announcement is also spiritual death. The only valid response is faith, submission, worship, and joy. Christ’s birth announcement calls us to the precipice of a decision. Jesus claimed deity. He did so repeatedly. Numerous times people worshipped him, and he never stopped them. As C. S. Lewis reminds us, this presents us with only three options. Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord. What he can never be is just a good man or a great prophet. Pick your poison. Lunatic, Liar, or Lord. Those are the only choices. ................
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