Word of Salvation – Vol. 14 No.48 – November 1968

 

The Birth Of Joy

 

Sermon by Rev. M. H. MacFarlane, Th.Grad. on Luke 2:10,11

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Luke 2:1-7; Luke 2:8-20

PSALTER HYMNAL: 346; 350; 349; 347; 468

 

Beloved Congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ,

JOY--- to the world.  JOY to the earth.  Yes, REPEAT the sounding joy....!

That's what we sang; that's what we were BURSTING to sing at the start of our service today.

For... it is CHRISTMAS!  The day we have been looking forward to, and preparing for, for so many weeks.  The day when we remember with such great and unutterable joy the birth of our Lord Jesus....the day when we celebrate the feast of the Christ-child.

But... it has not always been so for God's people.

Far from it...!  Oh, it is perfectly true: the children of Israel always had the PROMISE of joy; they always had the promise of a redeemer, a restorer of their fortunes.  In their Torah, their law, and in the writings of the prophets.  It was there.

And not only the promise of joy, but also quite a bit of realised joy, too.... especially during those golden years of King David, and King Solomon.

But.... on the whole, their joys had been far outweighed by their sorrows.  Time after time they had been deceived and let down by their rulers.  Always wars, and rumours of wars.  Over-run by foreign, heathen powers; and now.... here they were, vassals of Rome.  Where, oh where was the promised Messiah, that redeemer?  Would he NEVER come?

"Watch...and wait."

That had been the message, handed down to Israel by the prophets, for generations.  But... how long, O Lord; how long must we keep on watching, and waiting?  For the rest of OUR lives.... and the rest of our children's lives, and their children's lives.....?

* * * * * *

Somewhere on the hills outside the little town of Bethlehem, more than 1900 years ago, there were some shepherds keeping watch over their flock.

It is night.  Everything is calm, and still.

Not that ominous calmness and stillness that comes sometimes before a big storm, but a serene calm, a peaceful calm.

Then..... suddenly, dramatically, miraculously.... it happens!  "Darkness flies.  All is light."  Light that glows.

And in the centre of the light there stands... an ANGEL!

The shepherds themselves are bathed in that light....and they are filled with fear!  Rooted to the spot...!  Just as Mary was fearful, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her in Nazareth, to tell her of the great favour that the Lord was to bestow upon her.

But the poor shepherds are quickly reassured, as Mary too was reassured:

"Do not be afraid," says the angel, "for I have GOOD NEWS, JOYFUL NEWS for you.... and for all the people.”

Good news.  Joyful news.

What does that mean?

Oh!  Is it.....?  Can it be.....?
            "Today," says the angel,
            "in the city of David, there has been born to you
             a SAVIOUR.... MESSIAH... LORD!"

So: it is true!

He has come, he has come!  Our Messiah has come, at last!  The long years of waiting are over!  What joy.  What unutterable joy!

Do the shepherds stand there open-mouthed, in wide-eyed wonder, their hearts pounding?  Still a bit scared as to what is going on, and what will happen next?  Do their eyes start to fill with tears of joy and thankfulness?

We don't know.  Maybe the shepherds themselves didn't know at the time.

"And this is the sign for you," the angel goes on to say.  "You will find a babe, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.'

No sooner had the angel finished speaking, than he was joined by a multitude of the heavenly host; by a great throng of the army of heaven, praising God with their glorias:

            "Glory to God in the highest;
                        peace on earth among men
                                    with whom He is well pleased."

* * * * * *

Christmas.

The great, the miraculous event, the great, the miraculous ADvent of that long-promised Messiah, the Christ.

THAT is the reason.... that is the sole reason, the only reason.... why the shepherds out there on the hills of Bethlehem can throw away their fears and be GLAD!

"Be not afraid.... FOR, behold... I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; FOR to you is born this day, in the city of David, a SAVIOUR, who is CHRIST, the LORD.

Yes, to you--this day--a Child is born;
            to you--this day--a Son is given!

THERE is the cause, the ground, the basis, the foundation of all the joy: namely, the appearance, the PERSON of that baby boy.

Because of who he was.

Not just the first-born son of Mary, but also.... the SON of GOD!

But.... how can this be?

That is what Mary herself wanted to know, when the angel Gabriel came to her.  Why, she didn't even have a husband.

Gabriel explains:
            "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
             and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
             THEREFORE the child to be born
             will be called HOLY, the SON of GOD...
             and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
             and of his kingdom there will be no end."

Yes, when that child, that boy was born, JOY was born... not just a passing joy; not the sort of joy that comes and goes, according to the ups and downs of life, but a LASTING joy, an ABIDING joy that is still there – a bit out of sight sometimes, maybe, but still there – even in times of deepest sorrow, trouble, disappointment; a joy that never leaves us or forsakes us; a joy that in fact transforms us and sustains us; the joy that we gave expression to, when we sang with all our hearts: "JOY to the world!"  And why?  This is why: "The LORD is come." Yes: "JOY to the earth!" And why?  This is why: "The SAVIOUR reigns."

Oh yes, we sang with hearts filled with joy.

But... it needed the whole host of heaven, it needed that heavenly army to adequately express the joy – not only of all men, but of the whole creation – that came into the world, broke into the world with the birth of that baby boy, Jesus.

            "Love came down at Christmas,
             love all lovely, love divine...!”

So writes the poet.  And with love came joy, too: joy all joyful; joy wrapped up in.... swaddling cloths, of all things.  Joy wrapped up in.... a little baby boy!  Lying in a manger, of all places.

* * * * * *

Were those shepherds, those fearful shepherds, filled with joy, too, on that first Christmas day?

Yes, they were.

After they had gone to Bethlehem and found the Christ-child lying in the manger, just as the angel had said, they returned – back to their sheep presumably – glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen.

You may wonder: Why did all this happen to those shepherds?  Why were they singled out for this privilege of hearing the official, heavenly announcement of the birth of the Messiah?

Was it because they WERE shepherds, keeping faithful watch over their flock – as David (from whose line the Messiah was to come) once kept faithful watch over his father Jesse's sheep... maybe on these self-same hills outside Bethlehem, the "city of David"?

We do not know why.

The Bible does not tell us why the proclamation of the good news of Messiah's birth was made to those shepherds.

Nor does it really matter.

The fact remains that they were the ones to be singled out... not only to HEAR – and see, with their own eyes – what went on at the time of that proclamation, but also to ACT upon what they had seen and heard.

They were not only faithful shepherds; they were also faithful children of Israel, faithful sons of God.

For after the angels had departed, they did not start asking one another what they had better do about it; they did not even stand around, discussing what a marvellous "experience" they had had.

No; as soon as the army of heaven had departed, THEY departed too.  They departed "with haste," we are told.

With haste.... and with no doubt in their minds that they would find everything just as the angel had described.

So they went.... and they found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Then what did they do?

Congratulate the parents?  Lean over and indulge in a bit of baby-talk with the child in the manger?

Not so.

When they saw the babe, this is what they did: they MADE KNOWN what the angel had said to them about the child.

In other words, as faithful people of God, they WITNESSED to what they had seen and heard.... out there on the hills, as they were keeping watch over their flock, and all who heard what the shepherds had to say, were filled with wonder.

And so that good news of great joy spread.... throughout Bethlehem and places beyond Bethlehem.

* * * * * *

That is something WE would do well to include in our "remembering" of the birth of Jesus on Christmas day too: being WITNESSES to what WE have heard about Him, to what we KNOW about Him in our own lives, from the full revelation of God's Word.

Those shepherds were faithful witnesses, but their witness was limited to what they had seen and heard.

Now what they saw and heard was wonderful indeed.

In that respect, they were privileged above all men, to be participants in that unique revelation of God.

But.... are we not even more privileged, in having the FULL revelation of God WRITTEN DOWN for us, here, in this Book?

Not only the revelation of Jesus BIRTH, but also His LIFE... His DEATH... His RESURRECTION... His ASCENSION into heaven, to take up the glory of which He had stripped himself, and to sit down at the right hand of His Father, as Saviour and Lord – indeed... ruling over us by His Word and His Spirit, until that day when He comes back to us again on clouds of glory to JUDGE the living and the dead.  And so fulfil ALL prophecy... to the very last dot.

Yes, that is what WE know; that is what WE can witness to, and rejoice in.

Jesus HAS lived up to His name;

He HAS saved His people from their sins; He HAS delivered His people out of darkness, into His marvellous light.... so they might live with Him, in glory, in His kingdom, for ever and ever.

That is the fullness of the good news of great joy that came to those shepherds as they kept faithful watch over their flock by night, on the hills outside Bethlehem.

But this joy.... this real, lasting joy, not the fictitious joy that ends with a whopping hangover.... it can be experienced only by those who BELIEVE and ACCEPT this good news about Jesus, only by those who believe IN Him, and accept Him as their Saviour and Lord.

Oh, let us open wide our hearts this Christmas Day, so that this Saviour, this Christ, this Lord, may enter in; and take possession of us; so that our hearts are FILLED with joy, and we want to SING for joy; want to sing, with that mighty heavenly choir:

            "GLORY to GOD in the highest,
             and on earth, peace, among men
             with whom He is well pleased."

Amen.