My apologies for not posting yesterday, folks. There was a glitch on my side, but to make up for it, I'm writing about Day 17 and 18 today!
Our Bible text is Luke 2: 8 - 18 ...
In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”
Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!"
When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
I love how Stuart and Jill Briscoe explain this passage of Scripture: 'Christmas is many things to many people: a celebration, a cosmic visit, a time for family traditions. I’d like for us to see it in one more way: Christmas is a communication. It is God saying something to human beings, something that we would have no clue about except that God decided to say it:
“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."'
Was there ever a more important, more joyful, more powerful communication in the history of history??!!
I've said many times before, and I'll say it again today: I am so thankful to serve a God who communicates with His People!! He's not some mysterious god who we have seek on an inaccessible mountaintop. Nor is He a god who speaks in rhymes and riddles that only an enlightened few can unravel.
No! He speaks clearly enough that uneducated, unsophisticated shepherds can clearly understand and obey Him. And then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, He prompted men to write down His Words for all future generations to read, hear and understand!
Wow! That's communication, folks. That's a God who wants His children to be close to Him, not keeping Himself aloof or remote.
The most joyful, wonderful, significant message ever communicated to humankind was blazed across the sky, and trumpeted by a heavenly host of messengers. This news was meant to be seen and heard, not missed, not ignored, and not hidden away for the lucky few to enjoy.
And this is why I love and celebrate the season of Advent ... our God is so loving, and so merciful, that He uses the Christmas season each year to declare His glorious presence - Immanuel, God with us - now just as He was 2021 years ago.
And each Advent season, we have the opportunity to be like those shepherds - to go straight to the King and submit our hearts before Him in wonder and worship, and them to share the Good News that saved our lives with all who we meet.
This ChristmasI invite and encourage you to: "Meditate on the doorway of heaven flying open with joyous, thunderous praises of angels ringing out. Try to comprehend the grand dimensions of their message. Listen carefully to what God is communicating. He has something important to say to all of us, in all places and at all times, and it’s a message worth listening to." (S. Briscoe)
