Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said unto them, Fear not:
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
This is one of
those verses, which tingles me down to my toes!! Actually, this is got to be my favorite
story, on the birth, of our Savior. The climax of this story to me is verse
eleven. That is the best news that a person eaten up with sin, could ever
receive!! However, I am going to act like all of those, that will read this
post, know Jesus, in a very personal way, for now. I might change this plan
depending on how the Spirit moves.
Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
I have never been a
shepherd over any kind of animal. I have never even considered walking through
the wilderness, mountaintops, or the valleys, leading a flock of sheep, to
their next feeding place, or watering hole. I understand that sheep are not the
smartest in the animal kingdom, and often require a little extra persuasion to
do, what the shepherd desires, for them to do.
They are really
skittish, and are easily spooked. When this happens they can run off in every
direction, so being a shepherd is a twenty-four hour a day job. The shepherds
have to sleep in shifts. This does not sound appealing to me one little bit!!
You do realize that their bathing habits were not as frequent, as I like to
clean up.
I don’t know how
they entertained themselves, completely away from civilization, for such long
period of times. I would imagine that they told every story, which they had
ever heard, until they were ashamed to tell then once again. There is not any
indication, that these men had a relationship with God, or even religious.
However, that was going to change in a flash.
Luke 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon
them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid.
No could you just
imagine, all of a sudden, the glory of the Lord shinning around them? I don’t think that the knowledge, of being in
presence of an angel, was their first thought. The glory of the Lord was what
blinded Paul, on the Damascus road, and that was in the daylight. Verse eight
definitely says this was night time. I am pretty sure the fear that they were
experiencing was due, from the fact, that they had no idea what was happening.
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.
I have no idea if
they have at this point realized that it was indeed a visitation, from an
angel. The angel went on to tell them that they would find the newborn messiah,
in the city of Bethlehem. I don’t know how much of this they really
comprehended at the time. I think if I was having that experience, that I would
have my mouth wide open, in total disbelief, of what was happening!!
Luke 2:13-14 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, good will toward men.
The time frame is
not discussed in this passage, but it seems to be moving along at a steady
pace. Before they even got a chance to realize the things going on already,
another event is taking place. Suddenly refers to in the blink of an eye, there
appeared a multitude sized praise team from Heaven!!
If you have studied
a lot about Heaven, you probably realize that it is a place of excessive
volumes. Most things that are done in Heaven, you will have no problem hearing. Can you imagine a night, in the life of
shepherds being like this? Can you
imagine what a Heavenly praise team must sound like, and the volume that they
would produce? I have one more
consideration, which is found in the next verse.
Luke 2:15 And
it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the
shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this
thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
Do you reckon that
after all the commotion had ceased, that the poor, rattled shepherds needed a
little quite time, to come to their senses?
This verse starts out with these words; “And it came to pass.” This has to
be a traumatic experience, because these men had never had an angel experience
before. How do you know that they never
had an angel encounter before? If you recall, there was a period of silence,
from Heaven for about four hundred years.
I believe that it
is good to put ourselves, right alongside the characters, in the Bible. That
way we can get a better understanding, of how we would have felt, in any given
situation, and the action, that we may have taken. I really enjoyed sharing my
insight, on the shepherd’s side, of this awesome story. Thank you for allowing
me to come into wherever you might be, as you read these posts. Ain’t God good?
Merry Christmas
…..Much
Love
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