After seeing Him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this Child. Luke 2:17
I will never forget either of the days that my nephew and niece were born. As their due dates approached, I was glued to my phone waiting to receive a text or a call, announcing that they had arrived. The anticipation was almost too much to handle! When I received texts with pictures of them right after they were born, I could not stop staring at them. I also shared the good news of their birth with everyone around me and showed them pictures of my new nephew or my new niece. Have you, too, felt the excitement of the arrival of a new niece or nephew, child, or grandchild? The excitement we get at the birth of a new baby is only a glimmer of the excitement that the shepherds must have felt when the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world, was announced to them.
After Jesus was born, it was time for His miraculous birth to be announced. The first people to hear the announcement of the birth of Christ were shepherds. These shepherds most certainly were not expecting such an announcement that evening. It was late. They must have been tired. They were probably just doing their jobs, going through their routine when suddenly an angel came and interrupted their lives. This angel proclaimed to them that their Savior, Jesus, had been born and told them where He could be found. After this announcement, a large number of angels came and began praising God.
After the angels left them, the shepherds left their sheep and quickly went to find Jesus. They found Him exactly as they had been told. What happened next only makes sense. The shepherds proceeded to tell everyone what they had seen. They told everyone the good news of Jesus' birth. This is what happens when we encounter such good news: we have to share it. It is too good to keep it to ourselves.
The fact that the shepherds were the first people to receive the good news of Jesus' birth is truly fitting because another name used to describe Jesus found in Scripture is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). You see, before Jesus, people had to sacrifice animals for their sin in order to be made right with God. When more sins were committed, more sacrifices had to be made. Jesus came as the Lamb of God to be a final sacrifice. Through His sinless life and His death on the cross, He paid the price for our sin that we could not pay ourselves. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, we do not have to offer animal sacrifices to atone for our sins. We simply must place our faith in Him.
Praise God for sending His Son, Immanuel, to be the perfect sacrifice for us so that we could be delivered from our sin!
Is there someone in your life who you need to share the good news of Jesus Christ? Is there someone you know who needs the hope of Christ? Tell someone today about the hope found in Jesus Christ. Share your two-minute story with them or share the bridge diagram. Let's follow the lead of the shepherds and share the good news of Jesus' birth because it is too good not to share!
Read Luke 2:8-20 (NLT)
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
©2024 Sagebrush Church
