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Intro: This world has witnessed many nights since it was created by God.
Many of those nights passed without anything remarkable taking place.
Others saw profound changes in history take place.
On April 14, 1865 America went to bed thankful that the long, bloody War Between the States was finally over.
America awoke the next morning to discover that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated.
On December 6, 1941 America went to bed watching war spread across Asia and Europe, and thankful that, for the time being, America was being left out of the conflict.
They awoke the next morning to news of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and to the awareness that avoiding war was no longer a possibility.
On June 5, 1944 the world went to bed wondering when Adolph Hitler and his Nazi armies would be defeated and the people of Europe delivered from his iron grip.
The world awoke the next day to news of the Allied invasion at Normandy on D-Day.
The nights I just mentioned brought radical changes to the world.
Other nights have brought incredible circumstances to pass, and the world failed to notice.
One such night is the one portrayed in our text.
The night Jesus Christ was born was an ordinary night from a human standpoint.
The shepherds are watching their sheep.
The people in the villages and towns of Israel sleep off the weariness of another long, hard day.
In Jerusalem, the High Priest and the other men of religious power sleep as though it was any other night.
King Herod has no idea that his kingdom has been invaded, and that new King is about to be revealed.
The world over people drifted off to sleep not knowing that God was transacting eternal business in their very midst.
They did not know that a Savior was being born in Bethlehem
The night Jesus was born had all the appearances of being just another common, ordinary night.
Yet, the events that occurred that night reveal it to be unlike another night in human history.
I want to spend some time considering the events of that holy night.
Many years ago, in 1847, a composer by the name of Adolphe Adam wrote the words to a powerful Christmas carol called “O Holy Night”.
The first verse goes like this:
Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees!
Oh, hear the angel voices!
Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;
Oh night, Oh night divine, Oh night Divine.
I would like for us to travel back to that holy night when Christ was born.
I would like for us to examine that night once again.
You won’t hear anything new today; you will hear the old, old story shared one more time.
Let’s consider again the events of the first Christmas.
I. v. 8-12 A NIGHT OF PROFOUND MESSAGES
(Ill.
The context.
The shepherds are minding their business, tending their sheep, when a mighty angel appears with a remarkable message.)
A. v. 10 The Character Of The Message – The angel tells the shepherds that he has come from Heaven to deliver a message of good news that will produce great joy for them and for the entire world.
This angel did not come with a message of judgment.
He came with a message of peace.
He came to deliver a message the world had been waiting to hear for four thousand years.
Ever since man sinned in Eden, the world has been groaning under the curse brought about by that sin.
Back on that dark day God made a promise.
He promised Adam and Eve that one day a woman would bear a Son and that Son would defeat the power of sin and the serpent, .
This angel appeared to share the good news that God’s ancient promise had been fulfilled!
B. v. 11 The Content Of The Message – As the angel continues to deliver his message, he tells the shepherds about the birth of a baby.
As he does, he gives the infant three names.
He tells us that the baby will be “Savior”, “Christ” and “Lord”.
These three names are important because they reveal the identity and the ministry of the baby born in Bethlehem.
1.
He is called Savior – He came to “save His people from their sins”, .
This baby came into this world to lay down His life on a Roman cross so that lost sinners might be saved from their sins.
He came to this world to die, .
2. He is called Christ – This word means “anointed one”.
This name identifies this baby as the long awaited Messiah of the Jews.
He is One Who will fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies.
He is the One Who will reconcile men to God.
He is the One to Whom all the sacrifices and types in the Old Testament have pointed.
3.
He is called Lord – The shepherds are told about a baby in a manger, but that baby is identified as Lord.
This name portrays Him as the One in control.
He is the Savior, but He is also the Sovereign.
You see, that baby lying in that manger was no ordinary baby!
That baby was actually God in human flesh, ; ; .
The Creator had become a man!
The eternally Lord of glory stepped out of eternity into time.
(Ill.
There has never been a message quite like this one!
It is a message of hope, life and salvation to all who will believe it!)
C. v. 12 The Conflict Of The Message – These shepherds are told that they will find the Savior wrapped in “swaddling clothes” and lying in a “manger”.
“Swaddling clothes” were actually strips of rags that were wrapped around newborns to give them warmth.
A “manger” was a feeding trough where animals were fed.
This special baby, God in human flesh, the Messiah, the Savior, the King of Kings, was not born in a palace.
He was born in the smelly, noisy courtyard of an overflowing inn.
He was not wrapped in velvet like a prince; He was wrapped in the rags of a common man.
He willingly laid aside the glories of Heaven and stepped into time in the form of a humble servant, .
He made Himself poor so that we, through His poverty, might be made rich, .
He knew what it was to suffer; to do without the finer things of life; to live each moment in dependence upon His Father to provide His needs, .
He did this so that He might identify with us when we have a need, .
There is no real conflict in the message.
Everything was just as God planned it to be.
Jesus came in the way that He did so that He might identify with us.
He came as He did that we might identify with Him.
I would have an easier time approaching a baby in a manger than I would a King on a throne!
II.
v. 8-11 A NIGHT OF PERSONAL MINISTRY
(Ill The shepherds on that Judean hillside enjoyed a time of personal, divine ministry that night.)
A. v. 8 The Grace Of This Ministry – There is grace here because this was a message delivered to a group of people who were outcasts in their society.
By virtue of their duties, shepherds were considered ceremonially unclean by the Jews.
Their work prevented them from regular attendance at the Temple where they could be cleansed.
As a result, these men were considered the lowest of the low.
Yet, it is these men that heard the glad tidings first.
It was these men who received the message of peace from the angel of the Lord.
What a picture of grace!
Regardless of a person’s past, or of how low they may have fallen in life, there is still hope for them in Jesus.
The Lord turns no one away, but invites all who will come to meet Him and be saved by the grace of God! Regardless of your station in life, there is a place for you in the love of God.
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