GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY.
Luke 2: 10
Christmas Sermon by:
Rev. G.R. Procee.
PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(November 2007)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 427: 1, 6
Article 18 of Belgic Confession
Psalter 424: 1, 2
Scripture Reading: Luke 2: 1 – 20
Text: Luke 2: 10
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Song of Mary
Sermon
Psalter 450
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 14: 1, 4, 7
Doxology: Glory to God.
Congregation,
What joy the angel must have had in proclaiming these God glorifying works. Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
That is what the angel proclaimed to shepherds. The angel proclaimed Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Because this day is born in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. God has opened the heavens. He has entered our domain. He came into our world. He came to deliver us from sin. He came to save from the curse of sin. He came to deliver from all the effects of sin. Sin is the great cause of guilt, misery, suffering and damnation. The Son of God came into this world to save His people from their sins. No wonder that the angel said: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
This Gospel tells us that God delights in mercy. He invites sinners to come to Him to be saved. Sinners need now be afraid when they flee to God through Christ Jesus. What makes men afraid of God? Is it not their sin. Well, then here is joy upon joy, for not only did God come among us as a man, but He came in order to save man from his sin, to save man from all that separated him from God.
There are sinners who think they have sinned too much. What grief one can feel when such sinners stay away from Christ. They are afraid to come back to God. They think the Lord will not receive them and that there is no mercy for such sinners as they are, but Jesus has come to seek and to save that which is lost. If He does not save, He was born in vain, for the object of His birth was the salvation of sinners. If he would not save then His mission for coming to this earth has missed its aim.
Therefore Christmas shows us that there is salvation for sinners. You who are miserable and lost, if there would be news coming to you this morning, that an angel had come to save you, there might be some comfort in that. You would be surprised and moved that an angel took some special thought towards you. But an angel would not be able to save you. No angel can pay for your sins. But now it is not an angel that has come, but it is God Himself, God in human flesh has come. That is a far better message, what rich comfort and abounding grace lies in that Gospel of Christmas. God Himself has come. The Infinite, the Almighty, has stooped from the highest heaven that He may pick you up, you lost and undone, worthless worm. Is there not comfort and is there not joy for you in this Gospel of Christmas. Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.
Now Joseph was there alone with Mary. There were no other people there. Now the son of God has come into this world. Shall there be no announcement given? Shall this event not be proclaimed. But nobody knows about it. Joseph and Mary would not tell anyone. That were far too just and meek to do that. They patiently waited for God to do His work. When no one knows and when no announcement can be made by humans, then God sends angels to announce the coming of His Son into this world. God sends His angel to shepherds who were out in the fields of Bethlehem
There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
We focus our attention briefly on the words spoken by the angel: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. We see here: Good Tidings of Great Joy. 1. When these good tidings were given. 2. For whom these good tidings are intended. 3. How these good tidings are to be received?
1. When were these good tidings given? They were given here in our text the same night the Lord Jesus was born. For the angel says: For unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. It was a dark night. Nothing special. Shepherds, rough men, for that is how shepherds were considered to be, untrustworthy, low class people. They were watching over their flocks as shepherds had been doing for thousands of years. Watching against animals of prey. Some may have been sleeping while others took their turn to watch over the sheep. All was quiet, except for the sounds they usually heard at night.
Then suddenly a great light. The angel of the Lord came upon them. That means this angel took them by surprise. Before they realized what was happening the angel was there. And the glory of the Lord shone round about them. There was this dazzling light. Never seen anything like it before.
The shepherds look up, those asleep wake up. They see this brilliant light and they were shocked. What is this? The text says: they were sore afraid. That is terribly frightened. The glory of heavenly light shines all around them. In the literal darkness of the night the good tidings of the Lord come to these shepherds.
But it was also a time of spiritual darkness. Pharisees kept the people under an iron yoke of legalism. They laid burdens on the people, that the Pharisees themselves could not even keep. The way to life and salvation was blocked off by the Jewish spiritual leaders.
It was a time of darkness for the royal throne of David had lost all power. Romans ruled the country. Herod, an Edomite, was the vassal king. It was a time in which the nations expected salvation from the Roman emperor. It was Caesar Augustus that ruled the empire. Augustus is mentioned in Scripture only once and that is here in Luke 2. Yet nearly every serious reader of Scripture knows him from this account. In 31 B.C. Augustus became the successor of Julius Caesar. He was the man the world was waiting for. The years prior to his reign, there were many wars and nations were weary of these battles. But Augustus was able to put and end to all these wars and he established peace throughout his empire. Commerce and trade blossomed again. There was a degree of prosperity. The people called Augustus the prince of peace, the soter, the saviour of the world. Under his rule the world entered a new era of prosperity and progress.
To assist Augustus in governing the empire, he initiated a census, once every 5 years. Here in Luke 2 we read of such a census, in which people had to go to their ancestral towns and villages and submit their name, age, income, possessions and the place where they lived.
It was at that time that God sent His son into this world to be the Saviour of sinners. God would now bring the true Saviour. That was an occasion of great joy. So that even an angel from heaven can proclaim to shepherds: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
When were these good tidings given? In the night in which the Lord Jesus was born. But in reality these good tidings have sounded across this world throughout the centuries. Because these good tidings were the message of Gods grace for sinners in and through His Son. God came to man with offers and promises of grace. That started actually in Genesis 3. After the fall God came to man: Adam where art thou? Then God gave promises of the Seed of the woman who was to come to deliver His people from their sins. Ever since that first Divine announcement, the promise of life and salvation has come often to weak sinful men.
Prophets announced His coming. Salvation was given to the poor and needy, to the helpless. Abraham was unable to secure salvation, he couldn’t give himself a child. But God gave outcome, with a promise that in his seed all generations of the earth would be blessed. Think of the Israel in Egypt unable to deliver themselves, but God intervened. Then so many times the Lord showed salvation to Israel. Through the Red Sea, 40 years in the wilderness, then in the promised land, God delivered them through Joshua, the saviour. Countless times Israel should have perished because of sins but every time again the Lord came with his proclamation of deliverance for Israel and this all prefigured the coming salvation of the Lord. Kings were blessed. Simple people were blessed and even most unworthy people were privileged to hear these good tidings of great joy. Even Ahab heard salvation pronounced to him in a war with Benhadad. This was all to draw to the real salvation which lies only in God.
Throughout the ages there is a continual line of God’s proclamation of salvation. That line is still being let down in this world. It went to its height in the night when Jesus was born and shepherds heard the actual factual birth proclamation of the Saviour. The ultimate height was when the work was finished on the cross and the Lord Jesus died and arose from the grave. Then the actual payment was given and then the Holy Spirit would come down and draw in the nations to Christ. This precious salvation was carried on into the world and the Gospel, the good tidings were preached in every nation and they are still being preached. We too may hear this proclamation of salvation and life in and through Christ. There is salvation in none other than in Jesus Christ.
Today we may celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Gospel may also sound in our ears. It is a cause for great humility. We must see God's sovereign grace and mercy in causing us to hear in our day these same tidings. Many have never heard them. But God has chosen us this day to hear these tidings of great joy: Fear not: for, behold, I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. That leads us to consider:
2. For whom these good tidings are intended? If we look at the setting of the text, we see that these good tidings were given to the shepherds. That is what the text says: I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. This ‘you’ here in the text is in the first place the shepherds. Those shepherds were hearing the most joyful news they had ever heard in their whole life. What were they doing these shepherds? Nothing special. They were watching their flocks by night. That is all. People right in the midst of their daily work, suddenly God intervenes. Suddenly they hear good news of salvation in Christ Jesus. You know what happened. They went with haste. They were obedient and they found the babe and proclaimed to all who would want to hear it that the Saviour of Israel was born.
I bring you good tidings of great joy. Who are these ‘you’? They were the shepherds. But more than just the shepherds. Because the angel adds something: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. This ‘you’ is also all people. That is the people of the Jews. This was the promise that all Israel was told to expect. Israel knew of the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour. They had wring views of Him, but they knew He would come., This coming was for all people of the Jews. But this all people is wider than the people of the Jews.
It includes all people, all nations in general. Jesus is the Saviour come for all people. All are sinners. All are perishing. All are in misery, all are dead in trespasses and sins. All need a Saviour. Now it becomes very personal. Christmas is very personal. It refers to you and me. It refers to all men everywhere. All must hear and all must repent. All must see their need of a Saviour.
All people are bowed down in sin and guilt. No one can save him or herself. Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. All men need this saviour. Acts 17:30 God commandeth all men every where to repent. The Lord Jesus commanded His disciples to proclaim this gospel over all nations: Mat. 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Luke 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
All men need salvation and now God offers this Gospel to all who hear it. This Gospel was brought to all kinds of people. These good tidings of great joy were brought to all different people. To different races, to different cultures. To different genders, both male and female, both young and old must hear these good tidings of great joy. This was the early expectation of the nations. It was even originally present in some of the heathen nations that came from Shem ham and Japheth. Even the nations knew initially that a Saviour was to come, But that knowledge was soon lost.
These good tidings had been first proclaimed by God Himself to Adam and Eve. It was proclaimed to the men of Noah’s generation. 2 Peter 2:5 Noah, a preacher of
righteousness. He proclaimed Gods grace and justice and that salvation is only in the Lord. He preached that for 120 years while the ark was being built, but they mocked him. This Gospel was then preached to Abraham and through the patriarchs and the prophets to Israel. Then the apostles took this message through the world.
This Gospel was proclaimed to all kinds of people, to wicked people, to upright people. It was brought to sinful and unworthy people. The good tidings of great joy were brought to King Ahaz of Judah, a wicked king, to king Ahab from Israel. This Gospel of outcome and deliverance was brought to King Zedekiah of Judah and so on. Many did not want to accept this Gospel. They rejected it. But still the good tidings of great joy were proclaimed. Nebuchadnezzar heard it. Even the men of Nineveh in the days of Jonah understood some aspects of this proclamation.
The Messiah would be set as a light for all nations. Isaiah 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. This is what Simeon understood in his song: Luke 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles. Because the Lord Jesus is a perfect Saviour for all people. He has come also for you. Because He has come for sinners and you and I are sinners. We need this Saviour. He is come also for you and you, for all of us. This Gospel of salvation comes to all of us.
Later the Lord Jesus would stand on the temple square and say: If any man thirst let him come to Me and drink. He invited the weary, the burdened to come to Him. This Gospel is proclaimed to us. Nobody is excluded. Christ is a suitable Saviour, a Saviour of the whole world. His Blood is sufficient for the sins of the whole world.