And there were in the same country shepherds abiding with their flocks, keeping watch over them by night. And lo, an angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid! Luke 2:9

These are perhaps some of the most familiar verses in the Bible, often used as the centerpiece for a children's Christmas pageant. They are familiar, maybe too familiar. For years, it never dawned on me that when the glory of the Lord shone around them, it was the Shekinah glory of God, the manifest presence of God shining brightly. This same glory broke through at Christ's transfiguration when His garments became as white as light and gleaming. God was on display in the sky above Bethlehem.

The angel continued with his heavenly birth announcement to the shepherds: "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people; for today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Luke 2:10-12

The shepherds spent every night under the stars; they knew about the blackness of the night sky. Then suddenly, this supernatural blinding brilliance lit up the darkness. They must have been terrified by this display. The angel assured them not to be afraid, that this was good, joyful, and the best news ever. God has sent a Savior for people stranded in their sins, in dire circumstances, cut off from God, who can look to this one as their Savior, the Anointed One, Christ the Lord, has been born.

Why were shepherds chosen to receive this amazing birth announcement? Why not some dignitaries in Jerusalem or someone higher up on the social scale in Bethlehem? Alfred Edersheim was a 19th-century Orthodox Jew who became a Christian and wrote several books about first-century Jewish life. In order to write his 1883 book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, one of the sources he used is the Mishnah, which was written down in about 300 AD, but it records the Jewish oral traditions dating back to the 6th century BC. From his research, Edersheim makes the case that the shepherds to whom the angel appeared were priests whose job was to be shepherds to raise the unblemished, perfect lambs that would become the Passover lambs. They lived and worked on the land around the Migdal Eder—the tower of the flocks outside of Bethlehem. By the time of Christ, they needed thousands of Passover lambs to accommodate the crowds that came every year to Jerusalem for Passover. So, raising those Passover lambs was a big job. If Edersheim is correct, how fitting it is that the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world was born where the Passover lambs that foreshadowed Him were also born.

I’m unsure about the significance of swaddling clothes. For centuries, across cultures, babies have been wrapped in swaddling clothes. Some authors propose that this was a foretelling of His burial clothes, but the Greek words are different, so I don't think we can make much of that. Also, some people write books and sermons that say the priests who tended the Passover lambs put these clothes on the baby lambs. But I have not found information that proves that. So I will just say what the Bible states: the swaddling clothes and manger are signs the shepherds would see that point to the Christ child.

We are still determining if Migdal Eder was the actual place where Jesus was born. But I know that God loves geography and symmetry, and one prophecy often points to another. It could be that the exact place where Jacob mourned his beloved Rachel's death as she birthed their son, Ben, son of my sorrow, and then died, would be the same place her distant descendant Mary birthed the one who would conquer death and someday will wipe away every tear. We cannot prove that, but it is possible and worth considering.

And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts. The Greek word here for hosts is "strata." It means an army or company of soldiers. These are not those sweet little pudgy cherubs we tend to think of when we think of angels. This group has military overtones; they are the powerful angelic army in battle array. The army of heaven and their Commander-in-Chief is the baby in the manger. But they are not appearing to proclaim war but peace—God's long-suffering peace and forbearance. They declare a time for repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation: peace and goodwill. There is a future day, which you can read about in Revelation 19:11-16, when Jesus will come out of the clouds on a white horse accompanied by the armies of heaven following Him also on white horses to judge those who hate Him and plot against Him; He will be victorious. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

The band of warrior angels praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill among men." Luke 2:13-14 Here is another poetic license taken by the carol writers: "Angels We Have Heard on High" sweetly singing o'er the plains. Maybe they were singing, but Luke doesn't mention singing. He says they praised God and said, "Glory to God in the highest."

Those shepherds didn't waste a minute. They didn't yawn and say, "It's getting late; let's just stay put tonight and fix some chili." They had a choice to make. If they had stayed back, they would have missed the incredible blessing of being the first to see the Messiah. But they went for it. Verse 16 says that in haste, they found their way to Mary and Joseph. They didn't do a house-to-house search. For some reason, they knew right where to go.

Maybe it was straight to Migdal Eder. Just as the heavenly hosts had announced, they saw the sign: the baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Their story tumbled out of their mouths about the skies lighting up with the glory of God and the message of the angels. The fullness of time had come. The Deliverer had been delivered.

And then, they (the shepherds) went back (to the fields), still glorifying God and praising Him for all they had heard and seen. Luke 2:16 They may have returned to their life in the fields as shepherds, but they were changed forever, touched by the glory of God and His good news.

We can learn from the shepherds. We can seize the moment and obey God's word. We can get up and go in haste to behold the Lord and tell whoever will listen about what we have seen and heard.

And precious Mary. Mary was taking it all in. In Chapter 1 of Luke, she pondered what kind of greeting Gabriel had given her. When her relative Elizabeth heard her voice and knew she was pregnant with the Lord, she had more to ponder. Here, when the shepherds come flying in with their wide eyes and crazy story of heavenly visitors and a sky all lit up, all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:18-19

No wonder God chose Mary. She is precious with a spirit of humility. You don't see her boasting of having the unique honor of being the mother of the Messiah; she doesn't try to convince people of the amazing things that are happening because of God's intersection in her life. She leaves everything up to God Himself. She holds onto the “rhema” word the Lord gave her and watches as He brings it to pass. They indeed made it to Bethlehem for the baby to be born, who was indeed a baby boy, just as Gabriel had told her. The visit from the shepherds would have been tremendous confirmation to Mary, so far from home on this journey of obedience and cooperation that no one else has ever had to take. The shepherds confirm that the baby in the manger is the Savior of the world, the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord. Mary goes deep with these thoughts, pondering and treasuring, taking her perplexing questions to her Heavenly Father, trusting Him: "Behold the bondservant of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word."

God's timing is always perfect. When the fullness of time has come, God stands outside of time; He created time, and when He steps into time to intersect with our lives, He is always on time. The Deliverer is delivered.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for our Deliverer, who was delivered as a helpless babe, deity taking on flesh, and the mystery of the incarnation drawing near to us in humility.
Thank You for His mother, Mary. Help us to learn from her to leave the things we don't understand to You, to trust You even when Your word seems impossible, and to go deep with You, pondering, treasuring, and cooperating.

Help us learn from the shepherds to seize the moment we have in this fleeting life and go in haste to our Savior. Help us tell all who will listen about what we have seen and heard. Give us tender, receptive hearts to carry the good news to others.

We confess that we cannot even begin to comprehend what it meant for Jesus to humble Himself, lay aside His glory, and be born as a man. We thank You that He condescended to be born as one of us, a little helpless baby dependent upon His mama for all of His care and nourishment. We thank You that You brought Him to mankind in the fullness of time to accomplish His mission as Savior of the world.

Oh, come, let us adore Him.

In Jesus' name,
 Amen