Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9.2-7 + Luke 2.1-20
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
On the night in which Mary brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, there were shepherds in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. It was to these nightshift shepherds that an angel of the Lord appeared. The angel stood before them. The glory of the Lord—which was like a consuming fire on the top of Mount Sinai—shone around them and they were greatly afraid. But the glory of the Lord did not shine in wrath, in judgment, or in condemnation. It shone forth in love to these poor shepherds. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” This angel came to bring them good tidings—literally, to preach the gospel—to them! It is a message of great joy—joy so great that it overwhelms the shepherd’s great fear of God. It is a message that will be, not just to the shepherds, but to all people.
The gospel of great joy the angel brings them is this: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The Christ—which is Greek for the Hebrew word Messiah—who had been promised to Adam and Eve, who would bruise the serpent’s head and destroy the serpent’s works, is born. The Christ who had been promised to come from Abraham’s loins, the one in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen 12:3), is born. The Christ, the seed of David for whom God would establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:13), is born. The child that is born in David’s city is the Christ the Lord—the Lord God Himself in human flesh. He is born to destroy the work of the serpent—sin, death, and eternal punishment. He is born to bless all families of the earth by atoning for the sins of all mankind, so that all who believe in Him may be forgiven of their sins and counted righteous in God’s sight. He is born to establish an everlasting kingdom—not a patch of land, nor a thousand-year reign on earth—a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).
I imagine the shepherds had not moved in inch, when the one angel is joined by a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” The angels’ song praises God and calls the shepherds to glorify God with the utmost, highest, and loftiest praise. Their song also teaches them about this Savior who is born to them.
This child is born to bring peace on earth. Not world peace. Not the cessation of violence. Not utopia. This child is born to make peace between God and man. By sinning in Eden, Adam and Eve rejected peace with God and pursued their own desire, their own pride, and their own way. They passed this sinful nature on to all their children, so that apart from the Holy Spirit, everyone is wicked. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. The things God approves of, mankind despises. The things mankind approves of and exalts, God abominates. St. Paul says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). Without God’s intervention, without a Savior, there can be no peace between man and God.
But in this child God and man are reconciled. First in the child himself. He is both man and God. He it truly man, born of the seed of David, born of woman, like us in every way except He is without sin. And yet He is true God, begotten from God the Father from all eternity. By assuming human flesh, the eternal Son of God reconciles God to man in His flesh. He goes further than that, though. He earns for mankind the things that make for our peace with God. He lives a perfectly righteous life since the best righteousness we can muster is an external, hypocritical righteousness. He suffers and dies to make satisfaction for our sins, as the prophet Isaiah says, “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him” (Is 53:5). He earns forgiveness of sins for all mankind, so that whoever believes in Him is justified in God’s sight, fully forgiven and perfectly righteous. And having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). This is the peace this child brings.
The child shows God’s goodwill toward men. Although God could have cast the entire human race into the eternal punishment of hell—for we deserve it—He did not. Nor did wait for us to save ourselves, for we cannot. St. Paul says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He is graciously disposed towards mankind, even though Adam and Eve listened to the devil and went over to his kingdom. God loves His creatures and wants all men to be saved through faith in His Son. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), sorrowing over their sins and trusting the atoning death of Jesus covers their sins. This child born in the city of David shows us how much God loves us and the way He has loved the world. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He has done all of this out of His good will and pleasure, without any merit or worthiness in us.
The shepherds had no need to be afraid. For in this child, God has become man, the Word, who was God, has become flesh and dwelt among us and died for us, that we might have peace with God now and for all eternity. There is no other word for this than glad tidings, good news . . . gospel. As the shepherds had no reason to be afraid, neither do you. If God has become flesh to destroy the work of the devil, bless all families of the earth, and establish an everlasting kingdom, then there is no need to be afraid whatsoever. This child did not come to deliver a law which condemns sinners for their sins of thought, word, and deeds they have done and the good they have left undone. God wrote that law on our hearts at creation and reiterated it on Mount Sinai This child is not born to bring sinners to the everlasting condemnation they deserve for their sins. He is born to take your deserved punishment upon Himself. Those who do not believe in Him, are not repentant, and want to be their own Savior, will be judged on the last day by He who is born on this day. But today is the day of salvation. As long as it is today, the glad tidings of the angel goes forth, so that you might repent of your sins yet again, believe His gospel all the more firmly, and persevere in the same repentance and faith all the days of your life so that you come into life everlasting.
Hearing this, the shepherds went into Bethlehem to see that thing that had come to pass, which the Lord had made known to them. There they saw exactly what the angel had told them they would see. They found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. They saw with their eyes Christ the Lord, their Savior from sin, death, and the devil, in human flesh. They saw with their eyes the One who would bring them peace with God and the One who showed them God’s gracious goodwill toward them and all mankind. They saw in the child how much God loved them. And finishing what were probably wide-eyed praises and unspeakable joys at seeing the child, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child, about God’s gift of peace and goodwill, about Christ the Lord, their Savior. Then they returned to their work, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
Unlike those shepherds, you have not seen the angel of the Lord and had the glory of the Lord shine around you. Unlike those shepherds, you have not seen the Christ child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. But you have heard the angel’s glad tidings. You have heard the heavenly hosts’ cradlesong, the Gloria in Excelsis. The child is your Savior. He is Christ the Lord who has come to bring you peace with God and show the gracious favor God has for you. This child shows you how much God loves you, that He would become man to live, suffer, and die as your substitute, so that you—and all the penitent faithful—may be with Him in heavenly blessedness forever. May it be unto you as it was for those shepherds, so that you hearing, you believe, and believing all the more firmly, you sing with joyful tongue that sweetest ancient cradle-song. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior—your Savior—who is Christ the Lord.” Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
