The birth of Jesus, as described in Luke chapter 2, is presented not just as a historical event but as a divine decree with profound implications for humanity, emphasizing God's sovereignty, the coming of a Savior, and the message of peace and goodwill.
[Music]
and mary treasured all these things and
pondered them in her heart
mary's a woman with a pondering heart
she thinks about things that word ponder
means to put things together
mary is not seeing isolated individual
experiences or events mary's trying to
put the whole picture together
mary is taking the pieces and putting
them together and trying to see what is
god doing it's a good thing to do
it's good for us to take time to ponder
now what had she pondered well according
to luke chapter two i'm sure she
pondered the times verses one through
three augustus caesar is on the throne
of the roman empire
he issues a decree that all people must
go and be registered for a census that
they might be taxed but this was god's
decree not the decree of caesar augustus
oh it's good to know that god is on the
throne when you read the newspaper or
hear the news reports or watch the news
reports just keep in mind that god is on
the throne here's a precious little
jewish girl expecting a baby she has to
make a long trip 80 miles from nazareth
down to bethlehem why because augustus
caesar issued a decree no
no because god in heaven had issued a
decree and he had said centuries before
that his son was going to be born at
bethlehem it's good to know that your
life is in the control of god
it's good to know that all things are
working together for good to them that
love god she pondered the times don't
worry about the times the times have
always been bad and the times have
always been good
there have been times of destruction and
times of construction
don't worry about the times god is still
on the throne and he will remember his own
own
she pondered the place
bethlehem verses four and five
bethlehem the house of bread
bethlehem in judea
judah means praise praise in the house
of bread if ever
bread was served it was when the lord
jesus the bread of life came
to this earth she pondered the child
verses six and seven this miracle baby
that was placed in her arms
laid him in a manger
in a place where the animals fed oh how
poor he became
that we might be made rich
but now in verses 8 through 14 we have
the visit of the angels now mary didn't
see that visit but when the shepherds
came they certainly told her about it
and there were in the same country says
luke 2 8 shepherds abiding in the field
keeping watch over their flock 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 very much afraid
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 savior who is christ the lord
lord
and there 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
peace
good will
toward men
this angelic message certainly is an
amazing thing
i don't know if the angel who appeared
initially was gabriel
he had appeared to zechariah as to tell
about the birth of john the baptist he
had appeared to mary to tell about the
birth of the lord jesus this could well
have been gabriel who came and the glory
of the lord shone around about these
shepherds you know the angels are
interesting creatures god made them
and they are our servants
and they are interested in what god is
doing on this earth they watched in wonder
wonder
at the great blessing of creation
we have every reason to believe that the
angels were created prior to the
creation of the earth we read in job 38
verses 6 and 7 whereupon are the
foundations thereof fastened or who laid
the cornerstone thereof meaning of
creation when the morning stars sang
together and all the sons of god shouted
for joy and so they they watched
creation and shouted for joy
first peter chapter 1 verse 12 tells us
that the angels watched old testament history
history
unto whom it was revealed that not unto
themselves but unto us they the prophets
did minister the things which are now
reported unto you
by them that have preached the gospel
unto you with the holy ghost sent down
from heaven which things the angels
desire to look into and so they watched
all of old testament history as the
prophets foretold the coming of the messiah
messiah
in fact we're told in first timothy 3 16
that the angels were witnesses of all
that happened to the lord jesus
and without controversy great is the
mystery of godliness god was manifest in
the flesh
justified in the spirit scene of angels
witnessed by the angels and as the
angels watched their creator being born
as a babe what an amazing experience
this must have been for them
but the miracle
was one thing the message was quite
something else i imagine if i had been
out in that judean field with those
sheep and suddenly an angel appears and
suddenly god's glory appears i would
have been frightened too but the angel
said to them fear not
fear not is one of the great messages of
the birth of our lord jesus christ the
angel said to zacharias in luke 1 13
fear not the angel said to mary
in verse 30 fear not and now the angel
says to the shepherds fear not
people are looking for antidotes to fear
and here's the antidote here's the
answer fear not why for behold i bring
you good tidings good news i haven't
come to announce judgment i've come to
bring good news good news of great joy
which shall be to all people now what is
this good news for unto you
is born this day god's timing is never
off in the city of david
a savior
not a judge not a conqueror not a warrior
warrior
a savior who is christ the lord in fact
verses 10 and 11 are almost a glossary
of the vocabulary luke uses in the rest
of the book
luke often talks about the good tidings
the glad tidings this gives us our word
evangel or evangelism the good news what
is the good news that god has sent his son
son
to be the savior of the world
luke uses the word joy often he talks
about people often he talks about the
lord jesus christ being the lord 95
times in the book of luke we find this
word lord he talks about the glory of
god the angel brings the message to you
and to me and says a savior has come
it's rather interesting
that the word savior is not used
frequently in the gospels it's not used
in matthew it's not used in mark it's
used here in luke 2 11 it's also used in
luke 1 47 where mary said and my spirit
hath rejoiced in god my savior so it's
used twice in luke
and it's also used in the gospel of john
john 4 42
he's the savior of the world and that's
the only place you'll find the word savior
savior
you find the word salvation in the
gospel of luke
in chapter 1 verse 69
you find saved in verse 71 you find
salvation in verse 77
several times you'll find salvation but
this word savior is rather special he's
the savior now augustus caesar had the
title savior
the roman people look to their emperor
as the savior we look to the lord jesus
christ as the savior don't we he's the
only one who can save us thou shalt call
his name jesus for he shall save his
people from their sins i like this
message that they brought to the
shepherds this same message comes to you
don't be afraid why i have a personal
message for you unto you
i bring you i have a joyful message i
have good news for you what is it it's a
message of peace that's rather
interesting that in verse 13 and
suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host that
would host his army
here's a heavenly army praising god and
saying glory to god in the highest and
on earth peace
good will toward men here is an army
singing a message of peace here is an
army praising god for peace now whoever
heard of an army talking about peace
the famous pox romana the roman peace
began about 0 30 bc and lasted for 200
years till about 180 a.d
and it was a time when there was peace
throughout the roman empire oh there may
have been some little skirmishes here
and there but there was peace throughout
the roman empire
and yet epictetus one of the greek
philosophers who lived in rome made this statement
