The Eyewitness of Christmas: (Part II)

THE EYEWITNESS OF ANGELS:

More then Meets the Eye
Luke 2:8-14:

At Christmas, it is worth noting the testimonies of eyewitnesses to Christ's birth, as recorded in our Bibles. Today, as we look at the eyewitness account of the angels, we will note that what the angels described to the shepherds and to us was truly more than meets the eye.

An eyewitness is not merely someone who has seen something but someone who can give a first-hand account of what they have seen. It is by virtue of seeing with their own eyes and reporting upon what they have seen that makes an eyewitness a valued, credible, source to be believed.

The Scriptures demonstrate the uniqueness of God's angels, as eyewitnesses to our Lord's unfolding Gospel plan.

Angels are timeless, and therefore they possess a unique perspective on the unfolding of history. The Bible tells us that literally hundreds of Old Testament prophecies anticipated the day when God would enter human history as a man and become the Savior of the world.

Because they were present even during the days of these prophets, the angels were among some of the best informed of the eyewitnesses of the events surrounding Christ's birth. The angels literally watched, as the prophets foretold of Christ's birth and what it would mean, hundreds of years before the actual event. They watched and witnessed tot he shepherds when Jesus birth ultimately occurred. And this passage in 1 Peter tells us that the angels watch even today, as the message of God's good news (His Gospel) is fulfilled when you receive it in your own heart and life. As eyewitnesses to history or His story--the angels were then and are today "eagerly watching these things happen."

As we endeavor to witness the events of the first Christmas through the eyes of the angels, we should take note that their announcement was both routine and quite extraordinary, at the same time. The angels' appearance was extraordinary, but they were NOT the main event; the main event was the ordinary birth that they described. That birth, however, was more than meets their eye. Three very carefully chosen words, all occurring in v.11 of Luke 2, were used to account for the mundane details of a very profound birth:

I. The Angel Eyewitnesses
Declared to the Shepherds the Birth of a Savior

While Christ's conception in Mary was miraculous, there was nothing miraculous about Christ's birth. It was just as mundane or routine as any birth anywhere else, ever, in the world. But while the birth was ordinary, the baby was unique, one of a kind. No other baby born before, nor since, could be announced in quite the same way. Of course he was a boy, but the angel skipped this detail in their report to the shepherds and immediately declared the baby to be neither a boy nor a girl, but a "Savior".

"Savior" literally means deliverer, preserver or protector. Because the Jews lived in a land that had been militarily conquered and which was now ruled by Roman government, they were very aware of the prophetic sayings in their Scriptures, which led them to anticipate a Deliverer from God.

The timeless angels had long witnessed the words of prophets like Isaiah, which the Jews had come to interpret as foretelling of a Political Deliverer, a Savior.

But God did not have in mind political deliverance, and this is clear in some of the prophetic writings witnessed by the angels long ago.

To the prophet Hosea, God said - "I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them - not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God." (Hosea 1:7)

The angels' declaration in Luke 2 of the word "Savior" is one of only two places in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) where Jesus is referred to as "Savior". In John 4:42, the men of the city of Sychar, who met Jesus when the Samaritan woman brought Him to their town declared, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

While the Samaritan men of Sychar had to be convinced of the Samaritan woman's declaration by meeting Jesus personally, they were blessed to have an eyewitness. What is significant is that, on the night of Christ's birth, the angels announced the arrival of the world's Deliverer. And like the men of Sychar, even though we have the eyewitness accounts of Jesus birth and life in the Scriptures, it is only by "meeting" Him personally that we can truly receive Him as our Savior.

What do you need to be delivered from today? Disease? Debt? Bitterness? Addiction? In this one word, "Savior" the angels were announcing that God had become man to deliver you and me from the guilt, dysfunction and bondages of life outside of relationship with Him.

II. The Angels Eyewitnesses
Identified the Baby as the Christ

These days, we are all required to have birth certificates, documentation which officially and legally identifies us, based upon the name that we were assigned at the moment of our births. While the routine with any birth is to immediately identify the newborn by assigning him or her the name by which they will be known all throughout their lifetime, this baby was identified uniquely but recognizably to a Jew as 'the Christ'.

The angels announced the birth of a baby who was to be known as Jesus Christ. Jesus is the same name as the Hebrew name Joshua, which means "The Lord is Salvation". The name "Christ" literally means "anointed One" and is prophetically significant, because this is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew word "Messiah", in the Old Testament.

The Messiah was to be an anointed King over Israel who would lead them to their destiny, restoring them as a nation. The Jews of Jesus' day had long been a divided nation. After the destruction of the Israelite kingship and Davidic line with the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC., Biblical figures began to write of a yearning for the Messiah - the return of the Davidic kingship and the just rule and (Israelite) national independence that was anticipated by the prophets. In Jesus' day, hopes burned for a new "anointed one" to come and liberate the people from their current, dismal conditions. This would be the Divine messenger who was to come and bring with him a future time of peace and brotherhood on the earth, without crime, war, and poverty. This was the Prince of Peace, spoken of in Isaiah and often sang about at Christmas, in the words of Handel's Messiah.

Angels had witnessed the time of the prophet Zechariah hundreds of years earlier, when he wrote about the Messiah to come, "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zech. 9:9)

At Christmas, the angels announced the arrival of a Restorer, one who would bring peace, purpose and restoration. One of the reasons the angels were so intentional in describing Jesus as the Christ or Messiah was the fulfillment of the prophecies that describe Jesus as bringing with Him Christian community, a time in which injustice, war, disease, hunger and brokenness will cease. We catch a glimpse of what this looks like during the life of Jesus, as the lame are made to walk, the dead are raised, the multitudes are fed, the seas are calmed, and the worst individuals in society are changed.

In Luke 4:16-20, when Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth, "he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back tot he attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

One of the things we so often forget as believers is that Christ's coming has broader implications than just our own lives. As Christ's Lordship takes root in the hearts of the members of a church, the power of Christ should become increasingly apparent in their community. Real corporate change in a community should be the conspicuous evidence of the transformed lives of individuals.

So many times, we have been guilty in the church of insulating ourselves from our community, rather than seeking to do what the Christ would do if He were present. If Christ were present - either bodily, or conspicuously in our lives - injustice and societal ills would be tackled. The poor, hungry and exploited would have a champion.

The irony is that, at Christmas time, we seem to be temporarily reminded of the Kingdom ideals of 'peace on earth and goodwill to men'. But no sooner do we celebrate the New Year and pack away the Christmas tree, then we lapse back into our largely passive attitude toward a world that is desperately in need of the influence of Christ that should be exerted through our lives year round.

There is a song by Avalon that we listen to in our home during Christmas time: One of the lines says this, "don't save it all for Christmas Day, find a way to give a little love everyday."

What is broken and fractured in our communities and our society that needs mending" What is broken in your life and needs restoration or healing, so that the Christ can become a force for good through you?

Even today, in the midst of a world gripped by the kind of brokenness that Jesus was born to remedy, Christ's presence in the church should be more than meets the eye, as we seek to be used by God to transform - and neither insulate ourselves from nor become absorbed into - society.

III. The Angel Eyewitnesses
Related the Baby to the Lord

While the routine with any birth is to immediately relate a newborn to its mother and father, linking it with a heritage and a name, this baby was immediately identified as being a part of a Divine lineage.

The word "Lord" can mean master, whether or not it refers to God. But it is also the word used to translate the covenant name of God. Here the word refers to the latter of these, and it is a title of deity, of relationship to God, of identity as God.

Of course this is the aspect of Christ's birth about which we speak most: this announcement was the recognition by the angels that God had become man.

It is incredibly significant that the angels' relate this baby to God by referring to Jesus as "the Lord," in Luke 2:11

The angels had witnessed the history of God's relationship with His disobedient people, Israel. Those angels observed the writings of the prophets, describing a day when God would set right the wrongs committed by God's people. When the angels witnessed the birth of Christ, and when they shared this with the shepherds, their joy was almost as if they were sharing news that had been bottled up inside them and was exploding to get out!

What the angels were witnessing was to be utterly without historical precedent. The Lord of the universe chose to identify with sinful man by becoming a man. And even while they were announcing His birth, the angels like knew that they would someday be eyewitnesses of Christ's sinless life, of his sacrificial death, and of His resurrection that would conquer death once and for all.

Is Jesus LORD in your life today? If not -- if you do not have Him as Lord -- then you also have no Savior and no Christ, no Deliverer and no Restorer.

The angels' eyewitness account to the shepherds of the birth of Christ was more than meets the eye. Christmas is a reminder that Jesus came to deliver us from our sin, restore God's image in us, to free us from the bondage of sin, and to defeat death and hell on our behalf. The man that this baby would grow up to be could never do these things if He were simply a good person or a well-meaning martyr. This "Savior, who is Christ the Lord," is not just willing to defeat your sin and to restore you to God, He is able, because He is Lord, Jesus is God.

Conclusion: At Christmas, there are far too many reminders of the brokenness in our lives and in our world. When the true meaning of Christmas is forgotten, the hope that Christ was born to bring often gets replaced with despair and depression. The message of Christmas is so much more than so often meets the eye.