A Divine Birth Announcement
Text: Luke 2:1-21
Today’s text describes a royal birth announcement.
Birth announcements are a big deal, especially when the
announcement is about a baby born to royalty. When the baby is in
line to inherit a throne there is a special protocol. Here is a
description of the process when Prince William and Kate’s baby,
George, was born last summer.
Kate Middleton was admitted to a London hospital shortly before 6 a.m. EDT today [July 22].
For sure, the birth announcement of the new royal will follow many of the traditional modes
that have been established for centuries. According to the Today Show—

Queen Elizabeth will be the first to hear. Prince William will call her personally.

A royal aide will walk outside of St. Mary’s Hospital with the official birth announcement
where it will be carried from the hospital through the streets of London to Buckingham
Palace to announce a child has been born. The two-mile ride will be broadcast live from
a helicopter.

The declaration will be displayed on a golden easel behind the palace gates where we
learn of the gender and, possibly, eye and hair color. Prince William’s birth in 1982 was
announced on the same easel.

There will be a 41-gun salute in London Street Park and 62 cannon blasts from the
Tower of London.

Finally, [perhaps in one to three days] the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will appear
on the steps of St. Mary’s Hospital with their new bundle of joy.
And this time around, Kensington Palace will send “royal tweets” once the baby is born with
all the important details. [2 million total]. An army of photographers and news reporters have
been camped out at St. Mary’s hospital in London since July 1 st which should give readers
one indication of how important this royal birth is to the legacy and vitality of the British
monarchy.1
1
http://bridgebizstem.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/royal-birth-announcements-to-include-royal-tweets/
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Today’s text is about the announcement of another Royal Birth.
In fact, it is the ultimate royal birth, the only one that, when all is said
and done, really matter. It concerns the birth of the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords. A Savior, Christ the Lord, has been born.
BILLBOARD…
A. THE BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
10b “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord.
“I bring you Good News of great joy.” The Gk. word translated
“Good News” is the word evangelion. From it we get our words
evangelism and evangelical. In the ancient world “Evangelion” was a
proclamation by a royal messenger of Good News, usually of victory
in battle or the birth of a Royal Son.
1. Good News for the Humble
It is important to note that God’s royal birth announcement is a
matter of “great joy” to the angels and the Shepherds.
However, it has not been “great joy” to millions. For many it is
an utterly irrelevant message. For others it is an obnoxious message.
For some it is a laughing matter.
It is only a matter of great joy to the one who accepts their
predicament, the problem from which this royal birth announcement
delivers them. That takes humility.
Here is the universal specter that confronts all people. God
does not grade on the curve. God’s standards are perfection. No one
can meet his standards. Because we are idolators, everything has
been more important to us than God, God is angry with us. Therefore,
without divine help, all men will die and spend eternity in hell suffering
under God’s just judgment.
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But God doesn’t want to be angry with us. “God so loved the
world that he sent his only begotten Son that whoever would believe
in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). In other
words, God sent his Son to propitiate his own anger, in order to
reconcile us to himself.
In other words, the angel’s declaration is only Good News to
those willing to humble themselves under the bad news. It is Good
News to those willing to admit that we all suffer under the burden of a
universal problem, a problem that no one can solve by human effort
alone, a problem that God has sent his son to solve.
2. To Shepherds
Kate and William announced the birth of Prince George to the
world. First to the high and might, the royal queen. Then the royal
news travelled instantly by tweets, emails, blogs, television, and
newspaper until all over the world it was front page news.
But God, the Creator of all things, the omnipotent One, the
absolute Sovereign, the One to whom all glory and worship is due,
the Ruler of all things, the One who has always been and always will
be, the One in need of nothing, and possessing absolute holiness,
doesn’t declare this “Good News” to the social elites of the first
century.
Instead, he declares it to a group of Shepherds. He declares it
to the poorest of the poor. He declares it to those on the bottom rung
of the ancient world’s social ladder. He declares it to hard drinking,
hard living, illiterate, blue collar workers. Why?
God was making a statement: our thoughts are not God’s
thoughts. Our ways are not God’s ways, and God’s ways are not our
ways. What sinful man values is irrelevant to God. What God values
is irrelevant to fallen man. We have everything upside down. In God’s
kingdom the servants are the truly great ones. In man’s kingdoms
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servants are despised, pitied, and used. The wealthy, the powerful,
the celebrities, the users are the great ones. So Jesus will continually
remind us throughout this gospel that “the first will be last, and the
last will be first.” That is why the angel preaches the first Good News
to Shepherds.
3. From Angels
In addition, God’s messenger was a mighty angel.
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their
flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them, and they were filled with great fear.
The Shepherds were watching their flocks. The stars were out.
Some were sleeping. Others were chatting. Some were looking up
into heaven, (It was probably June) when suddenly a mighty angel
appeared.
They immediately sensed the angel’s “otherness.” He was not
like them. He was not like anyone they knew. The angel was holy,
pure, sinless, spotless. The contrast between themselves and the
angel intensified their feelings of uncleanness. When they sensed the
glory of the Lord, their feelings of sinfulness only deepened.
They were in trouble. Fear gripped them. Every nerve was
taught with anxiety. These were not the chubby, harmless, cherubs
on your Hallmark Christmas card. These were God’s holy warriors,
mighty beings before whom we are utterly impotent. Luke tells us that
the Shepherds “were filled with great fear.” Throughout the Bible fear
is the common reaction to the presence of Angels.
(Luke 1:12) "12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him."
(Daniel 10:7) "7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not
see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves."
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In the book of Revelation John is so terrified that even he is
before an angel, not God, he prostrates himself in worship (Rev
19:10, 22:8).
4. For All Men
In addition, the angel declares a message that is “for all
people.” It’s not a message for good people. In God’s sight there are
none. It is not a message for the rich. Material riches are meaningless
to God. Spiritual riches alone have eternal value. In fact, the newborn
baby will sum up all of God’s riches. “Christ in whom are hidden all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). It is not a
message for the sophisticated. The only sophistication that God
honors is the wisdom that put his Son on a Roman cross.
Again, this message is for “all men” rich or poor, mighty or
lowly, who will confess that they are sinners and put their faith in
Christ crucified.
5. About the Child’s Identity
The heart of the angel’s message to the Shepherds is the
baby’s identity.
10b “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord.
Bethlehem was the city of David. It is the place where King
David was born. The prophets predicted a Son of David, One who
would take his father’s throne and reign over the world forever. He
would be born, like his father, in the City of David.
The first thing the angel tells us is that the baby is a
Savior. What has he come to save us from? He has come to save us
from his own wrath/anger/displeasure. Your idolatry has offended
God. But God so loved the world that this baby has come to extend
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an olive branch to you and I. He will grow to be a man. He will go to a
Roman cross, and he will take all of the punishment that you and I
deserve. As our Substitute he will absorb all of God’s anger. He will
satisfy it. He will quench it completely. This is the measure of God’s
love for you.
In addition the angel tells us that this child is “Christ the Lord.”
As we have discussed in recent weeks, the title “Christ” means
anointed one. He is the One predicted by the prophets, the One
whom the Holy Spirit will anoint without measure.
He is also “Christ the Lord.” This baby, born to poor, illiterate,
teen-aged parents, will be the ultimate “royal.” God will give him “all
authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28). Someday, “every knee
will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil
2:10-11). He is the One about whom Paul will write with these words
to the church at Colossae.
(Colossians 1:16–18) “16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."
In summary, the angel declared a royal birth announcement
that was Good News for the humble. God declared it to lowly
shepherds. He declared it by a fear-inducing angel. It was a
declaration of the child’s identity. He is a “Savior.” He is “Christ the
Lord.”
B. THE SIGN OF THE BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: A BABY IN A
MANGER
When Kate and William’s baby was born there was a sign. “A
41-gun salute went off in London Street Park, and 62 cannons
blasted from the Tower of London.”
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God also confirmed the birth of his son with a sign. In fact, God
often confirmed his word with signs. For example, when King
Hezekiah was dying the monarch asked God through the prophet
Isaiah to extend his life. God gave the king another fifteen years and
then gave him a sign.
(Isaiah 38:8) "8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz
turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had
declined."
In the same way the angel gave the Shepherds a sign,
something that would indisputably confirm that the message was true.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying
in a manger.”
16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
A baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths? Why and
how was this a sign? First, it is important to note that the swaddling
cloths were not the sign. These were the normal outfit for a new-born
in the ancient world.
The sign was the manger! Babies don’t lie in mangers. Mangers
are feeding troughs for cattle. I am sure the shepherds had never
heard of a baby lying in a manger. So bizarre was this idea that, if
they found it, it would confirm the angelic message.
Anecdote: Jim’s cradle.
Im fact, the manger was a sign of the infant king’s authority. His
authority would proceed from his lowliness, his willingness to serve,
his unselfishness, his willingness to suffer for the good of those he
came to save. What could be more humbling than poverty—poverty
so profound that your child is born in a barn, and then laid him in a
manger.
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Jesus entire life was one great substitutionary atonement.
Under the law the curse for failure to obey God’s law was poverty. To
save us, therefore, Jesus voluntarily took that curse upon himself.
C. THE END OF THE BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: GLORY FOR
GOD
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were filled with great fear.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and
saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is
pleased!”
The Glory of God is the visible manifestation of his inward
moral perfections. God sent his Son to earth to display this glory. It
began with this story. Why would he God stoop this low? Love for
those, “with whom he is pleased.”
Love is the heart of God’s glory. God’s love is more than a
feeling. It is a willingness to act, to suffer discomfort, for the sake of
the beloved. Jesus put this love on display by his willingness to be
born to a very poor, teen-aged couple in a backwater, oppressed
village.
Here is the glory of God’s love. Christ descended to earth to lift
us up to heaven.
Christ became a son of man to make you a son of God.
Christ abased himself to exalt you and I.
Christ clothed himself in the image and likeness of man that he
might cloth us in the image and likeness of God.
Christ lived in poverty in order to give each believer true riches.
Christ wore rags so that he could clothe us in eternal glory.
Christ united the divine nature to human flesh that he might
unite our human nature with divinity.
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Christ submitted to death in order to give us life eternal.
Christ was despised by Jew and Gentile alike that we might be
eternally honored.
Christ was rejected by God and man that we might be accepted
by God and man.
Christ fulfilled the law in order to set us free from the law.
Christ was condemned and punished that we might be
acquitted and rewarded.
This is what the glory of God looks like. Christ’s birth, life, death
and resurrection open a window on the Glory of God!
This is what Christ did for you. Yes, Jesus died for the world.
But none of this is real and life changing until it gets applied to your
personal heart and life.
D. THE PROPER RESPONSE TO THE BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT:
WORKS OF FAITH
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let
us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made
known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a
manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them
concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as
it had been told them."
Saving faith always responds. It acts. False faith, by contrast, is
passive.
The angels responded. They went away from the Shepherds
back into heaven.
As the angel commanded, the shepherds went in search of the
baby in the manger. When they found him they knew that they had
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heard correctly. They evangelized. They made “known the saying that
had been told them.”
Mary meditated on these truths. “She treasured up all these
things, pondering them in her heart.”
The shepherds worshipped. They “returned, glorifying and
praising God for all that they had seen and heard.”
E. SO WHAT?
Why is this text in scripture? How does God want us to
respond? He wants us to believe God’s Royal Birth Announcement.
Either these things happened or they didn’t.
Christianity is an historical religion. It is not about fantasies. It is
about carefully researched historical facts. Luke was an historian.
Here is how he begins this gospel.
(Luke 1:3–4) "3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time
past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have
certainty concerning the things you have been taught."
If God’s royal birth announcement is true. It changes
everything.
“Unto you is born this day in the City of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.”
This announcement is not for fence-sitters. A passive response
will not due. It is spiritual death.
A rejection of this birth announcement is also spiritual death.
The only valid response is faith, submission, worship, and joy.
Christ’s birth announcement calls us to the precipice of a
decision. Jesus claimed deity. He did so repeatedly. Numerous times
people worshipped him, and he never stopped them.
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As C. S. Lewis reminds us, this presents us with only three
options. Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord. What he can never
be is just a good man or a great prophet.
Pick your poison. Lunatic, Liar, or Lord. Those are the only
choices.
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