Good News of Great Joy
Speaker: Dr. John Clayton Series: Advent Scripture: Luke 2:8–14
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and 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 among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:8–14).[1]
According to the historical account, by decree of Caesar Augustus, Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem to be registered, and there Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-7). It was this imperial decree that God used to determine the place of our Savior’s birth, fulfilling Micah’s prophecy that from Bethlehem would come forth a “ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Mic. 5:2). Given the providential magnitude of Caesar’s decree, given his position of authority and place in history, we might assume that he would be the first to hear the heaven-sent proclamation of the birth of the King of kings. But as far as we know, he never knew. Likewise, we might assume that given the scholarly anticipation of the Christ, the wisemen’s astronomically-guided journey, and King Herod’s inquiry, that the leaders of Israel would hear first the heavenly herald. But they heard nothing, nor had ears to hear.
Luke tells us that it was neither leaders of church nor rulers of state who received the angelic announcement but shepherds in a field near Bethlehem, “keeping watch over their flock by night” (2:8). Who were these shepherds? What were their names? God only knows. They are remembered not for who they were but of whom they heard and would worship.
This of course is not the way of the world, which regards fame and fortune, class and culture as confirmation of significance. Our media turns actors and actresses, performers and politicians into celebrities. When advice is needed the world directs us to the wealthy not the godly. But that is not the way of the Lord, who sent his Son to be born in an obscure village to a lowly virgin in an unknown stable.
James asks wisely, “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (Jas. 2:5). Indeed, he has. For, the Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6b-8). Such humility in Christ is in keeping with the sovereign purpose of God, who, the apostle Paul explains, “chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” Connecting this divine truth to our salvation, Paul goes on to say, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:28-31).
In light of this, consider our passage of Scripture and what these lowly shepherds hear and see: Is not the angel’s proclamation boasting in the Lord? Is not the heavenly host’s hymn boasting in the Lord? And what about the shepherd? What did they do? Luke records, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (2:20). Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord, indeed.
An Angelic Appearance
Into what was surely another mundane day in the life of a lowly shepherd, an angel of the Lord appears in the radiance of God’s glory. Luke describes this glory as shining, a blazing illumination in the dark of night. But it is not the angel’s glory but the Lord’s, referred to in the language of the Old Testament as shekinah, a blazing, blinding visible manifestation of the invisible God. Described elsewhere in Scripture as a cloud, or burning fire, or a bright light, leading the writer of Hebrews to describe our God as “a consuming fire,” to whom we are to offer “acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28-29). It was this glory that the Lord’s angelic messenger reflected on that night in the darkness, signifying his purpose and message, the special revelation of God himself.
Unaccustomed to spontaneous, supernatural appearances and the dazzling light of God’s glory, the shepherds responded with more than reverence and awe. They were terrified. The supernatural appearance of a heavenly being is one thing; the glory of the Lord is another level of revelatory awesomeness entirely. But the glory revealed was not for the sake of spectacle but gospel. The angel said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (2:10).
A Prophetic Proclamation
The angel’s purpose in appearing was to deliver this “good news of great joy,” not only for the shepherds but “for all the people.” In the original Greek, “I bring you good news” is one word, a verb, but is more familiar to us as a noun: the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. The gospel given, in this case, is in the form of a birth announcement, “that brings great joy to all the people” (2:10 NET). A birth announcement sent to whom? (“unto you”); when? (“this day”); where? (“the city of David”); what? (“a Savior”); who? (“Christ the Lord”). Consider the substance of this gospel proclamation: God’s promised presence fulfilled in his incarnation, the promised heir to the Davidic throne, salvation in the long-awaited Messiah, who is God incarnate. This is the greatest, joy-inspiring news in the whole world to the whole world!
Why? Because, we who were made in the image of God were made for him, to be with him. Yet, we fell in sin, separating us from God’s fellowship and pleasure. God sent his Son, then, to restore what was lost, to reconcile relationship between God and man. And this is good news of great joy.
Have you heard it? Have you believed it? Have you gotten over it? Or has its familiarity caused you to forget its grandeur and gravity? The message is simple: God sent his only Son to be born a son in the fullness of time (Gal. 2:4), in a place and to a people whom God promised, that he might live the righteous life no one could live, offer up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice no one could appease, to resurrect from death and conquer sin that holds all captive. And it is to him alone that we look in faith, trusting eternally in his divine provision by God’s grace. To call him Savior is not hyperbole, because who else could save us from our due penalty of death, judgment, and wrath, and give us life in his life, adoption into his family, an inheritance with him? In Christ, we have not only received what we don’t deserve but received what he deserved. Puritan John Flavel eloquently reminds us,
Christ Jesus set himself wholly apart for believers. We may say, “Lord, condemnation was yours, that justification might be mine; agony was yours, and victory mine; pain was yours, and ease is mine; the curse was yours and the blessing mine; a crown of thorns was yours, and eternal life mine!”[2]
This is a message so great that there’s no getting over it.
But we’re tempted to, as “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 John 2:16) seek to distract us from it, distort our view of it, and draw our affections away from it. On the night of that angelic proclamation, nothing else mattered but Jesus. And for the Christian today, nothing else matters more than Jesus. The Father sent him for you; the Son gave himself for you; the Spirit gives him to you: forgiveness assured, reconciliation insured, eternal life secured, all by God’s grace through faith in Christ. Don’t ever get over this “good news of great joy”!
A Celestial Celebration
One of the curious characteristics of the angel’s announcement to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth is the sudden appearance of “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God” (2:13), an army of angels breaking forth in praise. From the shepherds’ perspective, surely the appearance of one angel was enough. Surely the “good news of great joy” (2:10) was good enough. But as soon as the angel announces, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” as soon as the angel says, “you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger,” the sky is filled with “a multitude of the heavenly host” (2:11-13), a sudden explosion of angelic presence and praise. It is as if they were waiting with anticipation for the proclamation, awaiting the moment to appear and praise, not to merely show up and be seen but to say or sing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (2:14). Or as the KJV beautifully renders it, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
In my mind’s ear, I hear “Glory to God” from Handel’s Messiah, but as glorious as that movement is, what can compare to a choir of angels declaring the good news of Christ’s coming? The expression describes God’s good pleasure with those to whom he shows mercy, with those upon whom he bestows his grace, those who deserve his wrath but through faith in his Son receive his peace. The apostle Peter says that this good news of great joy was the mission of the prophets and of primary interest to the angels (1 Pet. 1:12), but both were required to wait for “the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4). In delivering this pastoral proclamation and praise, the angels appear in the moment not as omniscient celestial beings but as worshipers celebrating God’s redemptive revelation. The fullness of time had come in the coming of God’s Son.
At Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ birth, but we must not forget the rest of the story, because the gospel is not good news without it. The wise sons of Issachar were complemented for their understanding of the days in which they lived (1 Chron. 12:32), but do we? Unlike the prophets, we live in the last days, not awaiting the full revelation of what the apostle Paul calls “the manifold wisdom of God,” but God “has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:2) and has revealed his redemptive purposes in his church. Unlike the angels before Jesus’ birth, we are not awaiting Christ’s first advent, but what God revealed to “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10) he has revealed to us in the gospel of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
We often think of the sudden, supernatural appearance of the heavenly host in relation to Jesus’ birth, and rightly so. But in a sense, their explosion of praise is but a commencement of our continued celebration. Paul said, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord,” and so we do, boasting in what God has done in sending his Son. Think about it: We have assembled on this Lord’s Day, the day of Christ’s resurrection, based on the full revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is only fitting that we join the heavenly host in crying out, “Glory to God in the highest!” For, our greatest joy comes in and through the good news of Jesus Christ.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] John Flavel quoted in Rosaria Butterfield, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age (Wheaton: Crossway, 2024), 103.
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