WWUTT 2273 The Shepherds Visit the Christ Child (Luke 2:15-20)

As many of the Christmas songs that we have that mention in the lyrics angels singing, the Bible doesn't explicitly say that angels sing, but we know that we are supposed to sing when we understand the text.

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Hey, once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Luke, we continue with the narrative of the shepherds and the angels. We'll finish this section up today. Let me read the whole thing again. So Luke two, starting in verse eight, and I'll go through verse 20.

Hear the word of the Lord. 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.

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. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. Now, picking up where we left off yesterday, that would put us right after the song that the angels sang to the shepherds.

I'm being somewhat facetious here. We think of that as a song, but it actually does not say that angels saying to shepherds. And so that's what I'm gonna touch on first here in the beginning. But we read once again in verse 14, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

An entire chorus of angels having joined the first that delivered this message to the shepherds. And now you have this whole legion of angels that are proclaiming this praise unto the Lord, glory to God in the highest.

The shepherds had heard the message of the angels and then they hear the praises of the angels. Again, as I said on Monday, I cannot imagine, I cannot wrap my head around how incredible a sight this must have been.

But then the angels go back into heaven, verse 15, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go, let's go see this thing that the angel had just talked about.

So however this looked, the angels being up in the air, that's a pretty accurate depiction whenever you've seen that in movies or otherwise with a show of the angels above them, or you've seen it in paintings and other illustrations, that is a fair depiction because the angels go away from them into heaven.

So it appears that they ascend or they kind of vanish upward or however that would have been. The shepherds had that moment there to see heaven with their own eyes. The veil that separates heaven and earth was pulled aside, was parted for a moment so that this angel could address the shepherds and that they could see into the heavens, maybe somewhat like Jacob had seen in his dream that we read about in Genesis chapter 28.

But as I said a moment ago, the angels didn't sing, at least the scripture doesn't tell us that the angels sang, although this is a concept that fills a lot of our Christmas carols. Hark the Herald Angels Sing was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, later to be fitted to a musical piece that was written separately by Felix Mendelssohn over a century later.

And Mendelssohn did not want his music used for hymns. He really did not. I can't remember if I read that Mendelssohn wasn't a Christian, I can't remember that. But I know that he didn't like his music taken and used as accompaniment for songs because he wanted his music to be enjoyed the way that he wrote it, the way that he intended it to be written.

And yet there were many who took tunes of his and added them to various different choruses. So first of all, Charles Wesley writes this poem called Hark the Herald Angels Sing. And then a musical tune is taken from Felix Mendelssohn and is added to that song.

And it has become the famous Christmas carol that we know, sung at the end of a Charlie Brown Christmas. I still remember that one being the hymn that closes out that Christmas special. And of course, angels singing mentioned in many other choruses.

Oh, come all ye faithful. One of the verses begins, sing choirs of angels, sing an exaltation. I love that hymn. That's one of my favorites. As one of those Christmas carols, I wish we were even singing all year long.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing, by the way, great presentation of the gospel in that hymn. So it's not just the Christmas themes that show up in there, but just the gospel presentation altogether. Then there's the favorite carol, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.

One of the verses is the world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing. However, there's nothing in the Bible that explicitly says that angels sing, not anywhere, not just in the whole different Christmas depictions of various places where angels show up.

Gabriel didn't sing to Zechariah or Mary. These angels didn't sing to the shepherds, but even beyond what we read in the Christmas narratives, like in the book of Revelation, it doesn't say there that angels are singing.

Now this is a moot point. There's nothing about this that's necessarily theologically deep. I think I can draw a theologically deep point from it, but all things considered, we're just basically going off of where in the Bible does it say that angels sang?

And that word sing is not used explicitly in reference to angels announcing something or in praising God. See right here, even, it says that the angels praised God and said. So this was Luke 2 .13. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, not singing.

The Greek word is lego, which means to say. The word is used again in Luke 21 .5, where we read about some people who were speaking in the temple. So this is not, it can't even be translated as angels singing.

Now in Isaiah 44 .23, it says, sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it. And who else could sing from heaven but the angels, right? But when you look at the context, you see that Isaiah was personifying creation.

Going on from there, he says, shout, O depths of the earth, break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it. In Isaiah 49 .13, we read, sing for joy, O heavens, and exalt, O earth, break forth, O mountains, into singing.

In Job 38 .7, it says, the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. And perhaps as some have argued, the morning stars are in reference to angels. But this is also amidst very figurative language where God also says that he laid the foundations of the earth.

Does the earth sit on a foundation? No, of course not. Elsewhere in Job, we're told that he hangs the earth on nothing. You know, the earth isn't hanging. That's in Job 26 .7, by the way. Jeremiah 51 .48 says, then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the Lord.

There's something about that borrowed in the book of Revelation as well. Now that might be the closest that we get to a picture of angels singing, but as with Isaiah and Job, the language in this portion of Jeremiah is poetic and figurative.

Speaking of the last book of the Bible, let's look at a portion of Revelation chapter 14, where it says in verses two through three, and I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.

The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the ones who had been redeemed from the earth.

In the next chapter, John sees a multitude holding harps in their hands. By the way, if you want to know where we get this cartoonish idea of someone sitting on a cloud and playing a harp in heaven, like we get that idea, I've seen it in Looney Tunes cartoons.

I remember those as a kid, whenever a character would die and his kind of spirit would go up and there he is sitting on a cloud strumming a harp. Where does that caricature come from? Well, it's from Revelation chapters 14 and 15, where it says that these saints are playing on harps.

And going on in chapter 15, John sees a multitude holding harps in their hands and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord, God, the Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.

Now in that vision that John sees, it's people who are singing, it's the saints. And it appears from what we find in scripture that music and song are a gift that God has given exclusively to mankind to use for his glory.

When God rescued the Israelites by drowning the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the people sang, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

And it goes on to say there in Exodus 15, that Miriam, Moses' sister, led the women in singing. We know that King David wrote many songs of praise unto God, which make up the Psalms. Just consider the way that Psalm 89 begins.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. And not only are there happy songs in the Psalms, but there's even some depressing lyrics as well, as David is experiencing real heartache and turmoil and conviction and confusion even.

And that comes out in these songs that he writes as praises unto God. Even the vexing songs are still praises unto the Lord. Now, it is not merely a privilege for us to sing unto God, it's also commanded.

Psalm 68, four says, sing to God, sing praises to his name, lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts, his name is the Lord, exalt before him. And the church we know is called to sing together.

Ephesians 5, 18 to 19, be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. We see the same sort of thing in Colossians 3, 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Now, who knows if angels really sang or not, but we know that we are to sing and lift up our praises unto the Lord. Don't lose that wonderful desire to sing. If you love God, sing, sing in your car. I still do that in my mid forties now and I'm still blasting Christian music in my car and singing praises unto God.

My kids do it. We'll have family worship time, get the guitar out and we'll all be singing praises unto God, choosing songs out of the hymnal. It is a wonderful thing to praise the Lord with song. And especially when you feel weighed down and heavy, the burdens of life are coming against you.

Maybe there's something in your past that haunts you. Even in moments like that, praise God. Turn to the Lord and praise him. Read Psalm 13 for an example of this. David says, how long O Lord, will you forget me forever?

And my enemies will exalt over me, but the way that Psalm ends, but I will sing praises unto God for he has dealt bountifully with me. Now I bring all that up. We spend so much time talking about singing in music when that's not even talked about here in Luke 2.

But we did see songs here in the Christmas narrative that we've been reading about in Luke 1 and 2, didn't we? The Magnificat, Mary's song, the song of praise that she sings unto God. Mary is singing, even though it doesn't say explicitly that angels sang.

And then there was also the prophetic song that Zechariah sang. Everything seems to indicate to us that those were song lyrics, even though there also at the end of Luke 1, it doesn't explicitly say that Zechariah was singing, but maybe he was, and maybe the angels are here too.

In Luke 2 .14, the way that this statement of theirs is phrased, it looks like song lyrics. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. I remember my dad and the worship leader at my church, the church that I was baptized in when I was a teenager.

I remember dad and the worship leader having an argument about whether or not angels sing in heaven. My dad was making this case before Craig was his name and telling Craig that nothing in the Bible says that angels sing.

And Craig would push back and he would make some of the references from the Old Testament that I just read to you, like the sons of God lifting up their voices in song and things like that. And very tragically, Craig would die in a motorcycle accident.

Happened just after Becky and I got married, as a matter of fact. And we went back to Southwest Kansas to go to the funeral because Craig was very beloved in the community and was somebody that I had been friends with for years.

But my dad got the chance to speak at that funeral. And I remember him saying, he recalled that, the kinds of arguments that he and Craig would have over whether or not angels sing. And he came to the podium and he talked about that.

And he said, with tears in his eyes, I tell you what, Craig's here in the songs of the angels now. And he knows already whether or not angels sing. After the angels depart from the shepherds here, they look to one another and they say, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that the angels had just told us about.

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger, exactly as the angels said that they would find him. And this is in fact, the third reference to Jesus being in a manger.

In Luke chapter two, the first time is Mary wrapping the baby in swaddling cloths, laying the baby in a manger. And then the angels telling the shepherds, you'll find the baby in a manger. And then here, Luke 2 16, they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

Seems like a very important detail. It's not just some throwaway thing. This is the King. This is the Savior. This is the one that the angels said to the shepherds is called Christ the Lord. This is the Messiah that they had been waiting for.

The one who had been prophesied, the anointed one sent by God, talked about in the Old Testament, and finally he's arrived and we get to go see him. And where is he? Not in the palace. And if he had been in the palace, the shepherds would not have been able to get in to see him.

Shepherds were filthy. They had been tending flocks out in the field, living with the sheep. They were unclean. They couldn't even go into the temple. They would have had to have bathed first. But here the angels say to these shepherds, you get to be the first to see the Christ child.

He's lying in a manger and they know we don't have to go gussy ourselves up in order to go see the baby. We can just go. He's there in a manger. Let's go see the thing that the angels said that we would find.

And they found him just like this, a child born for them, not a King in a palace, but a peasant just like they were. And this is our King. And when they saw it, they made known it says in verse 17, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

They start telling people, they tell Mary and Joseph. And there are other people that know about what the shepherds said because verse 18 says, all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

So there were many people throughout Bethlehem that heard this testimony from the shepherds about the angels appearing and saying, this one is the Christ. But Mary had says in verse 19, treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And it doesn't just say here in Luke 2 .19 that she treasured up all these things in her heart. We're gonna see that again when we get to the end of the chapter and we'll kind of flesh that out, elaborate on it a little bit more.

Verse 20, and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. So the shepherds don't just come to see the Christ in the manger, they tell other people about it.

And then when they go away, they continue praising God because they got to see and behold this wonderful sight, this incredible event in history. One of the most incredible events that has ever occurred, the coming of God into the world in the flesh.

And like the shepherds, we need to do two things. Number one, we also need to tell others the good news. We have heard the message of the gospel. We have heard of the arrival of the savior. We know of him dying on a cross for our sins, rising again from the dead so that whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God that we all deserve, but we will have everlasting life.

The savior has come so that we could be reconciled to God. We must tell others about this, just like the shepherds did. We must also spread the good news. That's number one. Number two, we must, as the shepherds did, praise God.

We see them over and over praising God. After the angel goes away from them, they say, let's go. Let's go see this thing which the Lord has made known to us. They didn't just sit on their hands, they obeyed and they went.

And when they found the child, they marveled and made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child. And then going away, they glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.

We must do the same because God has instructed us to do both. This is out of obedience to the Lord that we would spread the news of the gospel, that we would praise him for the gospel. For God has been good to us in Christ our savior.

The deep theology that we can draw from the glorious angels that appeared to mere shepherds and brought them in to this wonderful plan that God was doing to save his people. Heavenly father, we thank you for including us in that plan.

You have brought us into this. We were not looking for God, you sought us out. And by the hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have come to faith in Jesus. We believe in him and desire to worship and to please him.

Forgive us our sins, tell us the way that we ought to go. According to what we read in your word. May we walk in holiness this day. May we have opportunity to share the gospel with somebody this day. May we praise God this day.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.