Christmas: Turning Fear into Joy

Well, it’s the time of the year to dust off Luke 2 again.  From Linus using it to explain Christmas on one of the airings of, A Charlie Brown Christmas, to six year old’s wrapped in sheets gently being pushed onto the stage as the narrator reads, “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.”  Families around the globe will pause during the hectic bustle of the season to read Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus.  It will be read in churches on Christmas Eve and Christmas day and probably on the Sunday before as well.

It occurs to me that this is the gospel in its most simple form.  Either that baby was who the angel proclaimed him to be…a Savior.  Or he wasn’t.  Either that baby grew into a man who ushered the Kingdom of God into this world by dying on a cross and being raised from the dead, or he grew into a man who deceived the world.  It is the gospel in its simplest form.

And, as Luke 2 is read on Christmas Eve all over the world, denominational distinctions will fade, Armenians will harmonize with Calvinists, and the church will unite around the birth of this baby who was born a king and destined to die for his kingdom.  On that night, the premillennialists will not be debating the postmillennialists, and it will not matter whether the rapture is pre, mid, or post tribulation.  All eyes will be on that baby in the manger.  Theology will bow, for one night, to the image of that newborn in the arms of his mother being worshipped by shepherds.

There is so much packed into Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, but a few things have stood out to me this year as I’ve worked my way through the Advent season.

First, I have realized, that in the account of the angel appearing to the shepherds, the angel has received too much attention.  In saying that, I mean no disrespect to the angel, and I have no desire to detract from the countless boys and girls who have landed the role of the angel in this year’s Christmas pageants.  Believe me when I say that I am a fan of angels, and I am sure the appearance of this one two thousand years ago grabbed the attention of the shepherds.  However, I would suggest that what caused the fear in these nomadic sheep herders was not so much an angel lighting up the darkness of the night sky, but 

 rather can be found in the words right after the appearance of the angel.

"…and the glory of the Lord shone around them…"

And then what happened?

"…and they were filled with great fear."

Again, not to be dismissive of the angel, but the glory of God trumps everything.  The weight of God’s glory pushes the splendor of anything around it to the side.  When the heaviness of the glory of God invades any space, it fills that space, while men tremble and are terrified.  The angel appearing may have shocked these men and made them afraid, but the great fear that they felt came from the glory of God shining around them.  They saw the bright light that surrounds the presence of God, and they were rightly terrified.

 

Some of the most righteous men in the bible were terror-stricken in the presence of God’s glory.  Consider Isaiah’s words,  “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Isaiah 6:5 (ESV).  Or the apostle John getting a glimpse of the glorified Christ in Revelation,  ^“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” 
Revelation 1:17 (ESV). 

Whenever man gets a glimpse of the glory of the Creator, with all of his manifold perfections, human sinfulness is exposed for the assault on God’s character that it really is, and man is left trembling in fear.  In the light of God’s indescribable glory, the utter darkness of man’s heart is laid bare and there can be no reaction but one of dread.

For anyone who has ever acknowledged Christ as their Savior, there has been that realization.  They receive a Holy Spirit anointed glimpse of the glory of God through his Word, or through a sermon, or through someone sharing the gospel message.  Maybe they receive it through seeing the beauty of his creation, and hearing a voice whisper the truth that it was formed by the finger of God.  Or by seeing his glory in the eyes of a child. Or in the unseen hand that silently touches them as they wait through a dark and lonely night. 

There are so many ways that God reveals his glory, but a common denominator for everyone who has come to him is that they have seen a glimpse of it.  And, in seeing that glimpse, they see his purity.  They see his excellence.  They see his beauty. 

When any person sees just a glimpse of that glory, he is driven to momentary despair in knowing that he is worthy of every bit of wrath and anger this God who is perfect in perfection would pour out on him.  It is, in this place, where we have to acknowledge that we are not mistake makers, we are sinners.  We have to admit that we don’t just slip once in a while, we live in the depths of rebellion against this glorious God.  We no longer think that, while our actions may sometimes be wrong, our hearts are in the right place.  When even a little of God’s glory is revealed to us…when we see even a little of what God is like…the darkness and wickedness and depravity of our hearts are laid bare.

That is why Isaiah cried, “Woe is me.”  It is why John, “fell at his feet as though dead.”  And it is why the shepherds were filled with great fear. 

But even as they were filled with great fear, the angel tells them not to fear.  He says, “I bring you good news of great joy.”   So he says to them, in the midst of their great fear from being surrounded by the glory of God, “I’ve got some good news for you, that will not only remove the fear, but will turn the fear into great joy.”

What was the good news?

^“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 (ESV)

Notice the order.  They see the glory of God, and in seeing who God is, they realize their utter sinfulness.  They realize how hopeless it is for them, and so they are filled with great fear.  But the angel says, “Here’s the good news, a Savior has been born for you.”

For sure, it was good news that brought them great joy.  When you hear about the good news that saves you from the justifiable wrath and judgement of the God of all creation, it brings great joy.

That is always the path to Christ.  A revelation of the glory of God reveals the reprehensible state of our sinfulness before a holy God.  And as the Holy Spirit brings that revelation he also whispers to us, “But here’s the good news, there is a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”

The other part of Luke’s account of the birth of Christ that has stood out to me as we’ve gone through the Advent season this year is the last verse.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen….  Luke 2:20 (ESV)

The shepherds returned.  What did they return to?  They returned to being shepherds.  They returned to the sheep. 

At the time of Christ’s birth, shepherds did not have the reputation that their forerunners in the Old Testament had.  The Old Testament had the Patriarchs, Moses and David.  By the time the New Testament roles around shepherds  were considered dishonest thief’s.  They were not allowed to worship in the temple, and they were not permitted to be witnesses in any legal battle.  They were not trusted.

After seeing the angel, experiencing the glory of God, and kneeling before the Savior, they returned to herding sheep.  Nothing had changed for these guys.  They were still not welcome to worship in the temple.  They were still not trusted and were still considered thief’s  Their testimony was still not reliable, and people would prefer that they not enter their villages and cities. 

Nothing in their circumstances had changed.  But they returned glorifying and praising God. They returned rejoicing because they were filled with joy.

It occurs to me, and the lesson I take from this is that when we experience a taste of the glory of God, and kneel before the Savior, often times, God does not take us out of our situation.  He does not always change our circumstance.  What he does, however, is flow into our space.  And whenever God fills the space that is our life, there is an overflow of praise and worship…there is joy…and there is rejoicing.  We may return to the same condition we were in before, but we return rejoicing. 

May you see the glory of the Father in new ways this Christmas.  May you bow before the Savior in new levels of worship.  And, may our God flood the space of your life with ever increasing joy.