Announcing Grace
Luke 2:10-12 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid. I have some very good news for you—news that will make everyone happy. Today your Saviour was born in David’s town. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box.”
When someone does something for you that you don’t deserve – I mean really, truly don’t deserve – it’s difficult to comprehend. It takes some coming to terms with, does it not? Well, that’s how it was on that first Christmas.
Imagine you’re living in first century Israel. You were probably living a hand-to-mouth existence, with not much in reserve to get you through the tough times. To make things worse, the Romans occupied your land and the religious leaders, who should have been taking care of you, were feathering their own nests – in many cases, in cahoots with the Roman occupiers.
You however were a Jew, living under God’s law (the Torah, as it was called) but not perfectly. Never perfectly. In fact, far from perfectly. Unbeknown to you however, God is about to hatch His plan for this world. His grace plan. His mercy plan. His salvation plan for you. It’s been gestating in His heart for an eternity.
How does He break into this world? How does He announce His intent? With the most spectacular light show in the night sky to a bunch of shepherds tending their flocks.
Luke 2:10-12 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid. I have some very good news for you—news that will make everyone happy. Today your Saviour was born in David’s town. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box.”
How does God announce His plan of salvation to you in that field? By telling you, a shepherd, that you’ll find your Saviour … where? In an animal feeding trough, wrapped in rags. That’s how God announced His grace to you on that very first Christmas.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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