The Most Unlikely Witnesses

Nowhere in the Bible is there a verse containing the birthday of Jesus. In the fourth century, the Western church (Roman Catholic) began celebrating Christmas on December 25. The Eastern church (Eastern Orthodox) celebrates it on January 6. The Biblical detail of shepherds watching their flocks fails to support either date because shepherds did not keep their flocks in the fields at night during the winter.

No one – not even church historians – can misconstrue the most important point of Christmas: Love descended to us. Angels sang to the shepherds in the fields about God’s divine love...glorious, sacred, holy...incarnate in a newborn baby filled with promise. Love is a gift, the endowment of the sovereign God. Love is the grace of God with its resultant grateful adoration of Him with an outflow of goodwill to all people.

On a quiet dark night the angels in their shining presence told the shepherds to go see the Savior. How strange that God would select them as witnesses! We enjoy the comparison of a shepherd to our God, and we love to contemplate the little shepherd boy David, who was anointed to be King of Israel by Samuel following God’s leading. Also we understand that a good shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep and that a sheep will follow only his master’s voice. The analogies that God uses are rich; most shepherds, however, were outcasts because they were unreliable. They were so accustomed to stealing and lying that they were not allowed to give testimony in courts of law. And here they are witnessing the arrival of the Messiah in a cattle stall.

From our God’s viewpoint, probability is not a law He follows. The amazing news for you is that He loved you enough to send Jesus to save you. All you have to do is believe the incredible story that the perfect God Man came and paid the blood sacrifice for your sin, arose from the dead, and went back to His Father to prepare a place for you. All you have to do is believe in repentance, but if believing seems impossible, ask Him to help your unbelief.

Having accepted the Lord’s salvation and received your commission to work for the Lord, you may not feel worthy, capable, interested, or motivated. God will take care of that. The God who sent a band of angels to sing a glorious announcement to a pack of shepherds lying on the ground under the stars...to send the shepherds to behold the most important Person who had ever been born...to tell them to spread the news of the Savior of the world...does not make mistakes. When He commissions you to do His bidding, realize that He in His infinite wisdom has not made His first mistake. He knows what He is doing and expects you to trust Him. Like the shepherds that night, run to be near Him.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. (Luke 2:17-18)

Quoted from Do You Know How God Loves You? The price of this book has been reduced on Amazon.com from $26.99 to $14.97.