Livingston Christian Schools Home

As Christmas approaches my thoughts turn to the story of Christ’s birth.  I enjoy thinking about the various “players” surrounding that event, which was planned in eternity past.  Matthew’s Christmas account doesn’t include the angels, but Luke’s does. Luke tells us that an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were terrified at its sight.  The angel told them not to be afraid because it was bringing news that would overjoy them - the Christ they had been awaiting was going to be born right where they were shepherding.  If the shepherds were frightened by one angel I can’t imagine how they felt when moments later “a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God. Could that angel have been Gabriel or Michael or was it some other angel chosen specifically for this one moment?  Did God beckon it to his throne and simply tell it, “The time has come. Go, let the shepherds know my Son is being born in Israel tonight. This is the most important task I’ve ever given you. Now, go and tell those shepherds I’ve come to earth; their King is born.” I don’t know if that angel and the others that appeared with it fully understood the significance of the parts they were playing that night, but I believe they knew God’s word was final and his love for man was eternal.  I wonder if after the rest of the angels returned to heaven, did that angel possibly hover in the night sky, watching as the shepherds made their way into the village, and did it follow them to the stable outside the inn? Did it see Mary and Joseph bending over a manger, and was it thinking what rough, small creatures these humans are, so blind, so limited … and so loved by God? The almighty Son of God had wrapped Himself in the swaddling cloth of human flesh, and just maybe the angel knelt in awe before the King of Creation.   How can we do any less?