” I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). An angel spoke these words to shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem on the first Christmas night.
What was this “good news of great joy”?
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Why was this good news?
The Promise
The people of Israel had been waiting for many, many years for the Messiah — the one God had promised he would send some day. He would be a descendant of King David. He would be king and reign forever. He would save people from their sins and break sin’s power over them. The Israelites all knew this, but these promises had been made a long, long time ago.
Preparing the way: John
Then, suddenly, an angel appeared to the priest Zechariah and told him that the promise was about to be fulfilled! The angel told him that he, although an old man, and his wife, who was also “advanced in years,” would have a son. And their son would be the one prophesied in the Old Testament to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. This Messiah would “give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins” and “ light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 2: 76-79).
Jesus, the Savior
Then the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, a teenager in Nazareth, and said to her, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1: 31-32).
When Joseph, to whom Mary was promised in marriage, found out that she was pregnant he considered ending their relationship. But again an angel appeared, this time in a dream, and said to Joseph, “Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).
To be continued
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