GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, 2
In the deep stillness of the night, suddenly, and completely unexpectedly, “the Angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.” As once Moses had been brought tidings of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, so to these shepherds, pleasing in God’s eyes, whatever the religious leaders may have thought of them, came tidings of a greater deliverance. The Angel did not appear to the chief priests and elders, whose minds were not open to receive such news.
St Luke uses the classical Greek word for the appearance of visions or heavenly beings, - ‘angelos.’ The Angel of the Lord has often been considered a special form of the manifestation of Himself by God to man. The Glory of the Lord signified a very great light, a dazzling lustre, turning the night as bright as day. Exceptionally tall, majestic trees were called the trees of God, the highest and most impressive hills were the hills of God. An exceeding bright, luminous appearance was seen as a sign of God’s presence or that of heavenly beings, His messengers. In the Old Testament the glory of the Lord appearing like “devouring fire” (Exodus 24:17) and the Shekinah glory “filling the tabernacle” so that Moses was unable to enter (Exodus 40:35) are but two examples of the manifestation of this glory. At Christ’s Transfiguration on the mountain, the Apostles Peter, James and John are granted to see Christ with Moses and Elias (Elijah) in His glory.
The shepherds were “sore afraid,” - in the original Greek the words have great force, meaning very frightened indeed, terrified, - but their fears were quickly allayed. “Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy,” declared the Angel, perhaps the Angel Gabriel, who had previously brought the glad tidings to the Blessed Virgin Mary at Nazareth. St Luke’s word for good tidings is ‘evangelizomai,’ used for the preaching of the Gospel, the Good News, also for the Annunciation, and from which the word Evangelist is formed.
The Good Tidings are for “all people,” literally “all the people,” probably in the first instance the Jewish people - “to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentile)” (Romans 1:16) - and concern the birth of “a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord.” Nowhere else in the New Testament do we find this combination of titles, Christ and the Lord. This Saviour is both the promised Messiah (Hebrew), Christ (Greek) - the Anointed One - and the Lord, Yahweh (Hebrew), Kyrios (Greek), declared by the Angel, thus bearing witness to the two natures, human and Divine, of the newborn Babe. Long ago Esaias (Isaiah) had prophesied, “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Es. 9:6). Now, says the Angel, the prophecy is fulfilled. The human child is born, the Divine Son is given. Moreover, this Saviour is born “unto you,” that is, to you men, not to us Angels. He “took not on Him the nature of angels,” but of man (Hebrews 2:16).
The shepherds would have little difficulty in finding “a babe,” but with Bethlehem presently crowded with the descendents of David, come for Cæsar’s enrollment, in addition to the usual residents, how were they to recognize “the Babe”? They were given a sign by which they could be assured of the truth of the Angel’s message. They would find Him “wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” The One adored by the Angels of God would be found in the abject humility of swaddling bands and an animal’s feeding trough. Any place for pride, the chief characteristic of the sons of Adam, was ruled out from the very beginning by the sign.
