Jesus was born in a humble place. At his birth, the angels put on an amazing show for a bunch of smelly shepherds and sheep out in a field. No one blew trumpets to announce Jesus’ birth to world leaders in important places.
God often works behind the scenes in humble places to do his work. Most people like to hang around rich and powerful people, but God loves to share his most precious spiritual gems with humble people. Quietly, the King of kingscame to earth as a baby.
The angels used three names to announce Jesus’ birth. Each name tells us something about Jesus: Christ, Lord and Savior. “Christ” means Anointed One or Messiah. In Bible times, oil was poured on the head of the man who was being made king. The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus at his baptism. God spoke from heaven to say that he was pleased with his Son (Luke 3:22). “Lord” means that Jesus is God, and “Savior” means he died to save us from our sins. Jesus will save all who believe he died on the cross for their sins and rose from the dead.
The shepherds praised God and thanked him for baby Jesus, the Savior that God had promised. We, too, should always praise God and thank him for Jesus. The shepherds could only look forward to what Jesus would do for them. We can look back with even greater joy because the hard work that Jesus came to do has been finished. The One in whom God’s Holy Spirit lived gave himself as an offering for our sins and rose again to show that he had conquered death.
Think About This: Because we know more about Jesus than the shepherds, we should praise God and thank him even more than the shepherds did.
Memorize This Truth: “Today your Savior was born in David’s town. He is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:11).