9\u00a0<\/sup>And an angel of the Lord\u00a0appeared to them, and\u00a0the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.<\/span><\/p>\n 1<\/sup><\/span>0\u00a0<\/sup>And the angel said to them, \u201cFear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all\u00a0the people.<\/span><\/p>\n 11\u00a0<\/sup>For\u00a0unto you is born this day in\u00a0the city of David\u00a0a Savior, who is\u00a0Christ\u00a0the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n 12\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby\u00a0wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 13\u00a0<\/sup>And suddenly there was with the angel\u00a0a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,<\/span><\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cGlory to God\u00a0in the highest,<\/span> 15\u00a0<\/sup>When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, \u201cLet us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 16\u00a0<\/sup>And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby\u00a0lying in a manger.<\/span><\/p>\n 17\u00a0<\/sup>And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.<\/span><\/p>\n 18\u00a0<\/sup>And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.<\/span><\/p>\n 19\u00a0<\/sup>But\u00a0Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.<\/span><\/p>\n 20\u00a0<\/sup>And the shepherds returned,\u00a0glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.<\/span><\/p>\n 21\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised,\u00a0he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.<\/span><\/p>\n One should also notice a short phrase uttered by the angel that spoke with the shepherds. The angel said,<\/p>\n Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all\u00a0the people<\/strong>. (Luke 2:10)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Above and beyond the other gospels, Luke emphasized that the gospel was for all people. It is clear that Luke want’s to bring the good news to the gentiles. This should come as no surprise since he was a companion of Paul, the apostle to the gentiles. The gospel is not just for the Jews or for the elite. The gospel is for the shepherds, the commoners, the meek, the humble.<\/p>\n It is a beautiful scene when we see Mary bearing witness to all that the Angel had made known to her. Her heart must have been filled with joy, excitement and thankfulness and God’s faithfulness in bringing about the Savior of this world.<\/p>\n The Shepherd’s have the ultimate privilege of being the first witnesses of the birth of Christ. They were the first to spread that news to those around them and begin planting the seed of what was to come. Verse 18 says “and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds had told them”. This was just the beginning of what the world would do at hearing about Jesus Christ. Interest in who He is will grow and intensify in years to come when Jesus begins His ministry.<\/p>\n The response the Shepherd’s had was filled with joy and excitement. They praised God for allowing for them to bear witness to a moment that will never be repeated again. Let us also rejoice in God’s faithfulness to bringing about one who came to save us from our sin and offer us a new eternal life found only in Him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [Featured image titled “Shepherds”, by Peters Nicholas Berchem]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scripture Reading(s) Luke 2:8-21 8\u00a0And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9\u00a0And an angel of the Lord\u00a0appeared to them, and\u00a0the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10\u00a0And the angel said to them, \u201cFear not, for … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12227,"featured_media":13871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2280],"tags":[1900,7265,2344,7268,7266,7278,7267],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and on earth\u00a0peace\u00a0among those with whom he is pleased!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nReflections<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Justin-Holmes1.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Justin-Holmes1-150x150.jpg\")
Once again, Luke is showing that among the gospel writers, he is the historian. Luke’s 2nd chapter includes parts of the gospel story that are simply not found in the other gospels. Here are the noteworthy items that only Luke records.<\/p>\n\n
\n![\"Lydia.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture-150x150.jpg\")
Here marks the first time anyone bears witness to the birth of Jesus Christ. Alongside this witness comes great joy and celebration. The Savior of this world has been born and it is now time to spread the good news! God did not waste any time in letting the world know that Jesus has now come and He begins by using the Shepherds as a means to start.<\/p>\n
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