Today’s Readings: Psalm 80:1-3, 7, 18-19; John 3:16; John 5:24
On that first Christmas night, the angels appeared to shepherds on a hill near Bethlehem. Alfred Edersheim, the great 19th-century Jewish-Christian scholar, wrote in his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah that the shepherds and the sheep to whom the angels appeared near Bethlehem were no ordinary shepherds and sheep.
The sheep were those bound for the temple sacrifices. The shepherds were outcasts because of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances. And their manner of life rendered legal observances unlikely, if not absolutely impossible.
How wonderful that in God’s wisdom and love the angels should appear to them—the doomed and the outcast—that night.
Today we can declare to the world that the Good Shepherd cares for all people and wants to give them peace. Christ came on that first Christmas for one great purpose—to die on the cross for our sins. Now God offers forgiveness, inner peace, and eternal life to all who will repent and believe in His Son. This is the Christmas message!
Do you know people who need to hear about God’s love and forgiveness? Will you share the true Christmas message with them this year?
(Devotional credit: Billy Graham’s Advent Devotional)
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