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Good Tidings of Great Joy

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Good Tidings of Great Joy

9 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

There was reason for the shepherds to fear. An angel of God appeared to them. We read that the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Every revelation of God and His heavenly power and glory will always cause fear in the hearts of men. God is the Most High, and who can stand before Him and live? It is not possible for any man, of whatever quality he may be. We will especially feel and believe that, if there was a time in our life wherein the glory of God’s righteousness and holiness was laid upon our hearts. In the light of these attributes we are nothing but lost sinners. We very easily confess this, but it is quite different to experience this. Then we shall really fear and tremble.

But the angel spoke to the shepherds and said to them that there was no reason to fear. Why was this? Was it because they were such nice, humble persons, walking and living in singleness of heart? Was it because they were conscious of the fact that they were sinners and justly condemned? Or was it because they were, as we may think, longing for the coming Messiah and for the revelation of His kingdom?

No, there were no reasons to be found in these shepherds as to why the angel said to them that there was no reason to fear. It is necessary to say that always and again. Also in these times, many persons, also very sincere ones, are seeking the foundation of their hope and expectation in their own lives or behavior. When we look at ourselves, then there is never any reason of hope. We are lost, condemned, hell-worthy sinners. This we need to find out in the school of the Holy Spirit. When His work is in our hearts, we will surely lose all rights, value, and worth, also in our experiences. Many seek hope in their tears, in the change of their life, in their seeking, and in their feelings. That is a very weak foundation upon which to build.


Oh, let us give attention to the word of the angel to the shepherds.


We know of many examples of persons who were weeping for a time and then fell back into the world. Others have had a remarkable change in their behavior, but showed afterwards that they were not changed in their hearts through a new birth. Others have had all kinds of words which came to their mind, but which were never given by the Holy Ghost. Or they have had wonderful dreams and visions, but they have not had a clear, scriptural revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, let us give attention to the word of the angel to the shepherds.

He said, “Fear not, not for any reason in you, but because of the fact that I bring you good tidings of great joy.” The reason not to fear is the tidings which the angel had to bring. Had he not brought such good tidings, there had been many reasons to fear. The comfort that the ministers of the gospel may preach is in the message which they bring, not in the persons to whom they speak, even though they may be those who are no public offenders of God’s Name. It was the angel who brought the good tidings of great joy. We will see what that message was.

He said, “A Saviour is born, which is Christ the Lord.” That is a wonderful message, unspeakably great. No one has deserved it. We are all righteously under wrath and judgment. We have sinned against the Most High and deserve the greatest punishments in body and soul. In respect to human power and ability, there is no way out of our misery. The guilt is unremovable; the debt is unpardonable. Men cannot help themselves, nor can they be delivered by any creature. But now the Lord comes with the good tidings that a Saviour is born.

It is the promised Saviour, because the angel said that He was born in the city of David. This was foretold by all the prophets. It is the Saviour promised in the seed of the woman. All the saints and pilgrims of the old days were looking for Him. By faith in the promises given concerning Him, they found their hope and life in Him. He who was promised to the fathers and wherein the fathers found their refuge is the very same One who is said here to be born in Bethlehem. His birth is the proclamation of the faithfulness of the Lord. God kept His word. Although many ages had circled around before His word was fulfilled, the Lord did not forget.

It is also the almighty Saviour, because He is said to be the Lord. It is such a Saviour that the lost sinner stands in need of, because if He were not Almighty God, He could not be the Deliverer. It is an anointed Saviour, for He has the unction of the Holy Spirit. His name is Christ, meaning, the Anointed. His Father had ordained Him from eternity and has given Him the authority to save sinners. In His manhood, the Father gave Him all the powers He needed to perform His work. It is a willing Saviour, because He accepted such a humiliation when He came in the flesh and blood of man.

Thus we see that when the angel brought the message of the birth of Christ to the shepherds, he really did bring a good tiding. It was a tiding concerning the work of the Father, who desired that sinners be saved by His Son; the work of the Son, who gave Himself as a perfect, almighty, willing, all-sufficient, and precious Redeemer; and the work of the Holy Ghost, who prepared the body of Christ in the womb of Mary and strengthened Him in the work to be done. There never could be brought a more wonderful message to the sinners of Adam’s race than the message given in this tiding.

It is also the message which we need. We cannot be delivered in another way, but only in this one. But is this message really of great joy for every person? No, it is not a message of joy for everyone. However, it is proclaimed all over the world by God’s faithful servants that there is a Saviour. “Behold the Lamb of God!” They may not preach another way, another name, or another possibility. All who do so deceive souls for eternity.

It must be proclaimed to all people. The offering of grace is a well-meant offering coming to all who hear the gospel. In it there lies a very great responsibility. When we by unbelief reject this message, it shall then be terrible to fall into the hands of the living God. But, although this is true, nevertheless it must also be said that this message must become a personal message, brought to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Then it will be a message of great joy.


There never could be brought a more wonderful message to the sinners of Adam’s race than the message given in this tiding.


When will this message really be joy for our heart? It is when we give up all our pretensions to save ourselves by our own power. It is when convictions come into our life by the Holy Spirit. Then we will not become converted and happy, but we will begin to see that we are unconverted and unhappy. We live in times wherein we can meet people every day who live as the Laodiceans. They are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, but do not know that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17). Then we think to be converted, without knowing a time that we were ever unconverted. Then we think to be rich, without ever being poor.

We all stand in need of the Holy Spirit to uncover us, so we may lose all, and in that way be prepared for the revelation of Christ in His glory. Oh, how necessary it is to receive the holy convictions, so there may be place and room for Christ in our hearts. There is through the grace of God a people who became unworthy, who accepted the righteousness of their punishment, and thus were prepared for Christ. When we lose all worth and value in all things and are nothing but a lost sinner, then it will please the Lord to glorify the Name of that perfect Redeemer to the heart. Oh, then the message will become personal. “Unto you is born Christ the Saviour.”

For them it is a tiding of great joy that there is a way wherein lost sinners can be reconciled with God in a righteous way. How they will rejoice when they may see and hear that it is possible for their souls. With nothing less can they be helped and delivered. They will become needy for that Mediator. Oh, they will count all things nothing to be found in Him. I hope that it may please the Lord to grant people in these days of commemoration that holy joy in finding Him, so that we in spirit may be brought to the manger of Bethlehem to see the glorious revelation of eternal love in the Child that was laid there. May God Almighty grant His people to rejoice in Him as the God of salvation.

When we have heard His voice and understood the message, we cannot be satisfied until we have found Him, as did the shepherds. They left everything, came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger. There they found the greatest treasure which they ever could find. They found God in Christ and adored Him. Although He was still in the garment of His humiliation, they saw with the eyes of faith “the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). They saw the beauty of His love and mediatorship, and their mouths expressed the feelings of their souls with the words of the psalmist:

Supremely fair Thou art,
Thy lips with grace overflow;
His richest blessings evermore
Doth God on Thee bestow.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van vrijdag 1 december 1995

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Bekijk de hele uitgave van vrijdag 1 december 1995

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's