Anchor My Faith

The Shepherds’ Visit by an Angel

Scripture: Luke 2:8-10

We begin this next section, gev12, with: “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8 ESV). The shepherds spoken of here were with their sheep out in the open field. Probably, several shepherds would work together allowing time for some to sleep while others watched for a three-hour shift. They would watch at night to preserve the sheep from beasts of prey or from those who would come to steal. The implication is that these shepherds were doing their job when suddenly they had an unexpected visitor: “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear” (Luke 2:9 ESV).

God deploys another angel with a mission to accomplish; this time to a small group of shepherds tending their sheep. Arriving in the darkness of night would accent the angels’ arrival and surely get the shepherds’ undivided attention. The light that shown from this angel is described as the glory of the Lord and is the light that surrounds God himself. This intrusion into a peaceful night produced great fear in the hearts of the shepherds. Consider that you and several friends were out camping and suddenly as you were about to turn in for the night, an angel appears, lighting up your camp site with his glory. What would you think? How would you feel? How would you react? Surely the angel would have your undivided attention and you would be intently watching to see what was going to happen.

The angel then speaks, as the angel did when coming to Zachariah, to Mary, and to Joseph: “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10 ESV). The first thing the angel does is to assure the shepherds that there is no reason to fear. He was not there to harm them, but to bring to them a message of good news of great joy. His message was not one of judgment, but one of merciful loving kindness which would result in great joy for all the people. This message was first to the Jews, but would extent to all people, which would include the whole human race.

Prayer

Father, as you know, I have worked ahead of these lessons in writing the narrative, as outlined by Jerry Peyton, and now as I add the detail of lesson to that narrative, I have a growing awareness of the impact this study is having on me. As I explained in the opening paragraph of this lesson, this is truly a journey with each lesson being a segment of travel that covers a section of time and distance as we enjoy the events along the way. Father, I pray that many will join us on this journey and if they are a new reader and unless they are using a mobile device, a good place for them to start for a review is at the Index to Harmonization, with a link to it found at the top of the Home page.