And as we come to God's Word this morning, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the good news of the arrival of Jesus Christ. And we pray that these glad tidings would bring us great joy. We pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Luke chapter 2, we'll be looking at the first 12 verses, particularly the words of the angels in verses 10 through 12. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Praise God for the gospel of his son. Beloved, there's a famous, perhaps apocryphal story about the novelist Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway was a famous American novelist, and his novels are known for being short and terse. He would write short sentences, but each sentence would be packed with a lot of meaning. Each word was there for a purpose. And it got to be kind of a joke that he was writing such short little snippets. And so one time the story goes, he was having lunch with a number of friends and they made a bet that, you know, I bet you can't write a complete story in only six words. And Ernest Hemingway said, you know, pay up. I can easily do that. I can write a complete tragic story in only six words. And so they said, okay, fine. Here's the money. They laid it on the table. He took a napkin and he wrote, for sale, Baby shoes, never worn. Those were six words that tell a complete story. I mean, those words cause your imagination to imagine all of these tragic scenarios. I mean, who wrote this newspaper ad? What was happening in their life? Why did they have to sell these baby shoes? Why were they never worn? It's a complete story, and it's tragic. It's devastating. And each one of those words is so important. You can pack so much meaning into that very short sentence. That's the idea that I want in our minds this morning, as we think about that angel's message to the shepherds, that you can pack a lot into just a few words, and that's what the angel did. Like Ernest Hemingway, you can pack a lot into just six words. And so this morning, we're gonna look particularly at six words that the angel used in verses 10 through 12 of Luke chapter two. Six words. So we're going to pick up where we left off last week. Last week we talked about that great fear, that trembling that the shepherds experienced when they saw the angel. We looked at why that would be because the way the Bible describes angels, I mean, it's not little like babies with wings. It's not like beautiful women with a halo. I mean, they're terrifying. They're mighty. They're glorious. And so The shepherds were filled with great fear. So we spent time last week thinking about how those first two words the angel spoke, the first two words almost any angel speaks whenever an angel appears in scripture, those two words, fear not, are good news that we need to hear. Words we would all do well to meditate on this Advent season. But the angel follows up the fear not with the words for behold. And that's the first of our six words this morning, behold. I'll admit I'm drawn to talk about the word behold because, as my family will tell you, I have a flair for the dramatic. I have been known to start sentences with behold. It's a very dramatic way to say something, but behold is not just a little Shakespearean flair. Behold has a very particular purpose here. It makes you sit up and pay attention to what this angel is saying. You're reading along in this text, and when you come to the word behold, you're supposed to say, oh, what comes next? You know, I should look at this. I mean, that's what behold means. It's a command. It says, look at this. And that behold that the angel says is linked to the fear not he's already spoken. He says, fear not for behold. In other words, if you want to fear not, if you want to be free from the fears that plague you, listen up to what I'm about to tell you. Because what I'm about to tell you is the answer. Perceive what I'm going to tell you gaze at what I'm going to tell you relish what I'm going to tell you Internalize this exert your effort to grasp what I'm about to say rejoice in what I'm about to say To the extent that you behold the angels message the fears in your life will be undermined So this holiday season Behold what the angel is telling you. Spend time exploring this message, meditating on these words, memorizing them, chewing them over. For behold, this is the good news that you need. The second of our six words is the word, or the name, David. Verse 11, for unto you is born this day in the city of David. Now, if the angel was just giving geographical directions to the shepherds that evening, the angel could have said, behold, unto you is born a child in Bethlehem, or, you know, that city over there that you can see over the hill. But the angel particularly said, in the city of David. And we have every reason to believe that angels choose their words wisely, since they speak for God. So when the angel said the city of David instead of Bethlehem or that city over there, the angel is trying to make a point. Now you and I might wonder what point could be made by bringing up the name David. I mean, David is a great Sunday school story, David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba is kind of a tragic story. You know, there's these nice stories in the Old Testament, but why is the angel wasting his precious words to bring up David here? Well, David meant everything to God's people. I have a friend from Scotland, and my friend is always bringing up William Wallace. You know, William Wallace was a great Scottish liberator in the 1200s, the 1200s, like 820 years ago, William Wallace was doing stuff in Scotland. That's a long time ago, but this guy's always talking about William Wallace. And I'm like, oh, I mean, there's a popular movie about William Wallace. Maybe you're a fan of that. Like, why are you talking about him all the time? And he said, you don't understand. People in Scotland still talk about William Wallace all the time. You can go to a Scottish pub, and these two old men in the corner, they're going to be talking about William Wallace as if they know him, as if he's still around. William Wallace is not just a historical figure from 800 years ago. He's a reminder of our Scottish strength and our dignity. He symbolizes our spirit. He still matters to us. Well, that and more was David to the Jewish people. David was everything to them, even though he reigned thousands of years ago. By the time these shepherds were in the fields abiding, David meant everything to them. Verse 2 of Luke 2 talks about the registration taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Quirinius was not a well-loved governor at all. He was appointed by the Romans to kind of keep the Jews in line. His presence, his name, was a constant reminder of the oppression of God's people. Historically, Quirinius took a few registrations like this. They were for tax purposes. And those registrations that Quirinius took led the people to revolt. He was not popular. He was a sign of oppression. So there's one name that's in people's minds, Quirinius, and you mentioned that name, and it would conjure thoughts of oppression. It would make them angry. It would remind God's people that even though they're living in the promised land, even though they have the temple in Jerusalem, they're still not free. The exile really hadn't ended for them. But you mentioned the name David, and it's the opposite effect. That name conjures thoughts of freedom and blessing. It conjures thoughts of this golden age where Israel can be who we were called to be once again. It's not a mistake that the angel mentions the name of David. But there's more. It's not just a political thing. It's a spiritual thing. In 2 Samuel 7 and many other places in the Old Testament, God makes it clear if you are looking to be right with God, if you're looking for salvation, you've got to be connected to David. and his descendants. God says, when I deal with the human race, I'm going to do it through David, through the children of David. So watch this family. And so when the shepherds hear the word David, the name David, they're thinking, oh, this is how God acts among his people, through the line of David. That leads us to the third word, Savior. For unto you was born this day in the city of David a Savior. A Savior, someone coming to set things right, someone to battle what's wrong, someone to restore freedom, someone to rescue, someone to deliver. Now, with everything I just told you about Quirinius and the political situation those days, it's not a surprise that the people would understand this word Savior as a political thing, especially when the word Savior is mentioned in the same breath as David. And Jesus had to face that expectation for his whole ministry. I mean, read the Gospels all over. People are expecting him to overthrow the Romans. Even his closest friends, the disciples, are like, oh yeah, we're going to have this revolution. Let's pack our swords. We're going to reestablish a Jewish state. We're going to usher in a new golden age. Perhaps that's what the shepherds were thinking when the angel said this to them. But Jesus didn't come to deal with ancient political squabbles. Jesus came to deal with something much deeper. Jesus isn't just a first century Palestinian figure. He has to do with every era in human history, every individual heart in every land. The Romans back then were occupying Palestine. And so theologically, the Jews at that time still thought of themselves in the category of exile, which is confusing because geographically they were in the Promised Land, they were in their homeland, and yet if you asked a Jew in those days, is the exile over, they would say no. Because to them, exile wasn't a political category. It was a spiritual category. The Old Testament prophets made it clear, our sin separates us from God. So we're all spiritual exiles. That was acted out physically when the Old Testament Jews were carried away into Assyria, carried away into Babylon. And then even when the Jews returned from Babylon, they were still under Persian rule, and then Greek rule, and now Roman rule. It was a constant reminder to them that our sins need to be dealt with. We add to our sins every day. So Jesus didn't come to just wipe out one particular physical exile, you know, wipe out the Romans. He came to deal with the root of the matter. He's here to rescue us from our spiritual exile. He came to deal with everything that separates us from God. The fourth of the six words is Christ, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew word Messiah. Both of those words mean anointed one, someone who was set apart and chosen to fulfill a certain task. Jesus was set apart to do the work of salvation, to end our spiritual exile, our separation from God. The Psalms, the prophets of the Old Testament foretold one who was chosen by God. And we're going to look at that this afternoon in our afternoon service. Isaiah 42, this chosen one who comes to make things right, this chosen one, this anointed one, this Christ, this is the long-awaited deliverer. There's plenty of examples about deliverance in the Old Testament. Moses delivered from Egypt. David delivered from the Philistines. But Christ, this figure that the Psalms and the prophets longed for, he would deliver finally. He would deliver ultimately. You know, Moses led us out of Egypt, but then we fell into the hands of, you know, the Canaanites, and then, you know, guys like Samson delivered us from these Canaanites and those Canaanites, and then other ones would come in. There was no permanent deliverance. But this Christ would be the better Moses, the greater David. This Christ would bring ultimate and lasting deliverance. Christ is the hero of God's story. I mean, a lot of people read the Bible, and they see this book as a collection of good examples for us to live up to, or good rules for us to live by, or maybe this is a handbook for good, clean living. But that's not what the Bible is. The Bible is a story. And Jesus is the hero at the center of that story. We're not people who take this book and, you know, go do great things ourselves. We are the oppressed people in need of liberation. We are the damsels in distress. We are the sick in need of healing. The Bible is not here to show us how to heal ourselves or slay our own giants or dragons or set ourselves free. The Bible is here to say, behold, here he is, the one you need. Hear the good news. Someone has come to set you free. Someone has come to slay the dragon for you. Someone has come to crush the serpent for you. Someone has come to rescue you from certain death. The Bible's here to say rest in the fact that Christ has come. Rest in the fact that this baby born in Bethlehem grew up to complete the work of your deliverance. The fifth word is Lord. Now this is a curious phrase that the angel says. A savior who is Christ the Lord. Many scholars point out that it's unusual for all three of those words to be used together. They're all powerful words, Savior, Christ, Lord, but in the Old Testament, it's very unusual for all three of them to be linked. And the word Lord is the most unusual of all. To make a long story short, everywhere else in Luke 1 and 2 and 3 that the word Lord is used, it refers to God himself. And that links to the angels' words to a set of prophecies in the Old Testament that said God himself was coming. You know, there's these human figures, you know, a Savior, a Deliverer, the Christ, the Anointed One. People who read the Old Testament would say, OK, those are humans who will come and save us. But there was this other set of prophecies that said God himself is going to come and do something among you. The best known of these prophecies is from Isaiah 40. We're going to sing a version of that prophecy in our afternoon service. It's that prophecy that says, comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, cry to her that her exile is over, that her sins that separated her from God have been dealt with. Prepare the way of the Lord, for God himself is coming to you, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. There's these prophecies, and Isaiah 40 is just one of many, about God himself coming to do something among his people. And that prophecy is on Luke's mind. He quotes it several times in the opening chapters of Luke, of his gospel. But most people that read that prophecy in the Old Testament thought, well, that's something that will happen at the end times. I mean, God coming to earth and doing something, that's, that can't happen in history. That will just be like at the end of days, like the judgment day when God comes. But Luke is saying, when the angel says, this baby was born as the Lord, Luke is saying this prophecy is being fulfilled now, that God himself has come in the middle of history to set things right. God has come to end our spiritual exile. God has come to remove the separation God Himself has come to deal with us, not in judgment, but in grace. God has come to be the Savior and the Christ that we needed. Luke is doing something amazing by linking all three of those prophecies, the Christ prophecies, the Savior prophecies, and the God-coming prophecies, all into one. Because we could never end our exile. No mere human figure, no great deliverer, no messiah could do that. Only God himself could do that. We can't reach our way back to God. We can't obey our way back to God. We can't impress our way back to God. So he came to us. That's why the sixth word is gospel. The word gospel means good news. The angel uses that word in verse 10. He says, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. In Greek, it says, fear not, for behold, I am gospeling you. And that gospel will bring you great joy. The good news you need doesn't come from some political movement, ancient or modern. It doesn't come from some self-help book. It doesn't come from living a good, clean lifestyle. The good news you need to hear is the good news that the shepherds heard from the angel, that God himself has come to you in Jesus Christ. Being a Christian is not about adhering to a religion, you know, one option from among the many different religions that are out there. Being a Christian is about responding to this good news, the only good news. Religion still dwells in fear. I have to work. I have to achieve. I have to do. The gospel says, it's all been done for you. He has been born. He lived. He died to seal your pardon. He brought you new life. Religion is like the kid who says, I messed up. Oh, my dad is going to kill me. The gospel is like a kid saying, I messed up. I need my dad to make it right. And that's what the angel is saying. God has come to make things right for you. Last Sunday night, I read a portion of a sermon that Martin Luther preached on Christmas some 500 years ago. And in that sermon, Martin Luther said the single hardest part of the gospel to believe are those first three words of verse 11. For unto you Millions, billions of people have heard those words that the angel spoke. I mean, Luke 2, it's a chapter that everyone has heard. Every time a Charlie Brown Christmas comes on the TV, people hear these words being read. These words are hidden away in carols that are being played on all the popular radio stations. You probably heard these words all your life, for unto you is born this day a Savior. Maybe you hear those words this morning, you hear this sermon and you say, oh, that's interesting information, all that Old Testament background crammed into just six interesting words that the angel spoke. Maybe you hear those words and it fills you with warm fuzzies, oh, you know, Charlie Brown Christmas, this beautiful little word that, oh, it's nice, it's familiar, it's enshrined in our Christmas nostalgia. But hear these words this morning and believe. Hear these words and believe that it was unto you that Jesus was born. He was born for you. You who are struggling to make it from day to day, just trying to claw your way to the end of this year, hoping desperately that next year will be maybe better. He's been born for you, desperately trying to keep up your appearances, battling the baggage that keeps pulling you back. He was born for you, self-righteously thinking that you're better than the other countries, better than the other families, better than the other Christians, better than the other churches. You'd do well to remember that Jesus came for them, for the people you write off, dismiss, and ignore. Jesus is at work in them. Oh, but maybe he has to do more work with them than he has to do in me. I somehow doubt that. Jesus came for them, but also he came for you to deal with your pride and your selfishness. He came for you who are forgotten, afraid, ashamed, and alone. He came for you as you are in your struggles. Those are the hardest words of the gospel to believe, that Jesus was born for you. Believe that he is the Savior, the Christ, the Lord, the end of your exile, the banishment of your sadness, the freedom from your fears, the atonement from your sin. Remember that the word angel simply means a messenger sent from God. These words are spoken from God to you this morning. God himself was born as a child shivering in the cold for you. As we're gonna sing in a few seconds, Christ the babe was born for you. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, remind us, whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever we're struggling with, that Christ the babe was born for us. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Perhaps we've heard these words our entire lives. Perhaps we believe that, yes, Christ was born, yes, Christ is a Savior, and yet it's so hard for us to believe that Christ is for us. So we pray by your Spirit, break down the barriers. Remind us that exile is ended, separation is over, you have brought us to yourself. You have come down to us. in our sorrow, in our night, to bring joy and light. Remind us of these things through your word and through your blessed sacrament. In Jesus' name, amen.