That night the shepherds were in the field keeping watch over their flock was also a dark one. I imagine that sheep watching must count among the world's most boring jobs. Then suddenly came this bright light. Luke calls it "the glory of the LORD," shining all around them. The darkness was quite unexpectedly illuminated—and they were afraid (Luke 2:9).
The Bible uses familiar occurrences, like the darkness of night and the light of day, to speak about spiritual matters. When God's people were struggling with depression and despair, feeling forsaken in the foreign land of Babylon, forced to work as slaves, they referred to their condition as "walking in darkness" (Isaiah 9:2). Nothing was going right. The future was bleak and they had little hope of ever returning to their homeland. They couldn't see any daylight.
In their history it had been that way hundreds of years before, way back in the days of Moses, when they had been slaves in Egypt. Then suddenly, quite unexpectedly, God graciously intervened and forced Pharaoh to set them free. Out in the desert, gathered before Mount Sinai, the Glory of the Lord came down—and they were afraid (Exodus 19:17-20; Exodus 20:18). And no wonder. The whole mountain shook with thunder, lightning, the sound of a great trumpet, fire and smoke. Who wants to sit at the foot of a mountain that appears to become a huge volcano, spewing out lava, fire and death?
When the Glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem it was not like that. There was not thunder, lightning and earthquakes. Instead a wondrous choir of angels began to sing about peace, hope and a Savior. The long-awaited Messiah had come and they would find Him in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.
There's still plenty of darkness, despair and death in the world of the 21st century. But as we celebrate yet another Christmas, we are reminded again that our Light has come, come in the person of a Child.
A Merry Christmas to all!
