Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The beautiful song says, "O pause beside the weary road / And hear the angels sing." Let's listen to what they said to the shepherds at Bethlehem (Luke 2:9-14):
(1) "Fear not." But you say, "I DO fear, and I can't help it!" "Fear hath torment" (1 John 4:18). You can choose to believe and to fear not! Listen on for the reasons: (2) "I bring you good tidings." God NEVER brings you Bad News. The bad news that King Saul heard the night he died was not from the Lord, but from Satan. Even if you're on your deathbed, the Lord has only "good tidings" for you! (3) "Of great joy." Not ordinary joy. The "good tidings" is objective; you can not make good news or "do" it, but if you believe the objective good tidings, then the joy becomes subjective--a part of your experience. (4) "Which shall be to all people." Sinners?? "All people" are! Yes, the good tidings are for you, unworthy as you feel yourself to be. The gospel is universal. Christ died the second death "for every man" (Heb. 2:9). "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). (5) "Unto you is born this day ..." Christ is born "unto YOU," as surely as when a mother delivers a child, the nurse says, "Unto you is born" this child. The child belongs to the mother. Jesus belongs to you. (6) "In the city of David …" There must come that name of the sinful king; he must be remembered, not for his sin, but for his repentance. (7) "A Saviour." Not a possible, maybe, perhaps, offer of a Saviour if, if, if ... but in fact "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42), "the Saviour of all men" (1 Tim. 4:10). Some Christian people argue against the angel's message, insisting that He is not "the Saviour of all men," He merely would like to be, if, if, if, ... Are you a sinner? Then the truth is, He is now (present tense) YOUR Saviour. (8) "Which is Christ the Lord." Eternal Son of God, once crucified, soon to be the King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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