p 2 Pet. i. 19. i See Eph. ii. 4, 7.
r 1 John ii. 9. s 1 John i. 7.
Christ's incarnation glad tidings to all.
Luke ii. 10, 11. 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.
IT has pleased God on many occasions to confer upon the poor some peculiar tokens of his regard : he has even " chosen them," in preference to all others, " to be rich in faith and heirs of his king- dom." But, as though he had designed to mark with special approbation the exertions of honest industry, he has vouchsafed his most distinguished favours to them at a time when they have been employed in the
duties of their respective callings. Gideon, " who was of a poor family of Manasseh, and the least in his father's house," was threshing his father's wheat, when he was called to judge and to deliver Israel*. Saul, who also was " of the least family belonging to the least of all the tribes," was seeking his father's asses, when he was anointed to be king over Israel b. David also, the least of Jesse's family, was brought from the sheepfold, that, from tending his father's sheep, he might be exalted to the throne, and be made the shepherd, and king, of God's peculiar people0. Thus, when God had sent his dear Son into the world, he commissioned an angel to announce the tidings of his advent. But to whom did he send the angel ? to Herod, or the chief priests ? No : but to poor shepherds, who, for the security of their sheep, and their own mutual convenience, were keeping their watches, in rotation, through the night d. To fix their attention, and to counteract the scandal which the tidings themselves would occasion, (for it must seem strange indeed to hear of the Saviour of the world, and the Lord of Glory, lying in a manger,) the angel appeared clothed with light, such light as clearly indicated the dignity of the messenger, and the importance of the message. Having dispelled the fears which his first appearance had excited in their minds, he addressed them in the words which we have just read : in elucidating which, we shall consider,
I. The tidings announced —
The birth of Jesus is here declared : and the city wherein he was born is specified in appropriate terms, in order that the accomplishment of that prophecy which had foretold the place of his birth might be distinctly seen and acknowledged6. The description
a Judg. vi. 11, 15. b 1 Sam. ix. 3, 20, 21.
'' Ps. lxxviii. 70, 71. with 1 Sam. xvi. 11.
a (j>v\aarro)'Ttr fvXatcde r?/c vvktoc, Keeping (by turns) the watches of the night, ver. 8. c Mic. v. 2.
1471.] Christ's incarnation glad tidings. 233
here given of Jesus is worthy of our deepest attention. The angel describes him by,
1. His office —
[Many saviours had been sent to Israel in former agesf: but here was one infinitely superior to them all; one who came to deliver, not one people only, but a whole world ; not from temporal bondage or misery, but from sin and Satan, death and hell ]
2. His right and title to it —
[The name " Christ," as also the name " Messiah," signifies ' Anointed :' and it was the name by which the great Deliverer was expected both by the Jewish and Gentile world g. Now this name denoted his divine commission, together with his super-eminent qualifications for the performance of his office. The kings and priests, and, in some instances, the prophets also, were set apart for their respective offices by a holy unction. And he, in whom all these offices were combined, was consecrated to them by a public and immeasurable effusion of the Holy Ghosth. He was no unauthorized obtruder; but a Saviour duly sent and qualified.]