Luke 2:8-14
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, 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. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “The glory of the Lord” shone around the shepherds, by which they perceived him to be an angel. For it would have been of little avail to be told by an angel what is related by Luke, if God had not testified, by some outward sign, that what they heard proceeded from Him. The angel appeared, not in an ordinary form, or without majesty, but surrounded with the brightness of heavenly glory, to affect powerfully the minds of the shepherds, that they might receive the discourse which was addressed to them, as coming from the mouth of God himself. Hence the “fear,” of which Luke shortly afterwards speaks, by which God usually humbles the hearts of men, and disposes them to receive His word with reverence.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “They were sore afraid,” at the sight of such a personage, and such unusual light and glory about them: they were awed with the majesty of God, of which these were symbols, and were conscious to themselves of their own sinfulness and frailty.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): The first preacher of the Gospel was an angel.
THE EDITOR: What a tremendous weight of doctrine is presented in this first Gospel sermon of only 58 words!
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The central portion of this passage is, of course, the angels’ message and song, the former of which proclaims the transcendent fact of the Incarnation, and the latter hymns its blessed results.
JOHN GILL: “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy”—tidings, that were both wonderful and amazing, and therefore a “behold” is prefixed to them, as well as to excite to attention; and which were good news, and glad tidings, for such the birth of Christ of a virgin is: in which the good will and amazing love of God to man are displayed, and the promises, and prophecies relating to Him fulfilled; and the work of man’s salvation, his peace, pardon, righteousness, are about to be accomplished, and so matter of great joy: not carnal, but spiritual; not feigned, but real; not temporary, but lasting; even such as cannot be taken away, nor intermeddled with; and not small, but great, even joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): We need not wonder at these words. The spiritual darkness which had covered the earth for four thousand years, was about to be rolled away. The way to pardon and peace with God was about to be thrown open to all mankind. The head of Satan was about to be bruised. Liberty was about to be proclaimed to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. The mighty truth was about to be proclaimed that God could be just, and yet, for Christ’s sake, justify the ungodly. Salvation was no longer to be seen through types and figures, but openly, and face to face. The knowledge of God was no longer to be confined to the Jews, but to be offered to the whole Gentile world. The days of heathenism were numbered. The first stone of God’s kingdom was about to be set up. If this was not “good tidings,” there never were tidings that deserved the name.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): “Which shall be to all people.”—This plainly refers to the promise made to the patriarch, that “in his seed all nations should be blessed,” Genesis 12:3.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): To “all people,”—to the inhabitants of the whole earth.
JOHN GILL: “Unto you is born.” He was born, not unto, or for the good of angels; for the good angels stand in no need of His incarnation, sufferings, and death, having never fell; as for the evil angels, a Saviour was never designed or provided for them; nor did Christ take on their nature, nor suffer in their stead: wherefore the angel does not say, “unto us,” but “unto you,”—unto you men; for he means not only the shepherds, or the Jews only, but the Gentiles also; all the children, all the spiritual seed of Abraham, all elect men; for their sakes, and for their good, He assumed human nature.
CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788): Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The Saviour “is born this day.”
JOHN GILL: The particular day, and it may be, month and year, in which Christ was born, cannot be certainly known; but we may be sure that it was in the fulness of time, and at the exact, season fixed upon between God and Christ in the council and covenant of peace. A Saviour, Whom God had provided and appointed from all eternity; and had been long promised and much expected, even from the beginning of the world; and a great one—being God as well as man, and so able to work out a great salvation for great sinners, which He has done; and He is as willing to save as He is able, and is a complete Saviour, and the only, and everlasting one: hence His name is called Jesus, because He saves from sin, from Satan, from the law, from the world, from death, and hell, and wrath to come, and from every enemy.
MATTHEW HENRY: He is a Saviour, and He will be a Saviour to those only that accept Him for their Lord. Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah, the Anointed; He is the Lord of all; He is a sovereign prince; nay, He is God, for the LORD, in the Old Testament, answers to Jehovah.
JOHN GILL: “Christ the Lord.” The Messiah spoken of by the prophets; the anointed of the Lord, with the Holy Ghost without measure, to be a prophet, priest, and king in His church; and Who is the true Jehovah, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of angels, good and bad, the Lord of all men, as Creator, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the Lord of lords, and King of kings; and Who is particularly the Lord of saints by His Father’s gift, His own purchase, the espousal of them to Himself, and by the power of His grace upon them: and the birth of such a Person must needs be joyful, and is to be accounted good news, and glad tidings.
JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): When the Son of God became incarnate, He came here in “the form of a servant,” Philippians 2:7; nevertheless, in the manger He was “Christ the Lord.”
JOHN CALVIN: The Son of God became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become the sons of God.
ADAM CLARKE: Pride is the character of all the children of Adam; and humility the mark of the Son of God. Christ came in the way of humility to destroy that pride which is the root of evil in the souls of men.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Reader! mark the burden of this message: “Glory to God; peace and good will to men.” Yes! the whole glory is God’s; because it is all founded in God; carried on in God; completed in God; and man is but the receiver of the mercies. Oh! that this was well understood by men! What an end would it put to all the pharisaical righteousness, and pride of men!
