LIFE LESSONS
THE CHRISTMAS STORY: ANGELS
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 2:8-14, LUKE 1:26-36, MATTHEW 1:18-21
DECEMBER 14, 2003
The heavens are silent. That’s what scientists are telling us. The heavens are silent. There is the VLA Radio Telescope in New Mexico, the very large array radio telescope in New Mexico. It is only one of many radio telescopes all over the world and they’re all pointed towards the heavens. They have been designed by scientists, cosmologists and astronomers. They are searching the heavens for signs of intelligent life. They are seeking messages from outer space. Of course, they receive radio waves from pulsars and quasars and certain galaxies but so far, with regard to human life, with regard to intelligent life, the heavens are silent. The universe is vast with billions of galaxies spanning billions of light years, but scientists tell us it’s possible that we’re all alone. The Bible tells us that’s not so. Christmas tells us that’s not so. We’re not alone. The heavens are not silent. We live in a visited world. This world has been visited by angels. This world has been visited by the Son of God.
This morning we look at Christmas through the story of the angels. I have three teachings and the first teaching is this. Angels are messengers. Angels are divine messengers.
Last summer, Barb and I went to the city of Boston. We walked the Freedom Trail from Boston Common to the U.S.S. Constitution and Bunker Hill. Of course, along the way we stopped at many historic sites. One of the places was Paul Revere’s house. Of course, Paul Revere’s house still stands in Boston. He lived in that house in the 18th century. It was built in the 17th century, a very old house. Barb and I went in the house. It was very crowded. We walked around. There was lots of information about the life of Paul Revere. Of course, the life of Paul Revere really wasn’t very interesting. He was a silversmith, born to a silversmith. He really wouldn’t be known to history except for the fact that he was a messenger. He carried that famous message to Lexington, that message that “The British are coming!” He took that message to Samuel Adams and to John Hancock. For that message he is famous. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow crafted that wonderful poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride” and it was in memory of the famous message that Paul Revere had carried that day.
We can look at history and we can see that messaging is very important. Of course, the Roman roads were built throughout the Roman Empire and partly for the purpose of messaging, that messages might be carried. Here in our own country and our own history, we had the Pony Express. It was all about messaging, the carrying of messages. We have the U.S. Postal Service. It’s really all about messaging and messengers. You have cellular phones, and your cellular phones are really all about messages and messaging. The same is true of your e-mail. In this technological world, messaging is extremely important. But how does God communicate with us? How does God communicate with men and women?
The Bible tells us that God does so in a variety of ways, but one of the ways involves angels. Angels are God’s messengers. Of course, it’s difficult to portray an angel because angels normally do not operate in the physical realm. They’re not normally visible. They’re not normally corporeal. Angels are spiritual beings and they operate in the unseen world.
Perhaps, when you think of angels, you think of guardian angels. Of course, the Bible tells us that certain angels are indeed guardian angels. In Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus spoke of those angels who constantly behold the face of the Father and who watch over little children and are guardian angels. Perhaps when you think of angels, you think of comforting angels, angels who minister in comfort. Indeed, the Bible tells us there are angels who so minister.
In Matthew, chapter 4, we read how our Lord Jesus Christ, after his 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, was ministered to by angels who encouraged Him and strengthened Him. In the book of 1 Kings, chapter 18, we’re told of Elijah who, in the aftermath of his encounter with the 450 prophets of Baal, was exalted and he was fleeing for his life and he was ministered to by angels who encouraged him and strengthened him.
Billy Graham in his book on angels has said that he has felt that at many times, particularly during his crusades when he’s been so exhausted, he has been ministered to by angels who comforted him and strengthened him.
Perhaps when you think of angels, you think of warrior angels. The Bible does describe certain warrior angels. The Bible speaks of a hierarchy of angels with cherubim and seraphim and principalities and powers in the heavenly places. The Archangel Michael is portrayed as a warrior angel. In the Book of Revelation, chapter 12, we’re told how the Archangel Michael and his angels drove the demonic forces and the fallen angels out of heaven. The Bible portrays many different types of angels. Perhaps when you think of angels, you might think of mythology and certainly in the history of world literature there is much mythology concerning angels. But you should not think that angels are wholly mythological. You should not deny the reality of the unseen world. You should not deny the reality of the spiritual realm. You should not deny the reality of the supernatural. After all, if you deny the reality of the supernatural, you must deny God Himself. You must not think that our physical existence in this earthbound world… you must not think that that’s all there is. Angels are real and they minister in unseen ways.
The Bible tells us that their primary ministry is messaging. In fact, the word angel in the Greek language, the word is “angelos” and the plural “angeloi.” That word means, “messenger or messengers,” the same as the Hebrew in the Old Testament for angels, the word “malakim.” It also means, “messenger.” Angels are messengers. They do not normally bring their messages verbally or visibly, audibly. They normally minister in an unseen way with a still small voice as they touch your spirit of your heart, but they are messengers.
So, we come to the Christmas Story, and we see angels delivering messages visibly. We see the Angel of the Lord delivering a message to shepherds on a Judean hillside. “I bring you good news of great joy which shall come to all the people, for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” That was the message. Then you see the angelic hosts come to the same shepherds on that same Judean hillside and they have a message. They’re saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill amongst men.” Angelic messages.
Of course, we see the Angel Gabriel coming to the Virgin Mary and he has a message. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give to Him the throne of His Father David and He will rule over the House of Jacob forever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end. She said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” Then the angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. The child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.” That was the message.
You have the Angel of the Lord coming to Joseph as recorded in Matthew, chapter 1. He appears to Joseph not visibly, not corporally, not bodily, but he appears to Joseph in a dream because angels can communicate in many ways, and they can bring their messages in many forms. And so, he communicates to Joseph in a dream. He said, “Do not fear to take Mary your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit and she will conceive in her womb and bear a Son and you will call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sin.” Angels are messengers.
Now, there is a second teaching. A second teaching this morning is this: Jesus Christ is the Supreme Messenger of Christmas. Angels are messengers, but Jesus Christ is the Supreme Messenger of Christmas. In fact, the angelic announcements, the message from the angels concern the Supreme Messenger Himself, Jesus Christ. One of the birth titles given to Christ in the Bible is the title, “The Word.” We see this in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus Christ, the baby born in Bethlehem is called “The Word” because He is the Messenger. He is the Supreme Messenger. He IS The Word. And so, we have that statement in John, chapter 1, “In the beginning was The Word and The Word was with God and The Word WAS God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was Life and the Life was the Life of Man. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.”
Then we’re told, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He is the Supreme Messenger. I thought it might be good this morning to spend a few minutes taking a look at this title. What does it mean to say Jesus is The Word? This baby born in Bethlehem is The Word. In the days of Christ, three languages were spoken in Israel. There was the Greek language because it was a Hellenized world. There was the Hebrew language because the Jewish people lived in Israel. Then there was the Aramaic language, which was the common language of the day in Israel. Jesus normally spoke Aramaic although He could speak Hebrew and surely, He could speak Greek as well.
When you look at the title, “The Word,” it takes on different meanings in light of these three different languages in Israel. In the Hebrew language, this title, “The Word,” is expressed through the Hebrew term “dabar.” To say that Jesus is The Word is to say that He is “dabar.” Of course, for the Hebrew-speaking people, to call God “The Word” was to refer to His creative power. This is perhaps hard for us in our anglicized world to understand, but you see, for the Hebrew mind, God’s Word was God’s creative power. God spoke and things happened. God spoke the world into existence. God spoke the creation, the cosmos, the universe into existence by the power of His word. His word does not return void but it accomplishes that for which it is purposed. The creative power of God was called “dabar.” The creative power of God was called “The Word.” When we think of that child born in Bethlehem, He is The Word. He is the creative power of God.
There’s a lot of power in the creation. We see that in many ways. In 1883, on the Indonesian Island of Krakatoa there was a volcanic eruption. That volcanic eruption was massive. It just blew the top of the island right into the sky. The explosion was so great, we’re told, that it was heard 3,000 miles away. Can you imagine that? That would be like an explosion in Los Angeles heard in New York City. Incomprehensible, but it was heard 3,000 miles away and it hurled giant boulders through space. It just slung rocks 50 miles in the air, like from Denver to Colorado Springs. It just launched these massive boulders. It created tidal waves in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra that were 130 feet high. Can you imagine facing something like that? Thirty-six thousand people drowned. Of course, it sent dust into the heavens and created a dust canopy that enveloped the earth and circled the earth for three years. Meteorologists tell us that it dropped the temperature of the earth for five years. This was a massive power, a massive volcanic eruption equal, perhaps, to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 B.C. which destroyed the city of Pompeii—equal, perhaps, to the eruption of Santorini or Thera which destroyed the Minoan civilization 1,500 years before Christ.
And yet you look at that kind of power and it’s really nothing. It’s nothing because it’s the power of the creation. The power of the creation is never greater than the power of the creator. Even the “big bang theory” which many cosmologists espouse, even the big bang which launched the galactic systems into the void, the power that was harnessed there is nothing compared to the power of God, the Creator who created the universe “ex nihilo”—out of nothing—by the power of His word and you see the Bible says, “That baby born in Bethlehem is The Word, the very creative power of God.” You wonder how He could turn water to wine and change the molecular structure of the elements. You wonder how He could raise the dead. You don’t need to wonder. He is The Word, the creative power of God.
When you look at this title—not in the Hebrew but in the Greek language—you get a little different meaning. You get a little different focus because, for the Greeks this title was expressed through the term “Logos,” the Greek terminology and the Greek language the way you said, “The Word,” was through this term, “Logos.” Jesus is The Logos. He is The Word. Of course, Logos in the Greek language referred to “meaningful or rational communication.” We actually get the word logic from the Greek word Logos which means, “the word.” Plato and Aristotle and Socrates and the Greek philosophers when they spoke of the Logos, when they spoke of the word, they used it to describe the mind of God. They referred to the mind of God as the Logos, the mind of God as The Word. So, in the Greek language when you speak of Jesus, the child born in Bethlehem as The Word, we’re understanding this child is the mind of God. Not just the power of God but the mind of God.
On April 18, 1955, Albert Einstein died. Of course, he had a brilliant mind and his theory of relativity revolutionized the scientific world. When he died, his body was cremated except for his brain. Scientists at Princeton University wanted to study the brain of Albert Einstein. They examined his brain for a period of months and they found an unusual number of glial cells, but they really never found anything that could fully explain the extraordinary intelligence of Albert Einstein.
Twenty-three years later in 1978, a reporter in Princeton, New Jersey decided he wanted to find out what happened to the brain of Albert Einstein. Where did it go? So, he began to search and try to find the brain of Albert Einstein. He found it after a long search. Incredibly, he found it in Wichita, Kansas. It belonged to a doctor whose name was T. Hardy. This was the doctor that had headed up the autopsy of Einstein’s body. Somehow, he received from Princeton permission to take the brain. He had it in three bottles, three Mason jars. The cerebellum in one jar and the rest of the brain in the other two. These three jars were in a cardboard box that was labeled Costa Cola and it was behind a beer cooler in a cluttered messy storage room. The box hadn’t been opened for years. What a way to treat the brain of Albert Einstein.
But we know theologically that a brain is different than a mind. The brain is not the same as the mind. When we think biblically and theologically, we understand the brain is part of the soma. It’s part of the body. It’s a biological computer. It’s part of the soma. It’s part of the body. But the mind… biblically the mind is part of the psyche. It’s part of the soul. From a theological perspective, the soul uses the body and the mind uses the brain like a computer. God wants you to understand there’s never been a person in this world that had a mind like Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ has the very mind of God. That’s why Jesus said to His disciples, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” That’s why Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” That’s why the Bible tells us Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. He has the very mind of God.
So, you want to know how God thinks? Look at the child born in Bethlehem. He’s the Logos. He’s the mind of God; the Word. There’s the Aramaic language that was spoken in the time of Christ, the daily language of the people. In Aramaic, this title, “The Word”… In Aramaic, we need to understand this is even a more incredible title because amongst the Aramaic-speaking people, the term “memra,” which is the Aramaic word for “The Word,” this term memra was a circumlocution for the name of God. It was a way of saying the name of God without having to speak the Tetragrammaton. It was a way of saying the name of God without having to say the name of Yahweh. The Jewish people didn’t want to speak the name of God as revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai on the Holy Mountain and do, they developed circumlocutions. They took the name Yahweh and they took the vowels from the Hebrew word “Adonai” which means “Lord” and they added it on to the divine name of Yahweh and came up with Jehovah which is a hybrid word but it’s a circumlocution, a way of saying the name of God without having to speak the Tetragrammaton.
This title, “The Word” is another circumlocution. For the Aramaic-speaking people, they use the term Memra, The Word, as a title for God. When they wanted to address God, they would call him The Word. So, what we understand when we look at this title given to the Christ child, is that He is the power of God, dabar. He is the mind of God, Logos, and He is God, Memra.
I know some of you have read The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. If I asked for hands, I know many of your hands would go up because it’s a very popular book and it’s been on the bestseller list in The New York Times for over 35 weeks. It is a good read, a great plot, and it’s very clever. I can understand why it would be interesting to most readers, but you need to understand this. The DaVinci Code is theologically and historically bogus. It’s absolutely bogus theologically and historically. You need to know that if you read this book. The author, Dan Brown, has an agenda. He doesn’t believe in orthodox Christianity. There is so much misinformation in the story which is meant to be fiction but incredibly people are taking it seriously. You need to understand Jesus Christ did not marry Mary Magdalene. There is not one shred of historical evidence that He had any kind of relationship with Mary Magdalene. That’s just bogus historically.
You also need to understand that the Council of Nicaea in the time of Constantine in the year 325 did not create a false scriptural canon. The truth is that most of the books of the New Testament were already accepted as authoritative a hundred and fifty years before the Council of Nicaea. Many of the books of the New Testament were being circulated as authentic and authoritative scripture in the First century. The books that were rejected and were left out of the canon were not viable books. They were books that were pseudepigraphical. They were spurious. They were even cultic. They were books written a hundred to a hundred and fifty years after the biblical books.
The Council of Nicaea did not come up with the concept of the deity of Christ. The deity of Christ has been affirmed by the Christian church from its very inception. That’s why, when you go to the books of the Bible, some of which were written only twenty years after the death of Christ, First century books, you find the deity of Christ stressed again and again throughout the Bible. Jesus Christ is divine and He’s deity. He’s the Logos, the Word of God.
There are some people who just don’t want to believe that Jesus is deity because then He has authority. If He has authority, then we need to submit to Him as Lord. Some people don’t want to do that but don’t let that be true of you. You must know who this baby born in Bethlehem is. He’s the Lord God with us, Emmanuel, God with us, and He is the power of God, the mind of God. He is God and He is the Supreme Messenger. He’s greater than the angels and He’s greater than the prophets.
That’s why you have that incredible passage in Hebrews, chapter 1, “In many and various ways, God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days, God has spoken through the Son whom He’s appointed the heir of all things and through whom also He created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of power. When He had made purification for sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become as much superior to the angels as the name which He’s obtained is more excellent than theirs, for to what angel has God ever said, ‘Thou art My beloved Son. Today I have begotten Thee’?” Or again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all God’s angels worship Him. For of the angels, He said, “Who creates His angel’s spirits and His minister’s flames of fire but of the Son,” He says, “Thy throne, oh God, is forever and ever.”
Isn’t that incredible? What a great passage. Greater than the angels. Greater than the prophets. The Supreme Messenger, Jesus Christ. So, you look at Christmas and you see that angels are messengers, but you also see the Supreme Messenger is The Word, Jesus Christ Himself.
Then finally, before we leave this place, God wants us to understand that we, too, are called to be messengers. All of you who believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior have been called to be messengers. In fact, the Greek word for angel, the word “angelos,” a form of that word is used in the Bible on multiple occasions to describe Christians because we’re all called to be angels. We’re all called to be messengers. Jesus said, “You shall be My witnesses.” Acts, chapter 1. We’re all called to be messengers, not just the angels. We’re called to be messengers too, and we’re called to tell the world about The Word. We’re called to tell the world about the child born in Bethlehem. This task is laid upon us.
Well, I’m sure that most of you have not heard of a German theologian named Jurgen Moltmann but Jurgen Moltmann was perhaps the greatest Protestant theologian of the 20th century. Jurgen Moltmann taught at Tübingen University in Germany. I read many of his books when I was in theology school. I appreciated many of his writings. When Jurgen Moltmann grew up, he was not a Christian. He was an atheist. In World War II, Jurgen Moltmann was conscripted, drafted, into the German Army by Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. He was made to fight for Germany against the Americans and the allied forces. Like many German soldiers, he didn’t fully understand what was going on. After the war, Jurgen Moltmann was caught by the Americans and he was placed in an American prisoner of war camp. It was there in an American prisoner of war camp that Jurgen Moltmann was given a Bible for the very first time in his life. He was given a Bible by the United States government. The Bible was personally signed by President Franklin Roosevelt. These were different times.
During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt had gone through and personally signed every Bible given to prisoners of war. Isn’t that incredible? So, Jurgen Moltmann had this Bible given to him signed by the President. As he read it, the power of the Holy Spirit came upon him and he gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ. He gave his mind to Christ. His body, soul and spirit, he gave it all to Christ and asked Jesus to come into His heart. He became one of the greatest theologians in world history.
The year was 1988. Jurgen Moltmann was back in the United States. He was very old. He was speaking to pastors, to members of the press and to some government officials. He took his Bible, the Bible that had been given him in the prison camp, out of his pocket and it was worn from constant use. Then he began to cry and tears came out of his eyes. He held his Bible up and he said, “I want to thank the United States government for leading me to faith in Jesus Christ.” Is that incredible? He said, “I want to thank the United States government for leading me to Jesus Christ.”
I think in light of what’s happened over the last few decades, that really is an amazing story. Certainly, we can no longer count on the United States government to be the messenger for Christ. I think that’s safe to say. You can’t count on the American government to be the messenger for the Christmas Story. You see, the burden is on you. As you leave this place, as you go into our community, as you go out into the world, the burden is on you. The call is on you. The task is on you. Jesus made it very clear that you’re the ones who are to be His messengers. God doesn’t need angels to be His messengers and God doesn’t need us. When you think about it, God can speak as a big voice out of the sky if He wants to. In fact, He did that at the baptism of Christ and at the Transfiguration of Christ, God simply thundered His voice, “This is My beloved Son.” He could do that all the time.
In Numbers, chapter 2, we see God speaking a word of rebuke to Balaam through a donkey. God can speak through an animal if He wants to. You look at Luke’s Gospel, the 19th chapter; Jesus is descending down the Mt. of Olives towards the Holy City. The crowds are shouting, “Hosanna, Blessed is the King!” The Scribes and the Pharisees say to Jesus, “Rebuke Your disciples!” What does Jesus say? “If they were quiet, if they were silent, the very stones would cry out.” God doesn’t need people. God can speak through rocks. You see, God has given an incredible privilege to us as to the angels. He’s given us the privilege of being His messengers, and He’s made the message powerful in us. He’s anointed us for this task. He’s given us the privilege of serving His eternal kingdom and He wants us to be found faithful. Your testimony has power.
In the first half of the 20th century, there was a great Christian man named Dr. Harry Ironside. He was perhaps the greatest evangelist and apologist in the first half of the 20th century. Apologist comes from the word, apologia. It means, “One who gives an apology or defense for the Christian faith.” He was a brilliant apologist for the Christian faith and a great evangelist.
One day Dr. Ironside was speaking in the city of San Francisco. He was speaking at a Salvation Army rally. There was a large crowd. He shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a faithful messenger and he shared the message of Christ. During his talk, someone brought a note up to the stage, to the platform, and the note was given to Dr. Ironside. The note was from an atheist who was in the crowd, a very well know atheist. This atheist wanted to challenge Dr. Ironside to a public debate at some future date.
Dr. Ironside read the note to the assembled crowd that he’d been challenged to a public debate at a future date by this well-known atheist. Dr. Ironside agreed to debate on one condition. He said that the atheist must bring with him someone, a man or a woman whose life has been transformed by the power of atheism. Someone whose life has been transformed into beautiful, wonderful character by the power of atheism, somebody who was addicted to some sin, perhaps sexual addiction, perhaps alcohol addiction, perhaps drug addiction, somebody whose sin was painful for them or for their family or even an embarrassment to the community but they had overcome it by the transforming power of atheism. Bring one person like that to the debate. Dr. Ironside said, “I will come to the debate with hundreds of men and women who will stand before you and tell you how their lives were transformed and their sin overcome and their character changed by the power of Jesus Christ.
There is nothing like a testimony. No apologia. No defense that is stronger than a personal testimony. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have a personal testimony. You have a personal testimony and you’ve been called to share it. You’re supposed to tell people what Jesus has done for you and how He’s changed your life, what He means to you. That’s your call in this world, to go and so, that, to tell people your testimony and what Jesus has done for you. That’s what it means to be a messenger.
So, as we’re approaching Christmas and it’s only a week and a half away, maybe 10 more shopping days, remember Christmas is all about divine communication, the communication of angels who are His messengers, the supreme communication of His Son, The Logos, The Word, the power of God, the mind of God, God. It is an invitation for us to be part of this divine communication as we take Christ to the nations. Let’s close with a word of prayer.