The Search of the Shepherds
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Christmas story from any angle is most interesting. We are to study, "The Search of the Shepherds."
The study is well named, for the duty of the shepherd is to search for the sheep that go astray.
We remember that wonderful song, "There Were Ninety and Nine." The song describes the ninety and nine lying safely within the shelter of the fold, while one was out on the hills away, lost and wandering. The Shepherd in this song, is Christ, and He passes on through the "thorns" of Calvary until, at last, He finds the sheep, and, placing it on His shoulders, brings it home with rejoicings.
We remember that Christ is the Good Shepherd of the sheep, because He gives His life for the sheep; that He is the Great Shepherd, because He came forth from the grave in resurrection power; and that He is the Chief Shepherd in His glorious Second Coming.
We need not marvel, therefore, that the Lord came to certain shepherds who were in that same country watching their sheep by night. The Good, and the Great, and the Chief Shepherd of the sheep, came to the underling shepherds who were faithfully fulfilling their task.
1. God, in sending the angel to the shepherds, was, in fact, suggesting that He was sending Christ, the Shepherd of Israel, to die for His sheep.
2. The shepherds, in seeking the Lord's Shepherd, and in worshiping Him, were acknowledging the supremacy of the Heavenly Shepherd over the earthly shepherds. There are shepherds many, but there is but One, who is Chief. Even in the church, pastors are called shepherds (1 Peter 5:2-4), but they all are subservient to the Chief Shepherd, who will soon appear with His crown for the under-shepherds.
3. Christ was the Lamb of God, and the shepherds were seeking for the Heavenly Lamb. We know that Christ was announced, in after years, by John the Baptist as, "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." He, then, who was Shepherd, was also Lamb.
This is one of God's paradoxes; the Shepherd of the sheep, went like a lamb to the slaughter; and the Shepherd was like a sheep standing dumb before His shearers.
Thus, the great Bible doctrine of substitution is set forth in striking symbolism. He who was Shepherd, becomes Lamb. He who was the Shepherd seeking the sheep which was lost, becomes the Lamb "lost" for us; bearing our sins; while the "shepherds of the country" came seeking Him.
I. "LET US * * GO."
The words "Let us go" are found in Luke 2:15. They were spoken by the shepherds on that memorable day of Christ's birth. We will pick up the threads and seek to discover the reason for the shepherds' words.
Why did the shepherds say, "Let us go"?
In the near-by country, lying around Bethlehem, there were shepherds keeping watch over their flocks 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." Then the angel said unto them, "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."
No sooner had the announcement of the angel of the Lord been ended, and the fact been given that the Babe would be found wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger; than, "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." When this great sight was completed and the Heavenly glory that surrounded them had past, the shepherds said, "Let us go."
How many of you would have liked to have gone with those shepherds, in search of the Lord's Christ? The wise men came from afar, seeking Him who was born King of the Jews. Would you have been happy to have joined them in their journey over the sands seeking the Christ Child?
Certainly you would! Even today after the lapse of almost two thousand years, your heart thrills with joy as you join in the singing of carols unto Him.
Certainly you would, and yet, we wonder if you have really come to Him, and have opened your heart to receive Him as your Lord.
Jesus said once, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Did you answer, "I will go"? Then, did you go to Him? The prodigal son said, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee." What followed? "And he arose and came to his father."
Have you come from the far country seeking the Lord? Have you found Him? Are you at home with the Lord; saved, robed and satisfied?
How many, in the days of old, came to Jesus seeking salvation and healing? Come, let us join them, and seek the Lord. Let us sing that good old song which our mother sang, and our father loved:
"I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Saviour,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms."
II. "LET US NOW GO."
We have added one word of three letters, to the theme of the first part. That little word is most vital in our decisions to go to Christ. The word is, "now."
There was no thought of delay with the shepherds, no desire to procrastinate. They said let us now go. Does the same spirit of prompt decision, and of immediate action rest with all who hear this word?
1. NOW is God's time. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now, is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
We live in one eternal now; we cannot climb over now; we cannot pass around now; we cannot crawl under now. We have no other time than now.
2. TOMORROW is a fool's word. "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow" (James 4:13-14).
Our life is but a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. How dare we, then, waste our little now. Shall we say, "When I have a more convenient season"? Do we know that such a season will ever be ours?
3. Today is the time for decision. Joshua said, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15). If we are not coming at God's time, when will we come? How long will we halt between two opinions? if God be God, let us follow Him.
Is it right for us to say, "Not now, by and by," when God says today? "To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15).
We entered once a lawyer's office. On his desk stood a motto beautifully framed. The motto read: "Do it now." We asked him if the motto meant much to him? He said that it meant success in business. Shall we have a weaker motto in things which relate to eternal life?
III. "EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM."
The shepherds said, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem." They purposed in their heart to go all of the way. There was no thought of stopping short of a full obedience. How many there are who fall by the wayside!
1. The prodigal son came to his father. First of all he said, "I will arise and go to my father." Did he fall short of his purpose? Not he. "He arose and came to his father." Beloved, you dare not loiter by the way. Until you have found certain salvation in Christ and have experienced a real salvation, cease not your search. To tarry on the doorstep of peace and life, is sheer folly. Go even unto Bethlehem.
2. To start, and then to fall back, is folly. Christ said, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
Shall we say, "I will follow Thee, but let me first go and bid them farewell, which are at home at my house"? Shall we say, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father"?
Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the Truth?" They had started, but turned back and had become entangled again in a yoke of bondage. Is it not better, not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn away from it? Herod heard John and heard him gladly. He even observed John and did many things; but Herod was not willing to give up his brother Philip's wife, whom he had wrongfully married. Let us go "even unto Bethlehem."
3. To faint by the way, is to fail to reap our harvest. There is a message here for Christians as well as for the unsaved. We read in God's Book: "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
How many Christians fall by the wayside! How many are like the seed among thorns, which proved unfruitful because the cares of this life, the pleasures of the world, and deceitfulness of riches choked their growth! We need to go through with God even unto Bethlehem.
IV. "LET US SEE THIS THING WHICH HAS COME TO PASS."
Truly a great "sight" was to be found in Bethlehem. There in a manger was a Saviour, who was Christ the Lord. There in a manger was "God, manifest in flesh." There in a manger was, "Immanuel," God with us.
1. We wonder if Christmas revelers fail to see this GREAT "THING" in the Christ of the manger? We sing our carols and do homage to the Babe of Bethlehem. Do we remember that that Babe was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder"? That Babe, according to the Prophet, was to be called, "Wonderful, Counsellor; The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The prince of peace." Do we recognize Him as such?
2. We wonder if Christmas revelers see in "this thing, which has come to pass," "a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord"? If a ship was sinking slowly but surely at sea, could a greater sight be seen than a "saviour ship" heaving to, for the rescue? No marvel that the Angel of the Lord said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy!" No marvel that the shepherds said, "This thing which has come to pass"! God had given promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the head of Satan; now that promise had come to pass.
Isaiah, in the Spirit, had written, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shalt call His name Immanuel": now that "thing" had come to pass.
Micah, in the Holy Spirit, wrote, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting": now that very "thing" had come to pass.
V. "THEY CAME * * AND FOUND * * THE BABE."
Let us mark three things:
1. They came obedient to the word of the angel. They came they put action to their conviction. They came to the place where they were told to come to Bethlehem, to the city of David. Let us look for Christ, where He is to be found. The women sought for Him in the sepulcher, but the two angels said, "He is not here, but is risen."
Today we can not find Jesus the Lord where the shepherds found Him, in a manger. Today we cannot find Him in the, grave, where the women failed to find Him. He is now at the Father's right hand, exalted a Prince and a Saviour.
2. They came with haste. They had the urge within them to hurry. They did not want any event to take away the Lord before they arrived.
Suppose that Bartimaeus had stopped his cry for help when many bade him to hold his peace he never would have seen Christ; for that day Jesus was passing through Jericho for the last time.
3. They came and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe. The word spoken by angels was sure and steadfast. Nothing said by angels needs to be unsaid, or modified. The word spoken by the Prophets, in the Holy Spirit, is likewise sure and steadfast. This first coming was fulfilled, according to the word spoken by the angel. Christ's Second Coming will be just as faithfully fulfilled. Not one word shall fail.
We wonder how many of you have come and found the Saviour? Hear this promise, Then shall ye "find Me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."
VI. "THE BABE LYING IN A MANGER."
What surprises cling to the birth of Christ! His humble parentage (Mary, the wife of a carpenter). His humble village of birth (Bethlehem, little among the cities of Judah). His humble crib (Ye shall find the Babe in a manger). Let us linger awhile in the stable and view the manger.
Oh, my soul, be hushed, and wonder,
In the manger, on the hay,
Mid the cattle and the plunder,
Christ the infant Child doth lay.
Why was He laid in the manger?
1. There was no room for Him in the inn. Christ had come to the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world knew Him not. Christ had come to His own, and His own received Him not.
2. There was, in the manger, a token that He was easy of access. Had He been laid in a cradle, bedecked with the jewels of royalty, the shepherds and the common people had been more than afraid to have sought Him not. Where is he who would not seek the Lord, in a manger?
3. The "manger" spoke of His humiliation. He humbled Himself, and came in fashion as a man. He was God, but was God bending low to the lowly.
4. The environment of His cradle the cattle, told that He was to mix and mingle with sinners seeking the lost that He might redeem them.
VII. THEY RETURNED PRAISING GOD
Thank God for the happy climax! Is it not always thus? He who finds the Christ, and worships Him, will find in Him, "all joy."
1. They rejoiced because they had proved God and found Him true. They knew that they had not been deceived by the angel. They were assured in their own minds that the word of God was "yea and amen." Beloved, let us know that God's word is forever settled in heaven.
2. They rejoiced because the fact that they had found the Babe according to the word of the angel, made what the angel said ABOUT the Christ also "yea and amen." That is They had found more than a Babe they had found a Saviour who was "Christ the Lord."
3. They rejoiced, because they realized that in that Babe there was God's promise of "good will to men." The far-reaching results of the birth of that holy Babe, we know today, better than they knew; yet they knew that He was a Child of destiny a deliverer of Israel from her woes.
4. They rejoiced and glorified God. They rejoiced and shared with others their joy. They certainly told abroad what they had heard and seen. Let us go and do likewise.