“Look at that!” Micah breathed, pointing
with a shaking finger. Far in the distance one star seemed to be hurtling
towards us. As it increased mightily in size, as one man we were pulled to our
feet to stare at it. When we saw that it was the radiant form of an
extra-terrestrial being; an Angel from far beyond the starry skies, we
prostrated ourselves, terrified, on the ground and buried our faces in our
arms.
As
quickly as the fear overcame us, it was soothed by the most mellifluous yet
powerful voice any of us had ever heard.
“Fear
not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.”
Fear not? I looked up timidly,
yet expectantly, and then the rest of what he said sank in. What does he mean? All
people? Blacks? Scythians? Greeks? Romans? Gaul’s? Or did he just mean Jewish
people and their Israelite brethren across the Euphrates and elsewhere? What a
marvelous message we were receiving! But wait! He is not done! We gazed upon
each other with looks of incredible joy as the angel explained how we would
know it was true. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour
which is Christ the Lord.”
A
Saviour? In the City of David? That’s right here in Bethlehem!
“Come
with me! We must go find him!” But in the space of a heartbeat, before I could
even utter those words, the sky seemed to explode with a thousand twinkling
lights and in the blink of an eye they were transformed into the most
magnificent gathering of Angels that this world has ever seen.
I will never be able to comprehend why
we poor, lowly shepherds were given the privilege of hearing that awe inspiring
celebration, but I am telling you, we were sure thrilled.
It’s
a good thing that ole Zeke’s kelev is a dependable critter, ‘cause wild
hyenas could not have kept us country boys from rushing pell-mell into the city
and trouping down the street to find where baby Yeshua lay. You should have
heard the shouting an’ singing, an’ general carryin’ on while we scurried over
those hills.
It didn’t last, though. Such
a deep hush came over us when we stooped to enter the cave and followed the dim
trail of the poor pilgrim’s smoky oil lamp. He lead us, and we were almost on
tiptoe, to where the newborn Baby lay
nestled in his weary but happy mother’s arms. We all dropped to our knees in
worshipful adoration.
You
should have seen Judah as he held that small infant in his arms. The tears
trickled down his weathered, craggy cheeks and he kept murmuring; “He’s come;
the Deliver has come.”
All
glory, praise and honor belong to our great Yahweh for allowing us the
honor of worshipping His
Newborn Son.
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