12-18-22 “When did the angels announce Jesus' birth?”

Scripture                                            Romans 5:6-8

Timing Is Everything

          There was a joke that came out of the Soviet Union many years ago about a Russian who stood on the street corner in Moscow, and shouted, "Down with Khrushchev!" He was arrested and sent to prison camp for ten years. While he was in prison he had a change of heart, and came to believe that Khrushchev was a great leader after all. The only problem was, while he was in prison the times changed, and Khrushchev was deposed from office and publicly denounced.

          When the man was released, he went back to that same street corner in Moscow. He wanted to give a public testimony to his rehabilitation. This time he shouted, "Hooray for Khrushchev!" and got ten more years. Which just shows you, timing is everything.

          That is true in the book publishing business as well. They say what makes a best seller is timing. I can give testimony to that, having written several books myself that not only escaped the attention of reviewers, but readers as well. One publisher wrote me and asked if I was interested in buying the surplus volumes of my books that were taking up space in his warehouse. I didn't answer him.

          So I was interested in the formula for success in publishing, especially for preachers. Robert Fulghum is an ex-preacher, who now writes best sellers. His first book was, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Since he wrote that book, everything he has written has been a best seller. He is enormously successful. I'm stuck here with my nose to the grindstone. There is only one explanation for it, they tell me, it's a matter of timing.

          The dream of a self-propelled steam ship had been a dream of humankind for hundreds of years. Then one day the time came when it was theoretically possible, but it was still not practically possible. The dream was kept alive for another hundred years or so by inventors and experimenters, some of whom were considered to be eccentric. Later on people looked back and said of them, they were just ahead of their time.

          Then the times changed. The next person to come along was Robert Fulton. It was not so much that Fulton invented the steamboat, but that he just happened to be there when the time was right. The inventor's eminence may be more a trick of chronology than anything else, due to being active at the very moment when fruition was possible. Timing is everything.

          It is a wonderful illustration of the way the Bible looks at time. For the Bible, there are two kinds of time: there is the time of preparation, and there is the time of fulfillment….

          In DEUTERONOMY we have learned that Moses taught - obey the law and find live. Disobey the law and experience death. Everything hinged on the law and whether you followed it or not. Moses knew they would not - but that a day of repentance and restoration would come in the future. Preparation till Fulfillment  Moses knew the people would sin. Since Adam and Eve, we have been found in sin. Nothing could be done about it till the preparation was done and then the solution had to come at the exact right time.

Galatians 4:1-7

          What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman (that's Christmas), born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.  Timing is everything!

          When we consider the angels - their timing was impeccable. They came at the exact moment God had appointed - they were neither early nor late. Why was it the right time? Immediately - Mary and Joseph were in town and had just given birth to Jesus. The shepherds were in place keeping watch over their sheep. The wise men were on their way following the star.  Herod was in power to set up the power struggles between the government and the Messiah.

          But their was greater reason why this was the right time. Shipping & travel by water had come into its own in recent years. Rome had built a system of roads that allowed for communication and travel to be much easier across the known world. It was a time of Pax Romano - there was peace in Rome. Other religions could be freely practiced as long as no group got out of hand, and they all paid Roman taxes. Greatest of all, even with Rome's power and influence the one thing they couldn't change was the common language of the day that a majority people spoke - Greek - which would also allow communication of the gospel like no other time prior in history. (In Greek, people would be able to receive the NT in a language they understood. If it was in Hebrew, how many gentiles would have been able to receive it.) Finally, the Jewish prophets had been silent for 400 years until the forerunner of the Messiah took center stage to announce his coming - John the Baptist came with the spirit of the prophet Elijah! THE TIME WAS RIGHT! The angels were right on cue, saying, Luke 2:10-14

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.

An angel was also right on cue saying to Zechariah - Luke 1:13-20

          Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.  Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

          Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

          The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

          To Mary, the angel said, Luke 1:28-37  Greetings Mary, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. You have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.

          Mary asked the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin?

          The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.

To Joseph, the angel said, Matt 1:20-21 Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

After Jesus birth, the angel spoke to Joseph again, Matt 2:13  Get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.

          The New Testament uses two different words for time. God operates in Kairos, a Greek word which means the "fullness of time." We operate in Chronos, the Greek word which means the passage of minutes, days, years, centuries, and even millenniums. 

          For example: Mary did not give birth to Jesus on December 25 at 12:06 a.m. as we are prone to say in our society when a baby is born. Rather, the Bible says it happened when "the time came for her to be delivered" (i.e., the "fullness of time"). 

“When did the angels announced Jesus' birth?”

At the right time!  In other words, IN HIS TIME 

CONCLUSION

          The next time we see angels - they are ministering to Jesus in the wilderness.

          Next, they are strengthening Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

 

          When are the angels silent? When are the angels missing? When do we want to see the angel armies? When Jesus is being crucified!  Romans 5:6-8

          You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The baby Jesus, announced by angels to the shepherds is all grown up and dies a horrific death because of our sins - and NO angels!

          Where are the angels of Christmas? We thought Christmas was the time of fulfillment - No, it was still a biblical time of preparation for this moment - for the cross. Where are the angels announcing the forgiveness of sins is fulfilled and made complete?

          They are there, do you see them? Do you hear them? They are waiting in the wings for 3 more days - then they will announce the time of fulfillment is complete. Then they will sit in victory on top of the huge round stone that was difficult for man to move. 3 days after the cross - Friday night to Sunday morning - they wait and then they announce - to a few of his followers "He is not here! He is risen just as he said!" Jesus accomplished salvation on the cross - but to prove life is eternal and that our God is a living God - 3 days needed to pass - You see, TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

          For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

          When we live in his time, the trials and tribulations of this world grow smaller and smaller because we know a time is coming when, not the angels, but Jesus himself will step out with a fanfare of trumpets and announce that all of time's fulfillment has come and Heaven is now our eternal home. To everyone who believes, we await that greatest announcement of all. Until then, just like the angels, we will seek to do all things IN HIS TIME!