Week 4 Christmas Challenge, Awestruck & Awesome.Sample

(NASB) Luke 2:8-10 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.”

There it is again! In our short Infinitum Christmas Series, already angels are greeting humans with, “Do not be afraid! In Luke 1:13 it is Zechariah hearing it; in Luke 1:30 it is Mary. Here in Luke 2:10, it is, “some shepherds staying out in the fields.” 

There are apparently 365 occurrences of this ‘greeting’ in Scripture (you can either count them all up yourself or google it to confirm. Some of this might depend on translation, as when using KJV, you have to substitute ‘fear not’ to find 170 instances). Much has been made of the coincidence that there is one ‘don’t be afraid’ exhortation for each day in the year! 

Why might that be? Well, apparently, we humans tend toward fear. And this runs two ways: 

First, those who aren’t empowered by Holy Spirit have only their own limited resources and capacity with which to face the struggles of life. So, fair enough that they might tend toward insecurity, uncertainty, and, yes, fear. 

Second, those who do follow Jesus tend to encounter the supernatural more (or at least, maybe we recognize it more often)—and the supernatural can be freaky! Just look at our episode! An Angel of the Lord SUDDENLY stood near them. This wasn’t a case of the faithful father seeing the silhouette of his prodigal son approaching from the horizon. This was more like… ‘BOOM!’ ‘There’s an angel looming over us!’ Not only that, but, “the glory of the Lord shone around them.”

What is that!? I mean, ‘glory’? The Greek word is ‘doxa’: “opinion; Strong’s—honor, renown, glory, unspoken manifestation of God, splendor; HELPS—corresponds to the Old Testament word kabo—to be heavy; conveys God’s infinite, intrinsic worth / substance / essence.” And ‘shone around’? That word perilampó appears only one other time in the New Testament, in Acts 26:13, where Paul is recounting is supernatural conversion when Jesus appeared to him on the way to Damascus. In Paul’s tell, “a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.” 

So, we’re talking variously of God’s splendor from heaven, God’s intrinsic essence drenching them in blinding light, or the unspoken manifestation of God brighter than the sun, shining around them. In the middle of the night. 

No wonder they were awestruck!

God help us!