If you think about Christmas time, you think of getting together with your friends and enjoying laughter, conversation, and affection. But it would seem that you can’t do that with God, so how do you have joyful fellowship with God? It’s nice to know that Jesus came down to earth to fellowship with some people, but isn’t the whole point of Christmas to connect God and humans together in fellowship? What does that look like when Jesus isn’t physically present with us?
The shepherds of Christmas experienced an interaction with God that we might like to have. If we could experience His glory and light and an audible voice, we might feel like we were having joyful fellowship with Him. But there is a problem. It didn’t last. It didn’t happen every night. How, then, would the shepherds continue to have joyful fellowship with God once the heavenly light had faded? If we can answer that question, then we also can know how we can experience joyful fellowship with God through the Christmas message.
So, let’s consider this question by considering from Luke 2:8–20 the revelation from God, the recipients of the revelation, and the response to the revelation. My hope is that this will lead you to joyful fellowship with God through the Christmas message.
The Revelation
There are four aspects of the revelation or message that the shepherds received. The first was the amazing light that came with the heavenly revelation. In a world without electric lights, the angels lighting up the night sky must have been truly astonishing.
The second aspect was the appearance of the angels. At first, a single angel appeared that gave them a message. Then, a choir of angels appeared singing the songs of heaven in praise of God. Continue reading “Joyful Fellowship with God Through the Christmas Message”