Who Told Luke?

One of my family’s most long-held traditions is sitting before the fire on Christmas Eve reading the Christmas story from Luke 2, and every time we come to the part where the angel appears to the shepherds in verses eight and nine, I love it:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock 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. ” (KJV)

The “glory of the Lord” shining all around them is the LORD’s shekinah glory. It’s the glory that filled the temple in the Old Testament in Exodus 40, in Ezekiel 10 and 44, in 2 Chronicles 5 and 7, and many other places. It’s the glory that dwelt in the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the desert. It’s this glory that thundered and burned from atop Mount Sinai. 

The KJV says those shepherds were so frightened it physically hurt –“sore afraid.” Other translations call their fear “terrified, greatly afraid, terribly frightened, and filled with great terror.”

And then, after the angel delivers his message that the long-awaited Messiah has been born, we get this in verses 13 and 14:

“And 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.'” (KJV)

Various other translations refer to the “armies” of God. They are multitudes of angels –“ten thousand times ten thousand” as it says of the heavenly host in Psalm 68:17, Daniel 7:10, and Deuteronomy 33.  

This was the grand proclamation of the greatest event in human history up to that point. The birth announcement of the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah! The Kingdom of Light was stepping into the kingdom of darkness ruled by the devil and mortal men! Invasion was imminent. There would be a battle that would take place on this earth and the liar, the thief, the murderer, and the enemy of our souls would be defeated!

God wasn’t giving out the details of that battle and He wasn’t broadcasting it to the kings and rulers of Israel, Jerusalem, or even Bethlehem. No, He chose to share that news first and foremost with some lowly shepherds camped outside the tiny town of David. 

But who told Luke about such a grand and glorious occurrence? Luke was certainly a faithful historian and writer. As he assured us at the opening of his Gospel, he had carefully investigated and interviewed “eye witnesses and servants of the word.”  

Did Luke speak to the shepherds themselves? Most historians agree that his Gospel was written at least 80 years after the birth of Jesus. Who would have talked to those shepherds and so clearly remembered all that had happened to them?

Verse 19 gives us a big clue:

“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (KJV)

Historians and theologians agree that Luke almost certainly wrote down what Mary had told him concerning the birth of Jesus. And, as we look over the details of what he wrote, it is abundantly clear they came from a mother’s heart.

Today’s Praise

Luke 2:21

“And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (KJV)