Artwork by Daniel Venturo
Long, long ago, at the very beginning of time, two people, a man and a woman, the first that God ever created, took a bite of forbidden fruit . . . and with that one bite, changed the course of history. Things had been so wonderful, so perfect. The man and the woman had lived in a beautiful world where there were no such things as pain or tears or fights. There was no sorrow. There was no death. And best of all, these two people were friends with God. They lived in perfect peace. But then, those people decided to disobey God. And just like that, these first two people were sinners. And now, they were the enemies of God (Genesis 1:31; 3:6, 8-9, 23-24).
These first two people had kids and those kids grew up and had kids who grew up and had more kids. All these people were enemies of God. And there was no more peace in the world. Now there were tears and fights. Now there was pain and death (Romans 5:12).
Years and years passed and every person born into the world was an enemy of God, because everyone was a sinner and disobeyed God. They were separated from God because God is perfect and holy and cannot even look at sin. And God must punish sin. So everyone in the world must die and face God’s wrath because everyone is a sinner and was born from sinners. The punishment for sin is death. And after death, all of God’s enemies, who have sinned against Him and have broken His good laws, must suffer His judgement in Hell ( Habakkuk 1:13a; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23a; Ephesians 2:3; Colossians 1:21; Revelation 20:14-15).
The world needed help. It needed to somehow make peace once again with its Creator.
Thousands of years passed and the world was still in this terrible predicament. There was still no peace in the world when Joshua was a little kid living in the land of Israel. Joshua’s family was poor, because his dad was only a shepherd. Everyone in the family had to work hard in order to have enough money for food and clothes. Although Joshua liked helping his family take care of sheep, he knew that the world was not a happy, peaceful place. During that time in history, Israel was not its own country. A group of people called the Romans had come and conquered Israel and they ruled over it. The Romans were cruel. They killed lots of people.
Even in Joshua’s family, there was no peace; at least, not all the time. Joshua and his brothers and sisters often quarreled with each other. Sometimes other kids were mean to Joshua and bullied him. Sometimes Joshua himself talked back to his parents when they told him to do something he did not want to do.
And worst of all, though he did not think about it often, Joshua knew that one day, he and everyone he knew would die. He knew he would have to face God when he died, and he was scared to face God because he knew he was a sinner.
But as I said, Joshua did not often think about this. He was used to this kind of life. And he liked being a shepherd. He loved running barefoot through the grassy fields in the sunshine, calling to his sheep, and helping his father herd them. He liked seeing them happy and hearing them baaing contentedly because he had led them to clean water and a good pasture. He liked scratching their fuzzy heads. He loved when they pressed their warm wet noses against his pocket, looking for a treat. He loved watching the little lambs skip and play in the fields.
Joshua’s father always stayed up all night in the fields, watching the sheep and making sure there were no hungry prowling wolves around. All his life, Joshua had longed to go out into the fields with his father in the nighttime, when the air was cool and exciting, and watch the sheep. But he was always too young and had to go to bed.
But one night, Joshua begged so much that Joshua’s dad couldn’t say no. He sighed and tried to sound firm, but he was smiling under his moustache as he looked down at Joshua and told him he could come along just this once.
“Hurrah!” Joshua yelled for joy and ran out of the house, waving his little shepherd’s staff in the air as he went.
It was a beautiful night. The air was cool and fresh as Joshua skipped through the grassy hills beside his father. Even the sheep seemed to be in high spirits tonight, for they were especially frisky, leaping towards one another and shying away and butting each other playfully with their horns.
And the stars were incredible! So big and bright and so many of them that they seemed to light up the whole sky. As the sheep spread out to graze in the fields, Joshua and his dad sat down in the grass and gazed up at the breathtaking display of lights in the dark sky. Joshua’s dad pointed out different constellations to Joshua and told him the names of some of the stars. He told Joshua that God knew the names of all the stars and how many there were besides. Such a thought was incredible! But of course, God knew all that because He had created each one (Genesis 1:14-15; Psalms 147:4).
By and by, other shepherds with their flocks began to gather around. They started talking to Joshua’s father. Joshua lay back in the grass and watched the stars. Suddenly, he noticed one star that seemed larger than the others and was moving. At first he thought it was a shooting star, but the glowing ball didn’t disappear. It kept coming closer and closer and grew larger and larger. Joshua rose up on his elbows in alarm.
All at once, there was a blinding flash, and the fiery ball seemed to burst. Then, right before them in sky stood a man dressed in flaming white with huge white wings on his back. His face was almost too bright to look at, and a light as bright as the sun shone all around him.
Joshua, his dad, and the other shepherds gaped at the powerful being; they were too awestruck to utter a single word.
In a voice like thunder, the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior Who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).
The shepherds looked at one another in disbelief.
But the angel went on: “And This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).
All of a sudden, the sky was as bright as the daytime as thousands of angels appeared with the first. With one mighty voice, they praised God and shouted, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14; Emphasis mine).
Did you catch that word? Peace! A Savior had been born to bring peace to the world!
For a moment longer, the angels sang praise to God. Then their voices began to fade and so did the light. They faded away faster and faster until suddenly, nothing was left except the quiet grassy hills and the wide dark sky and the thousands of glittering stars once more.
There was silence for about a minute. Then one of the shepherds broke the quiet. “The Messiah! I can’t believe it!”
“God’s Chosen One!” said another. “Why, I’ve been waiting all my life for this!”
“What are we waiting for?” cried Joshua’s father. “Let us go into town at once and see this incredible thing the angels have told us about!”
Forgetting all about their sheep, Joshua, his father, and the rest of the shepherds ran as fast as they could run to the town of Bethlehem. They came to an old stable and went inside.
You know what they found in that stable. They found little baby Jesus lying in a manger, with his mother Mary and his father Joseph kneeling beside Him.
Joshua could hardly contain his awe. Here he was in a smelly stable looking into the face of a tiny baby in a feed trough. But Joshua knew that this little baby was God Himself, God in human form. This little baby, Jesus, knew how many billions of stars were in the sky, and He knew each one by name. And He had come down to earth to bring peace to Joshua’s family and to the whole world (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 1:19-22).
Long ago, when mankind first became enemies of God, God had made a promise. He promised that Jesus would come and that He would make peace once again between God and man. It happened just like God promised. Jesus grew up. He died on a cross to take the punishment for all of our sin. The punishment for sin is death. We all have sinned and deserve to die. But Jesus died instead of us! He was buried, but came alive again, destroying death (Genesis 3:14-15; Romans 5:8; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 55-57; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:3)!
Now anyone who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus to take it away from them can have peace with God! They can be friends with Him instead of His enemies (John 15:14-15; Acts 3:19, 16:31)!
If you remember, I have been telling you all about the armor of God these past few months. Well, the next piece of armor God provides for our souls are the shoes of “the readiness given by the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). The word Gospel just means good news! The good news of peace is the good news that Jesus came down to earth to die on the cross, be buried, and come alive again so that people can have peace with God.
The angel who appeared to Joshua and the other shepherds was a messenger who brought the good news of peace. He told the shepherds about Jesus. Just like that angel, all Christians are messengers of that good news of peace. It is your job to tell people that they can have peace with God and be His friend instead of His enemy. You should always be ready to share this good news! If you need some ideas of how you can be ready to share the good news, check out this article I wrote called “Some Fun Ideas for Sharing the Good News of Jesus--Even If You're a Kid!” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).
Whenever you put on your shoes for the day, imagine that you are getting ready to go out and bring the good news of peace to the world, to anyone you meet. Never forget to wear your Good News Shoes, the shoes that bring peace.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.