This past Sunday, I preached on the appearance of the angels to the shepherds, declaring the good news, the gospel, that the Lord had been born. \u00a0The essential teachings about who the Lord is and what the gospel is are contained in the angel\u2019s words: \u201cI announce good\u200b \u200btidings to you of great joy that shall be to all the people. For to you is born today a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David\u201d (Luke 2:10,11). \u00a0Here\u2019s the sermon; the readings are\u00a0Jeremiah 23:1-8<\/a>, Luke 2:1-20<\/a>, and\u00a0Arcana Coelestia <\/em>468<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I will bring together the remnant of My flock out of all lands whither I have driven them, and will return them to their homes; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.\u201d (Jeremiah 23:3)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n The remnant will return, and be made fruitful.\u00a0 The word \u201cremnant\u201d means those who remain.\u00a0 It\u2019s a promise at the heart of the Old Testament.\u00a0 Every time the people is captured by an enemy and carried away from their homeland, the Lord promises that he will preserve those few who remain faithful.\u00a0 He will take that remnant and return them to their land, and will rebuild His people from that small remnant.\u00a0 Even before the time of Israel, we see the same thing play out in the story of Noah.\u00a0 The entire world had become evil, and so the Lord sent a flood to destroy the world \u2013 but he preserved a few, those who had not completely shut off their interiors against Him.\u00a0 A remnant was saved, and from them, the earth was repopulated.<\/p>\n The Writings for the New Church explain that in a deeper sense, these stories about remnants being protected and restored represents the way that even in the darkest times of a church, the Lord preserves a few who have not completely destroyed their faith and love in Him.\u00a0 When the Lord raises up a New Church, it is raised up with that remnant of the old church, along with a people from outside of the church, who had not been able to twist the Lord\u2019s Word because they had never heard it before.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It had been prophesied that when the Messiah came, He would save a remnant of His people, and establish them as the hope for the world.\u00a0 At the time of the Lord\u2019s birth, the people was in spiritual captivity.\u00a0 Fewer and fewer people were able to tell right from wrong.\u00a0 The religious leaders had placed their own traditions above the basic commandments of love and mercy and justice.\u00a0 The world was becoming darker and darker, because the Lord\u2019s Word was less and less able to reach people.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the forces of hell were multiplying in the spiritual world, infesting even the lowest levels of heaven, where simple spirits were not able to distinguish between those who were truly good and those who were only pretending in order to get what they wanted.\u00a0 Unless the Lord had come, to fight the forces of hell and to show Himself as a Divine Human, the human race would have been completely destroyed.<\/p>\n The world was dark.\u00a0 But there was a remnant, a few who remained, who had not destroyed the goodness and truth in themselves.\u00a0 These were mostly not<\/em> the learned class, the priests and the rabbis, since these had perverted the teachings of the Lord.\u00a0 Most of this remnant were simple people who were not experts in the Word, but who had some amount of natural goodness and natural understanding of truth.\u00a0 But even though they had not destroyed everything good in themselves, they were still surrounded by that same darkness.\u00a0 They did not have much knowledge, and not much goodness \u2013 only enough, enough that they were open<\/em> to the Lord.<\/p>\n And so when Jesus was born, there were shepherds in the same country.\u00a0 Shepherds in the Word usually represent people who teach and lead, and we still use this description \u2013 the word \u201cpastor\u201d actually just means \u201cshepherd.\u201d\u00a0 But the teachers and leaders of Israel, the scribes and Pharisees and rabbis and priests, were mostly corrupt.\u00a0 In our lesson from Jeremiah, the Lord made a promise that when He came, He would bring up good<\/em> shepherds.\u00a0 And these literal shepherds who the angels appeared to really did become the first preachers of the gospel, the good news that the Lord had come.<\/p>\n But at first, they were simple shepherds.\u00a0 And in addition to representing teachers, shepherds represent an affection for truth within a person, since it is an affection for truth that inspires us to be taught and led.\u00a0\u00a0 The shepherds represent the kind of person or the attitude of being humble enough to acknowledge that they need<\/em> truth.\u00a0 They seem to have been part of that remnant.<\/p>\n But they were living in darkness \u2013 they were out watching their flock by night<\/em>.\u00a0 And this is not necessarily as peaceful a scene as it can sound: they\u2019re literally described as \u201cguarding a guard\u201d over their sheep.\u00a0 They were taking shifts to stay awake throughout the night to watch for whatever unknown predators might come to attack their sheep.\u00a0 We can imagine that it was already a tense situation, to be sitting in darkness, not knowing what could come out of the darkness \u2013 a bear, or a wolf, or a lion.<\/p>\n But they were guarding their sheep.\u00a0 They are a picture of true innocence \u2013 a trust and willingness to follow the Lord.\u00a0 And we need to fight<\/em> in defense of that innocence.\u00a0 This is what these shepherds are pictured as doing \u2013 the light has gone, darkness has come on them \u2013 but they are still going to guard and protect whatever innocence they have left in themselves and the world.<\/p>\n We can imagine whatever shepherds were awake sitting up, peering out into the darkness, trying to stay awake, trying to catch a glimpse of any wild animals that might come and attack their sheep.\u00a0 And while they\u2019re straining to catch even the glimpse of a movement in the darkness \u2013 suddenly an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.\u00a0 And they feared a great fear.<\/p>\n Imagine that \u2013 being along in the darkness, and suddenly surrounded by an incredibly bright light, the glory of the Lord.\u00a0 That glory is heavenly light; it is Divine truth.\u00a0 And the first time a person really sees<\/em> the truth, it can be overwhelming.\u00a0 Swedenborg describes a time when person in the spiritual world heard something from the internal sense of the word \u2013 and his eyes filled with tears, and he was not even able to keep reading because he was so profoundly moved.\u00a0 This is a picture of the kind of awe a person can experience as they realize for the first time in their lives: I am seeing the Lord here.\u00a0 That is the glory of the Lord \u2013 the Lord\u2019s Divine Truth.\u00a0 And it can be almost frightening, because it is so intense, so brilliant, and so much bigger <\/em>than our own idea of the truth.<\/p>\n But the angel said to the shepherds, \u201cDo not be afraid.\u201d\u00a0 And he said, \u201cBehold, I bring unto you good tidings of a great joy that will be to all the people.\u201d\u00a0 Great joy that would be to all the people.\u00a0 This was the \u201cgood news,\u201d or the gospel: that there would be great joy to all the people.\u00a0 Literally, all the people here could be taken to mean all the people of Israel; but a people<\/em> in the internal sense represents those who are willing to receive the truth of the Lord, and so this is a promise of great joy to all those who receive the Lord\u2019s truth.\u00a0 This is the Lord\u2019s ultimate purpose in everything: we can talk about goodness and truth, we can talk about sin and evil, but the purpose of dealing with all those things is so that the Lord can join us to himself, and bless us to eternity in heaven \u2013 to give us great joy.<\/p>\n And where does that great joy come from?\u00a0 The angels said to the shepherds, \u201cFor unto you is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ, the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 When the angels said that this was \u201cChrist, the Lord,\u201d they were telling the shepherds two things: first, that the Christ, or the Messiah, had come.\u00a0 This was the fulfillment of prophecies throughout the Old Testament: that an \u201canointed\u201d one would come, who would save the people Israel, and bless the world.\u00a0 The word \u201cChrist\u201d means anointed, as in the act of pouring oil over the head of a king.\u00a0 And as a king, the Lord would rule with His Divine Truth.\u00a0 This is the side of the Lord that ensures that justice<\/em> is done, that there is fairness and rightness in the world.\u00a0 But He was not just Christ \u2013 He was Christ the Lord<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord\u201d was the word that Jews in those days used for \u201cJehovah\u201d mentioned in the Old Testament, the name of God.\u00a0 And as \u201cthe Lord,\u201d this newborn baby was an embodiment of Divine Love \u2013 the Lord\u2019s mercy, His compassion.\u00a0 In this baby, as is written in Psalm 85, \u201cmercy and truth have met together; justice and peace have kissed.\u201d<\/p>\n And the angel told the shepherds that this would be a sign: they would find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.\u00a0 Those swaddling clothes represent those first, most basic truths \u2013 the truths of innocence, of trusting the Lord and following Him.\u00a0 These would be the first truths those shepherds were able to grasp.\u00a0 He would be lying in a manger, a feeding trough for horses.\u00a0 A horse represents a person\u2019s understanding \u2013 and so the Lord\u2019s lying in a manger represents instruction from the Lord\u2019s words.\u00a0 Visiting the Lord in the manger represented the way that He would instruct those who wanted to be instructed with truths from His own Word.<\/p>\n But most importantly was that this was a newborn infant, a human being.\u00a0 The people of the most ancient church were able to have a direct perception of the Lord, but since that time, people had had a cloudy image of who He was.\u00a0 By coming as a human being \u2013 and throughout the process of His life, making that Human Divine \u2013 the Lord could enlighten even people who were not able to think about the most natural level.\u00a0 He could save even them.<\/p>\n So these shepherds, who represent people who want to be good but don\u2019t know how, were given hope of a Saviour.\u00a0 But still, the remnant was only with a few \u2013 and maybe these shepherds still felt alone.\u00a0 But suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, glorifying and praising God, and saying, \u201cGlory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.\u201d\u00a0 Just as in the story of Elisha and his servant, when they saw that the Lord\u2019s army vastly outnumbered the enemy army, the shepherds saw that they were not alone at all \u2013 that all the army of heaven was rejoicing at this birth.\u00a0 And this was not an army that sought out war; instead, they declared, \u201cGlory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.\u201d<\/p>\n So the shepherds had heard this good news \u2013 but they wanted to see it for themselves.\u00a0 So the journeyed to where the Lord was, and saw the baby lying in a manger, just as the angel had said.\u00a0 That manger, as a feeding trough, represents the Lord\u2019s Word, through which the Lord feeds our mind just as the food in a manger feeds a horse.\u00a0 And they made it known abroad \u2013 they went throughout the land to spread the good news \u2013 and they returned, \u201cglorifying and praising God.\u201d<\/p>\n So we see that these natural shepherds \u2013 who because they are simple, unlearned people, are humble enough to accept the Lord \u2013 we see them acting as spiritual shepherds, declaring the Lord\u2019s glory, declaring the good news of the great joy that would be to all the people.\u00a0 In the same way, the Lord later called simple fishermen to be His disciples, saying that they would become \u201cfishers of men\u201d \u2013 that is, that they would teach truth.\u00a0 The shepherds didn\u2019t have a deep, complex understanding of the Lord\u2019s glorification, or the different levels of the Lord\u2019s Divinity and His Humanity \u2013 but they knew enough: that He would redeem the world, that He would make it possible for people to be saved, and that He was the Lord.\u00a0 They had that innocent desire to follow Him as the good shepherd.<\/p>\n And here we come to our place in the story.\u00a0 At His birth, the Lord came to establish a new church that would worship Him as the one human God.\u00a0 But along the way, that church lost its focus.\u00a0 Kings and emperors began to use it as a justification for their own power.\u00a0 They split God into three, and they lost the focus on love to the Lord and to the neighbour as the two primary things of worship.\u00a0 And so, the Lord came again, but this time not in person.\u00a0 He came in a revelation of Himself within the internal sense of the Word.\u00a0 And in that, He helps us to see not only His body, but the deeper levels of His mind.\u00a0 And He again has showed us what He showed those shepherds: that He is both human and Divine, and that because of this, He can be present with us.\u00a0 And He comes to us as the glory in the clouds, the internal sense within the literal sense of the Word.\u00a0 He comes when we seek for Him in His Word \u2013 when we see everything in His Word as an expression of His love and His wisdom, and as instruction for how to bring those into life.<\/p>\n He defeated the power of hell, and can now keep it in check to eternity.\u00a0 But to receive that, we have to have the attitude of those shepherds.\u00a0 If we think we know everything, the Lord cannot come in.\u00a0 If we think that we can save ourselves, the Lord cannot come in.\u00a0 The world was dark at the Lord\u2019s second coming, and we still see a lot of darkness in the world.\u00a0 Like the shepherds, we can fight in this darkness to protect the sheep, to protect what is good and innocent in this world.\u00a0 And if we continue to come to the Lord with humility<\/em>, we can see the Divine Human \u2013 we can see the Lord in the pages of His Word just as the shepherds saw the infant Jesus in the manger.\u00a0 And we can behold the glory of the Lord.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t happen often, but from time to time we can catch a glimpse of that intense truth \u2013 truth that all has to do with love.\u00a0 That glory is the internal sense of the Word, seen within the cloud of the literal sense.<\/p>\n And we do not need to be great scholars to see that glory.\u00a0 Sometimes we can get lost in the intricacies of trying to understand exactly how<\/em> the Lord glorified His humanity, trying to explain logically why it\u2019s important that He is Human and Divine.\u00a0 It is useful to try to understand these things \u2013 but it is much more important to simply come and see.\u00a0 It can never be fully explained even to the comprehension of the highest angels what a difference it makes to worship Jesus as God.\u00a0 But if you innocently trust His Word and just do<\/em> it, to try as much as you can to worship Him as God, you can experience<\/em> a difference that is difficult to describe \u2013 as long as you are at the same time trying to glorify Him in your life by living in charity toward the neighbour.\u00a0 Simple shepherds saw more clearly than the greatest scholars why the Lord\u2019s presence as an infant would bring great joy to the world.\u00a0 And like the shepherds, when we see the Lord, we can glorify Him.\u00a0 This is not just about singing His praises, but also about living by what He teaches \u2013 being a living expression of His love.\u00a0 The Lord said, \u201cLet your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify <\/em>your Father in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 When we live in obedience to the Lord\u2019s Word, we glorify our Heavenly Father, and we contribute to true peace and true love in this world.\u00a0 As the angels said, \u201cGlory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.\u201d Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This past Sunday, I preached on the appearance of the angels to the shepherds, declaring the good news, the gospel, that the Lord had been born. \u00a0The essential teachings about who the Lord is and what the gospel is are contained in the angel\u2019s words: \u201cI announce good\u200b \u200btidings to you of great joy that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":275,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[18,238,101,241,240,239],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-sermons","tag-angels","tag-glory","tag-innocence","tag-remnants","tag-shepherds","tag-the-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\n