And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And 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. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

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 among those with whom he is pleased!” (Lk. 2:8-14 ESV)

This passage records the third appearance of an angel in Luke’s Gospel. The first was to Zechariah, the priest; the second to Mary. In both cases, the angel names himself Gabriel.

But to the shepherds the angel is unnamed. It is not important. What is important is his message.

Of course, the shepherds were frightened. Nothing like this had ever happened to them; so the first thing the angel said to them was “Do not fear!”

Then he announced the good news of great joy. A deliverer-king is born. He is the promised anointed one and none other than the Lord who delivered Israel out of Egypt.

The narrative could have ended there, but God’s message to the shepherds had only begun. What the solitary angel said was a fitting introduction for what came next. And if the appearance of the Lord’s angel was not surprise enough, “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 among those with whom he is pleased!’”

The shepherds were probably stunned once again with fear. Who were these? The Greek text says they were “a multitude of the army of heaven.” These were not Botticelli angels carrying harps. These were fearsome warriors probably carrying swords. The shepherds no doubt wondered whose army this was and if they (the shepherds) were to become cannon fodder. The angel-army answered the shepherds’ questions in so many words: “We are God’s army. We are not here to fight you. Peace to you. We are after your enemy!”

As for the devil and his hordes, it was a war of attrition after that. The devil knew his days were numbered. A mighty army was on his tail commanded by a most fearsome captain.

The shepherds witnessed the first wave of God’s D-Day, the Great Invasion. And Bethlehem was the beachhead. The first mighty volley in that war was a baby born to the humble maiden, Mary.

[Photo by Nils Tubbesing – Von Nils Tubbesing in die deutschsprachige Wikipedia geladen., CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1698878%5D