I walked to work today, because the weather is difficult for travel. Snow and icy rain are a bit unusual for us at Christmas-time. I slowly became cold and numb, even though I was well-wrapped in boots and jackets. I thought as I walked, “what a time for giving birth outside.”

I know that Jesus probably wasn’t born on December 25. Most scholars looking at the dates either arrive at a late Spring or mid-Fall date. September 29 is a favorite possibility. So my Savior wasn’t born in snow, most likely.

But the elements surely played a factor in His birth. No room at the inn, a pregnant Mary gave birth in a stable, probably a cave, far from the comforts of home. The One who would give His life for us was laid in a feeding trough. That scene, Joseph and Mary huddled in a cave smelling of stale animals, her exhausted from giving birth, him looking down at a child that was not even his own, is the scene of the greatest event the world has ever known.

This scene is the essence of preaching. “What?,” you ask. “Preaching?” Indeed. Fifty-five times in the New Testament the verb for preaching is used, and here the angels use it of Jesus’ birth: “Do not be afraid, for behold, to you I preach the gospel, mega-joy that will be for all the people.” (Luke 2:10, my translation).

What we are celebrating at Christmastime is the gospel. Preaching, preaching the gospel, proclaiming good news, that’s what the angel was doing. Glad tidings, the gladdest that ever was, started this night when this child was born into the world.

The angel preached the gospel, the good news, for this reason: “because to you is born today a savior, who is Lord Messiah, in David’s city.” (Luke 2:11).

This amazing truth, a child born in a smelly cave lying in a feeding trough barely out of the elements to young impoverished parents in a rural, seemingly unimportant land… this is the good news which we should never stop proclaiming.

Sin, obedience, judgment, freedom, law, eternity, love, it all makes sense only as it converges on this event, this particular scene. God became man, He entered time, O blessed good news that impacts every doctrine and thought of the Christian!

The vast multitude of the heavenly host broke forth in spontaneous praise that day over Bethlehem, proclaiming God’s glory and God’s peace. May we also never forget that our humble Savior is the preaching that the world so desperately needs to hear.

This is the reason for the preaching of good news, the proclamation of good tidings by the angel. This is the reason for the sudden multitude of the heavenly host all praising God, all proclaiming His glory to the highest, His peace come to earth.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14)

Merry Christmas; praises to the God who came to earth as a baby, for our sake.