THE BLESSING OF THE LORD !

THE BLESSING OF THE LORD ! The announcement wasn't delivered by some little twinkle-toed angel holding a choir book, either. he came from the angel of THE LORD Himself--- Jesus own personal angel (Gabriel). That angels eternal assignment was to help Jesus in everything He does. Gabriel had been with Mary throughout her pregnancy, protecting and watching over her and Jesus on that long trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Things surrounding Jesus's birth. Gabriel oversaw the sanctification of the manger. Gabriel released the glory of THE LORD there and purified it. Every dirty, death- inspired germ had to wait outside. When the angel Gabriel showed up to announce Jesus birth, contrary to what some Christmas carols claim, Gabriel wasn't crooning. He didn't just hover in the night sky holding a birthday candle and sing to a few sleepy shepherds. He came blazing on the scene so surrounded by the radiance of God's glory lit up the whole field. People all around must have awakened in their homes thinking it was daylight. Some of them may have gone outside to find out why it was as bright as noon in the middle of the night. When that glorious angel spoke, I'm convinced his voice shook the earth. The fields vibrated with his words as he delivered the message of Almighty God: "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (verse 10). Good tidings means "good news." It refers to the Gospel. That angel was saying, "I'm bringing to you the gospel [good news] of great joy." You and I shouldn't take those terms for granted because we've lived our lives in the gospel dispensation. But those shepherds had never experienced any kind of supernatural joy. True joy is a result of the inner workings of the Holy Spirit. It comes from having God inside you. In those days, it was difficult to even imagine such a thing. It was all those shepherds could do just to wrap their minds around the news that the Savior--- The Deliverer that the Jews had hoped and prayed for so long--- has finally been born. That alone was almost more than they could grasp. But that wasn't all the angel of THE LORD was telling them. Gabriel was announcing the restoration of THE BLESSING to the whole human race. That huge, glory-- radiating messenger was proclaiming the news that the serpent-- crushing Seed of Abraham, The Anointed One, had come to bring the joy of THE LORD, not only to the Jews but to all people. He was announcing to the sin crushed human race that had fallen in the Garden of Eden and lived in a cursed world for 4,000 years, that the way to the Garden was open once again. REELING FROM THE REVELATION: as soon as the angel of The Lord God gave that message, all heaven broke loose: 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 (versus 13-14). There is no record in THE WORD of God that this happened it any other time. But on the night Jesus was born, the angels were sold cited, they couldn't keep quiet any longer. They shouted down the Archangel himself and went wild praising God and shouting about peace on earth and good will toward men. Notice, they didn't say anything about goodwill among men. They were shouting about the kind of natural peace that comes from the absence of earthly violence. No, there excitement was generated by something greater. They were reeling from the revelation that the war between heaven and earth was over. The Garden of Eden incident was finished. The battle that started when Satan stole Adam's BLESSING and fought heaven with it: has been won. Those angels were saying, "There's peace now between God and mankind. The sacrifice for sin has come to earth and through Him, God's goodwill has been extended to all mankind !" The night Jesus was born, Earth's atmosphere reverberated with the answer to the question Satan has asked Eve thousands of years earlier in the Garden of Eden, "Has God said that the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely die ?" Heaven's host rocked this planet with the news, "Yes, God has said !" THE BLESSING was the first thing God ever said to mankind; and He'll never change it. THE BLESSING is God's perfect will for humanity. Jesus is the perfect will of God for humanity. He is THE BLESSING manifest in the flesh. He is the incarnation of the divine Words: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion...." Even before Jesus had finished His mission on earth--- before He went to the cross; the Bible says the tree of life also was in the midst of the Garden, and completed the plan of redemption--- God sent His angels to say, "Good news, everyone ! THE BLESSING of The Lord is back in Christ Jesus !"