We all love to get good news, but what would be the best news you could hear today? The answer to that question would depend on what’s going on in your life right now. For someone deep in debt, the good news would be that their liabilities had been paid off. For someone fighting cancer, the best news would be a clean and clear report. For individuals battling addiction, it might be some new chemical to finally break them free. For someone enslaved, it would be the proclamation of emancipation, and for someone mourning a loved one, it would be that the deceased person lives again!
Still others would see it differently. Someone being sued would love to hear their lawsuit had been dropped, and every prisoner dreams of hearing news of his or her pardon. For soldiers fighting in a war, the best news would be that their side had won, the war was over, and they could return to their families.
The angel who surprised the shepherds outside Bethlehem some 2,025 years ago told them he had good news that would be for all people. In order for that to be true, it would have to rise above individual nationalities, economies, physical conditions, and even personal situations. It would have to announce a breakthrough regarding some challenge or difficulty faced by every human being.
And that’s exactly the type of news the angel had, for Luke 2:10-11 tells us he said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” The good news of great joy for all people was that a Savior had been born! But a savior from what?
Mankind’s oldest, most pernicious, and most persistent problem was sin. When Adam disobeyed His Creator in Eden, he ushered in disease, decay, division, and death that would negatively impact every person born in his line of descent, which includes us. Because he and we both sinned, we will all have to pay sin’s wages which Romans 6:23 tells us are death; not just physical death, but eternal spiritual death separated from God forever in Hell.
This is very bad news and it is true for every person on the planet. The Bible declares clearly and repeatedly that none of us are perfect and that even the best human being has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. As such, we all owe a debt that will take us forever to pay off. We are enslaved to sin, addicted to evil, and bound for an eternal prison of suffering and misery. We are terminally ill with sin’s disease, at war with the devil, and we have the lawsuit of God’s eternal judgment hanging over our heads.
So what would be the best news all persons could hear? That we have been saved from our sin! That our oldest, most pernicious, and most persistent human problem has finally been addressed and eliminated and that all of its horrific consequences have been abolished as well. That would be good news indeed!
That’s exactly what Jesus came to do and that’s exactly what He did do! Unlike every other person before or since, Jesus lived a sinless life and became the perfect blemish-free sacrifice for our sin. He not only conquered sin on our behalf, He died in our place to free us from eternal death in Hell. Jesus has won our victory and set us free from evil’s prison. This best-of-all-news even transforms funeral parlors, for all who die trusting Jesus as their Savior will live forevermore! That’s why the angel could declare definitively that his message was good news for all people!
As you celebrate Christmas next week, thank God for this great news, receive Jesus’ salvation for yourself, and share it with others. Merry Christmas! George