24th December 2025 Blog

This December, in our morning services, we’ve been asking the question: “why are there so many angels appearing around the time of the birth of Christ?”

First, we looked at how an angel introduced a messenger (Luke 1:5-25). The angel’s message directed Zechariah’s parenting of his son John. Instead of simply following in his father’s priestly footsteps, John would be a prophet who would ensure that the Lord will be properly introduced.

We then looked at how the same angel explained unseen realities, as he appeared to Mary (Luke 1:26-38). The angel’s explained God’s (unseen) favour, the (unseen) arrival of the Son, and the (unseen) role of the Holy Spirit. He also obtained Mary’s consent for something that would profoundly affect her body.

On Sunday we thought about how an angel saved a marriage, by appearing to Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25). By assuring Joseph that the child was a result of the Holy Spirit’s work (and not the result of adultery), Joseph and Mary remained legally bound together, and so Jesus was born as the heir to David’s throne, and so was able to save his people from our sins.

Tomorrow (spoiler alert) we’ll look at the angel’s appearance to the shepherds, and how the angels announce a heavenly glory which was not immediately recognisable in the humble scene of child in manger.

There are a couple more appearance of angels that we won’t cover this year. They are the appearances to the magi (Matthew 2:12), Joseph (Matthew 2:13) and Joseph again (Matthew 2:19). These messages from angels saved Jesus from being killed by King Herod’s men. Although you might ask: “Why save Jesus from death, when his purpose for coming was… to die?” (cf. John 12:27). Yes, Jesus came to die, but not before he had lived in our place, not before he had revealed his identity through his miracles and not before he had taught us about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus will die, but first he must speak for himself. (It’s interesting that after this the angels go quiet in terms of delivering any new messages, until after Jesus has given his life.)

And so we are thankful for the messages from heaven delivered by angels before Jesus was able to speak. But our focus is not on the angel, but rather Jesus. He is the living Word of the Father. He is the Lord come to his people, he is the Son of the Most High, He is the Saviour, He is the One whom we will worship and praise forever.

Andrew Vines, 24 Dec 2025