Bible Passage: Luke 2:1-20
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: December 24, 2025

Bulletin – Christmas Eve

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

“Christmas is a little bit of heaven!”  Have you ever heard anyone say something along those lines?  Some people will say it because it is the time of year when the entire family is able to get together.  Children may feel that way because it is a two week vacation from school and teachers may say it because it is a two week vacation from children.  For some, maybe seeing the smiles of children make this time of year a little bit of heaven.  Whatever it may be, people have their reasons for saying, “Christmas is a little bit of heaven.”  But very few, if pressed, would say Christmas is LITERALLY a little bit of heaven.

But that is what we are prepared to say tonight.  As we consider Luke’s well-known account of the birth of Jesus, as we consider the details of this story, we can say that Christmas really, truly, literally, is a Little Bit of Heaven.

Of course, the unfolding of this truth begins in the manger.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. (v. 6-7)  It’s an unusual birth, to be sure!  To go through labor and delivery in the place where the animals were kept.  To put your little newborn bundle-of-joy in a feedbox.  I am sure Mary and Joseph didn’t feel like it all was a little bit of heaven!

But it is the angels who will help us with this birth.  Luke tells us of some shepherds who were tending their flocks in the fields nearby.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them and said, Do not be afraid.  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. (v. 10-11)  The angel declares the wonder of what truly has taken place!  A baby has been born who has come from heaven!  A baby has been born who is Christ, the Lord!

Mary’s baby is a little bit of heaven!  He is Christ, the Lord!  He is the Lord.  Yes, the LORD God!  The One who fills the Old Testament with his stories!  The One who is present on page 1 of the Bible at creation, the One whose voice thunders at Mt. Sinai as he gives his Law, the One who leads the children of Israel through the barren wilderness for forty years and finally into the Promised Land.  Yes, THAT Lord!  He has come down from heaven and entered the time-space envelope as a little baby!  Why?

The angel has told us.  He is Christ, the Savior.  Long ago the Lord had spoken of One who would come to save people from sin and death.  This “Chosen One” was known as the Christ, the Messiah.  He would come to be the Sin-Bearer of the world.  And as Sin-Bearer, he would be our Savior.  The Lord himself was the Chosen One!  He chose himself!  He would come into the world to do the dirty work of saving us!  That is why tonight there is a little bit of heaven in a manger!

Well, a truth so big, so wonderful, calls for a celebration!  So we are told, Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (v. 13-14)  An angel concert!  Another little bit of heaven at Christmas!

The Bible contains many, many accounts involving angels.  But did you know there are only two places where we are told about multitudes of angels praising God?  We hear about it in the book of Revelation.  There we find a number of descriptions of the angels in the presence of God praising God.  The other is here in Luke 2 on the night Jesus was born.  The angels take the music that is usually only heard in heaven in the presence of God and they sing it HERE!  On earth!  How could they not?  That baby is Christ, the Lord!  That baby is Immanuel, “God with us.”  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:14)  And so a little bit of the angels’ song is heard on earth!

May the angels’ song remind us never to sing our Christmas songs “with a doleful dump through the nose.”  Shame on us when we look at watches or wonder how long the service will last.  The coming of God’s Son into this world was cause for an angel concert on earth!  It calls for our best worship, too! 

The final little bit of heaven we should mention is also found in the angels’ song:  And on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests.  (v. 14)  Heaven, of course, is that place of perfect peace.  The presence of God is described in Scripture as a sea of glass.  Perfect calm.  Perfect peace.  Of heaven it can truly be said, “All is calm, all is bright.”

Sin is the great disrupter of peace between heaven and earth.  And that is why Jesus came – to make peace between you and God.  One Christmas hymn puts it his way:  “Peace came to earth, at last that chosen night.”  It’s not the peace of a sweetly sleeping baby.  This peace is different.  Paul wrote to the Colossians:  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself…by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)  In Jesus, heavenly peace begins to break upon this weary world!

Christmas is a little bit of heaven.  It is the birth of the heaven-sent Child.  It is a night for heaven’s music.  It is the beginning of heavenly peace.  “Sleep in heavenly peace!  Sleep in heavenly peace!”

Amen.