What was the best gift you remember receiving? As we approach Christmas time, we begin to look for gifts to give our loved ones and maybe are hopeful in anticipation over what we might receive. What items are carefully wrapped in the boxes under the tree for us?

There are a couple of gifts we see throughout the story of Jesus’s birth. Maybe the most obvious gifts are the ones the wisemen brought a good while after the actual birth of Jesus, but in response to his birth nonetheless. The wisemen saw his star and traveled a long way to bring him gifts that would be suitable for a king–frankincense, gold and myrrh. These were extravagant gifts. These men traveled a long way from another country to find him and worship him–even though he was not royalty in their country. What a wonderful foreshadowing that Jesus was not only a gift to Israel (his own people group) but to all mankind. The star was an encrypted message that told these men that the king of the Jewish people had been born, and the wisemen sought out the meaning of the star and found him. Proverbs 25:2 says: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” That is exactly what these wisemen did. Jesus was a king to these wealthy men from a far away land.

Of course, there is another gift in this story. Another, not-so-hidden message was sent to a group of shepherds who were taking care of their sheep one night, not too far away from where Jesus and his family were sheltering on the very night he was born. 

Luke 2:8-15 tells us:

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.  Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them.

 “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (NLT)

These unexpecting shepherds from Israel were given a word from an army of angels–not just any word, but the word that the entire world had been longing to hear–”Peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” There was hope for the relationship between man and God.

Since Adam and Eve’s first step into sin in the garden of Eden, man had been at odds with God. But here was a good word! Peace to mankind! God was about to make a way for sinful man to have peace with Himself–through his son Jesus–the greatest gift imaginable. It would bring us friendship with God. 

The shepherds, not of high class–just ordinary people–got to hear the great news from angels themselves. God sent a dramatic fanfare for his son’s birthday and did not hide the message to these shepherds like he did for the wisemen, but told them in an outright way so that it could not be missed to these common men from God’s chosen people Israel. The shepherds didn’t come with gifts for Jesus, nor was it required.

These shepherds went to find Jesus, and there he was, after some searching, wrapped in clothes and placed in a trough from which animals fed. There he was–the greatest gift from God–a savior who came to bring peace between us and God–for the foreigner and the citizen, for the wealthy and the poor, spoken in the ways that each person could understand, in signs and riddles and in plain speech of heavenly angels. Jesus was right there, bringing the heavenly kingdom to earth–not wrapped in wrapping paper and a beautiful ribbon but in swaddling cloth. What a magnificent Christmas gift, ready to be searched for and found by any who would take the time to seek Him.

You probably have some presents under your tree for Christmas in this time of gift-giving. Have you opened up the gift God has for you through his son, Jesus? The gift of peace with God?