The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “You could not step twice in the same river.” Life, like a river, is constantly moving—no pause, no rewind button, not even a slow-motion option. I recall a movie title from the 1960s that said, “Stop the world, I want to get off.” Many of us have had days that feel like that, yet even when we stop to reflect, time keeps flowing. The only thing predictable about life is that it will keep changing. Some moments drift past unnoticed, while others alter us forever. For a group of shepherds outside Bethlehem, one night changed everything. The angel Gabriel appeared to them with breaking news from heaven, declaring that eternity itself had just stepped into time. The shepherds were simple men doing an ordinary job on an ordinary night, but after that encounter, nothing about their lives—or the world—would ever be ordinary again.
We can sympathize with the shepherds’ reaction. When the angel appeared, they trembled with fear. To be fair, if an angel showed up in our living room, we would probably spill our coffee, too. Yet the angel calmed them with the words, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Change is hard for most of us, even when it is good. The shepherds’ lives were disrupted in the best possible way. The angel announced that God Himself had entered the river of time, stepping into the current of human history. We often fear change because it pulls us from our comfort zones, but God’s kind of change brings peace. The shepherds’ fear turned to faith, and their night shift turned into worship as they hurried to see the baby lying in a manger.
These were not just any shepherds—they likely tended the temple flocks near Jerusalem, caring for lambs destined for sacrifice. Each newborn lamb was wrapped in swaddling clothes to keep it spotless for offering. The angel’s sign, then, was deeply symbolic: “You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). The shepherds who raised sacrificial lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world. The baby they found that night was more than a child—He was the acceptable sacrifice, perfect and unblemished. As John later wrote, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The river of time changed forever that night, because eternity flowed into it—in the person of Jesus Christ.