The Shepherds and the Angels Bible story for kids

Do you remember the baby in Bethlehem? How Mary wrapped him up snug in strips of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn?

That same night, the little town was quiet. Doors shut. Lamps out. Almost everybody fast asleep.

But not everybody.

Out in the fields near Bethlehem, there were shepherds. The Bible says they were "staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock."

Keeping watch. That means they were awake on purpose. Somebody has to stay up, so the sheep can sleep safe.

Imagine it with me. A cool night. A little fire crackling. Woolly backs all around, and the soft sound of sheep breathing and shuffling in the grass.

And maybe these were the very same hills where young David once kept his father's sheep, long ago. We don't know. But I like to think so.

And then.

An angel of the Lord stood right there beside them. And the glory of the Lord shone all around them. Light on the grass. Light on the sheep. Light on their faces, warm and golden, brighter than any morning.

The shepherds were terrified. Wouldn't you jump, if a light like that came on in the middle of the night?

But the angel spoke first, and the very first words were kind ones.

"Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people."

Those were the very same words an angel once said to Mary. Don't be afraid.

And the angel went on. "For there is born to you today, in David's city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Did you hear that, little one? Born to you, the angel told those shepherds. Not someday. Today. Just down the road from their field.

And that good news was for all the people... so it's for you, too.

A Savior. That means the Rescuer God had promised, long, long ago. The one who would make things right, and bring people home to Him.

And Christ the Lord. That means the King God had promised. The one He had chosen.

Then the angel told them how they would know which baby.

"This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough."

A feeding trough. A manger. The box the animals eat their dinner from! Not a soft bed. Not a golden crown. A King, tucked into the animals' food box. That's how they would know.

And then, suddenly...

There wasn't just one angel anymore. There were lots and lots and lots of angels. The Bible calls them an army... but they hadn't come to fight. They had come to say peace.

They were praising God, and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men."

Some people imagine it sounded like singing. Maybe it did.

Then the angels went away, back into the sky.

And it was dark again. Just the fire, and the sheep, and the shepherds, blinking at each other.

Then they said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

And they hurried! Imagine them on the path in the dark. Cloaks flapping. Sandals slapping. Puffing and panting all the way into town.

The Bible doesn't tell us who stayed with the sheep. I hope somebody did.

And there, in Bethlehem, they found them. Mary. And Joseph. And the baby, lying in the feeding trough.

Just exactly as the angel had said.

Imagine their faces, looking down at baby Jesus.

And then the shepherds simply could not keep quiet. They told what the angel had said about this child. And everyone who heard it wondered.

But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.

All that noise and wonder. And Mary held it quietly. The way you might keep something precious in a little box, and take it out again later, just to look at it.

And the shepherds went back. Back to the same field. Back to the same sheep. Back to the same work they always did.

But they were not the same.

They went back glorifying and praising God, for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.

Imagine those quiet hills, little one. The sheep settling down to sleep. And the shepherds, still awake, still keeping watch... and still saying thank You.

And God was with him. God was with her. God is with you, too.

Sleep now, little one. May the same God who gave some wide-awake shepherds news too good to keep to themselves... fill you with a joy you can't help sharing.