My wife has been busy decorating for Christmas, so we now have angels all over our home. One is smiling down from the top of the Christmas tree, holding a light in each hand. We have a whole chorus of them on a window ledge over in the corner. They are all various heights; all dressed in beautiful lace dresses. Another ceramic one is placed in front of the shepherds, near the manger scene. The Christmas tree itself has hundreds of little ornaments, and dozens of them are angels, angels in glass balls, angels inside of clear bells, baby angels, and angels that look like they stepped out of classical paintings.

Why so many angels on the Christmas tree? You know the answer, don’t you? Angels are the ones who brought the good news to mankind on that first Christmas. “An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them,

[a group of shepherds] and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’ ” (Luke 2:9–11).

We don’t know exactly what angels looked like, although sometimes they looked like ordinary men. There were no photographs. We do know one thing. The angels we decorate our houses with must be kinder, gentler versions of the real thing—because people were often scared to death when real angels appeared. We know this because the angels almost always started their announcements with, “Fear not!” (See examples in Matthew 1:20; 28:5, Luke 1:13; 1:30).

We do know that the word “angel” actually means messenger. Angels are God’s messengers. Although we don’t know all the things they do in heaven, the Bible does tell us that they are busy worshipping God. When they come here to earth, God often sends them to announce good news.

I’m no angel (so I have been told!), but since I am a Christian, I am also one of God’s messengers, especially at Christmas time. Every Christian wants to share the gospel message of God’s love everywhere. We, along with the angels, get to spread the good news that Jesus can set us free from our sin and from its eternal consequences. If we let the stress and commercialism of the holidays snuff out our joy, we lose sight of our special place as God’s messengers.

We may not be angels, but we can share the message of the good news, the good news that Jesus has come to rescue all in this evil world who will turn to Him. Some will be open to our message. Why only some, you may ask? Jesus explained that He only came to rescue the ones who know they are sinners. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). Sinners are those who know that they who need to be rescued.

Sadly, many miss the whole reason we celebrate Christmas. They don’t think they need to be rescued. They think they are doing pretty well, better than most of the people around them. They think the good things they’ve done will earn them a place in heaven. They often say, “I have my religion,” and they think that settles it.

I hope you’re not one of those people. If you turn from trusting in your own goodness, and if you turn to Jesus, He will rescue you, too. That is why Jesus was born: “… God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:18–19). When that happens, your heart can rejoice as mine does with the angel’s message of “good news of great joy.”