That night the angel echoed over the Judean hills a song, gladder tidings than which man will never hear. The words were the first evangelistic sermon of the gospel era, and the preacher was an angel. The pulpit was historic ground. On those Bethlehem slopes, on those same hillsides, David of old had fed his father’s flocks, and from those same fields he went forth at God’s command to exchange his shepherd’s crook for the royal scepter, and his lowly dress for the purple of a king. In those shaggy woods and grassy vales, where the pale moon cast its glow over the solemn hills, there rang forth the good news of God’s coming in the flesh:

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”