The announcement to shepherds by the angel. Here is how you will know... Plain language, specific information. If you were announcing the coming of a king, isn't this how you would do it? Simple and specific, sure; but impoverished and among livestock?
First of all, I imagine a trained security detail and the cordoning off of areas to prevent people from being trampled in the excitement of peeping a king. I think of months of special announcements and the disseminating of information to the public. Eleventh Street will be closed between Reed and Ford Streets from 5 to 10 each evening as grandstands are being constructed. Subways will be running extra legs to and from the viewing area. I'd probably hire extra guides to assist visitors and maintain traffic flow; maybe even rent one of those huge spotlights just to make the event more spectacular! I'd want the king to feel at home, so, an entire floor of the "five-starriest" five-star --maybe even the whole place! --would be booked and an extravagant dais would await his appearance. On that dais, he will be presented with a beautiful, custom robe, handmade of the finest textiles, trimmed in the rarest gems, and lined with the most expensive of furs. He will ride to and from the city in a marvelous carriage (or a triple black G-Wagen, to give things a more modern flare). You would know, the man who sits upon such a grand and luxurious throne in such a grand and luxurious throne room, is a man of import, power, and great wealth!
But our King, this long-awaited Messiah, Savior and Deliverer of the world arrived accompanied by plain language, specific information; nothing of the trappings you would expect to herald the arrival of the King of kings. There was no security detail. In fact, all were welcome then as they are today; there are no cheap seats in the Kingdom of God and all who will can become children of the King. His birth was heralded by angels, by psalmists and prophets, and by God Himself in the Garden of Eden. A star --one He'd created so many years before as He sat with His Father in the throne room of Heaven --a solitary, bright star served as guide to those who sought Him; no spotlight or marquee could ever compare. Jesus left His heavenly home, a palace more glorious and grand than the minds of men can contrive, to dwell with us, to need, to sniffle and sweat, all for the sake of humanity's deliverance. He donned not an expensive robe, but simple strips of the meanest cloth, lovingly wrapped about His tiny frame, keeping out cold and comforting Him --for now --from the travail of the life that had just begun. His carriage, the womb of a virgin, had been a warm, safe place; more comfortable than the stern of a storm-tossed boat, though He slept soundly in the favor of His Father there; more protected than the crude, blood-stained wood of an execution stake, though He willingly remained in peril unto death there. The throne room of this Infant King was extemporaneous, with little consideration toward providing for the needs of creatures of a two-legged variety; certainly not the place in which any baby --much less the Holy Child --should be delivered. His throne? A feeding trough. Where was Child Services? Was this the sort of birth, the coming of a king, the means by which anyone would know their Savior has come?
No sooner had the angels left them and gone back into heaven than the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, that ADONAI has told us about.” ~ Luke 2:15 (CJB)
And see. Assured they would see, assured the sign would be just as they were told, assured they would know. Hurrying off, they came and found... (v.16) Eager to go; but what did they find?
Meanwhile, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen; it had been just as they had been told. ~ Luke 2:20 (CJB)
The cloth. The trough. They knew. Our King has come.
