In Lk 2:9-12, the angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” We are going to see the significance of the three words the angel used to describe the person who was born. Jesus Christ is:
The Saviour – a saviour is a person who saves you from something, from which you cannot save yourself. In 2 Sam 22:3, David called God “my saviour” and said, “thou savest me from violence.” God miraculously saved David from the violence of Goliath, Saul, Isbosheth, Absalom, Sheba, and all his enemies. David died naturally, not in battle. The Psalmist said in Ps 106:21, “They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt.” God miraculously saved Israel from Egypt. No one could have done what God did. In Matt 1:21, the angel said to Joseph, “thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Jesus saves us miraculously from our sins. No one else in the universe can save us, because there is only one saviour. And that saviour, according to Is 43:11, is God.
The Christ – Matt 1:16. Jesus is called Christ, because he is the Messiah. Andrew confessed that in Jn 1:41. The Samaritan woman at the well confessed that in Jn 4:25. Christ means anointed as you see in Acts 4:27 and Acts 10:38. The prophecy concerning his anointing is found in Lk 4:16-21 where Jesus reads Is 61:1-2, and testifies that he fulfilled this prophecy. As the Christ, Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning Israel’s redeemer and deliverer. He is God’s man. He’s the one in whom the Old Testament culminates [Rom 10:3-4].
The Lord – Mk 12:35-37 in which David calls his son, Lord. And Acts 2:36 in which Peter testifies that Jesus is alive and is both Lord and Christ. The only way for these two scriptures to be true is that Jesus must be God manifest in the flesh [1 Tim 3:16]. And when you believe Jesus and trust him to save you, you also confess that he is the Lord. In 1 Cor 12:3, we say that Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost. Even those who are lost will one day confess that he is Lord [Phil 2:9-11].
Conclusion: the pronouncement of this angel of the Lord to these shepherds in the field is profound. Jesus is the Saviour. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Lord. He is the only one.