T H E BABY'S FA C E Bartlett L. Hess, Ph.D.
“And, she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; be cause there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).
face with Divine reckoning. God is the supreme strategist. The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem, according to the prophet Micah who predicted it as the place of His birth seven centuries in advance, though the mother and her husband lived in Nazareth. How could this be brought about? To ac complish His purpose, God used an emperor, who called himself a god and a Roman proconsul, to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem at exactly the right time, not a day too soon or too late. For years critics scoffed at the facts related in the second chapter of Luke. They claimed there had never been a decree from Augustus that the empire should be enrolled for taxa tion, and that Cvrenius was governor in Syria ten years after this event. But confirmation has come from the stones of Egypt to show that such a decree went forth and that Cyrenius was twice governor of Syria, at this time and ten years later. The Roman method, similar to the Jewish method of counting by families and not place of residence, was followed. Thus dis placed persons thronged the roads to obey the orders o f the ancient gestapo or be punished for negligence. But through the confusion of traveling families, God’s magnificent purpose brought Joseph and Mary to Bethle hem at the command of the pagan ruler. “ But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman” (Gal. 4 :4 ). God’s clock is always on time, pot a moment early or late. God unites times and circumstances to fulfill His purposes. He did not abdicate at Beth lehem. He is still on the Throne work-
again.” While the message of Christ mas always brings joy on earth there may be at the same time a pain and pang in Heaven, for the Son came to die as an outcast, bearing the sin of the world. Sin was the cause of the death of the Son and the separation of Father and Son. “ Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isa. 9 :6 ). A child in the flesh is born, but the Son of God is given. “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, be- lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” There is eternity in the face of that Baby because He is the obiect of the promises of God made throughout the centuries. He is the seed o f the woman who bruised the head of the serpent, as promised in Genesis 3:15, the de scendant of Abraham who would bless all nations (Gen. 12:3), the star out o f Jacob, a prophet greater than Moses, the virgin’s Son, Immanuel (God with us), foretold by Isaiah. All the lines of Old Testament prophecy converge either on the crib or the cross or the coming back of the King. The manger was the beginning of the fulfillment of all God’s promises of our complete deliverance. “ The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.” There is eternity in the Baby’s face because o f the circumstances of His birth. There is the familiar military word: logistics. This is the knowledge of placing men and supplies at the proper point at the right time. For instance, the invasions of Sicily and Normandie were masterpieces of logistics. But here we come face to
A FTER World War II, a young sol- j dier traveling from Seattle to Chicago by train told my sister and brother-in-law of his experience at the time the war closed, and his return home. He and his outfit were being deployed from Europe—with its bat tles over—to Japan. Their vessel was outside the coastal shipping lanes of the Atlantic. Then news of peace with Japan snapped the tension, and men wept with joy as the ship was turned around and the prow pointed toward Newport News. There on the dock, straining to get one view of him, were his wife and the baby boy he had never seen. “ I took the baby in my arms and I walked up and down with him, laughing at one moment and cry ing the next. He was my little boy.” Many stalwart husbands have made long pilgrimages to see baby faces and the faces of others they love. We may well gaze on the face of the Baby of Bethlehem. Eternity in the Baby’ s Face T HERE is eternity in the face of that Baby lying in a manger, be cause that is His origin. “ The Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be gotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” On that first Christmas, and for thirty-two Christmases there after, there was a vacant chair at the Father’s table. Some whose sons are still in the armed forces have said to me during these last years, “We shall never cele brate Christmas until Jim comes home
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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