ing out His will in our troubled and deceived world. God still works in the lives of His children and in the stage of the world. “ Either,” wrote General Gordon in his diary, “ I must believe He does all things in mercy and love, or else I dis believe His existence. There is no halfway in the matter.” Earth in the Baby’ s Face N OT only is eternity in that Baby’s face, but earth as well. He was no different in appearance from the baby born on Maxwell Street or Lake Shore Drive. There was no halo about His head. His skin was like yours and mine. In every respect His body was human. It was just as much His body as my body is mine. From the moment Christ became incarnate, the Father has looked upon His Son, not only as God, but as man as well. Throughout eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ will wear the marks of His pilgrimage on the earth — the nail prints in His hands, the wound marks on His brow, the scar of the spear point in His side. But your resurrection body and mine will be perfect. Birthmarks, crooked limbs, blindness, deafness — all of these handicaps will be done away. But always we shall remember that He is the Lamb that was slain for our salvation, as we sing songs of praise to Him. Christ’s body was earth as your body and mine are earth. He was swaddled in earth’s poorest garments. Why was He given such a shabby re ception? “ And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swTaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2 :7 ). On that first Christmas Eve, do you not see the homes packed with rela tives and friends, the busy inn which was a market place where the per fume dealer unpacked his bottles, the wine merchant his skins, the dealer in silks his trunks? They bought and sold and remained overnight. The suites and all of the ordinary rooms were taken. Even the stables were full of pawing, munching camels, cat tle and asses. There was “ no room for them in the inn.” People were not cruel; they were only thoughtless, busy about their own affairs. Finally, in the stable cave they found a niche in the manger among the feeding cattle for the expectant mother. After giving birth to the baby, Mary tenderly wrapped Him in the simple “ layette” of that day and laid Him in a manger. There were no attendants but the beasts and Joseph. D E C E M B E R , I 9 5 0
The sign given the shepherds was that they should find “ the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” In the humble wrap pings we see the Babe’s dependence on our poor presents, and in His ly ing in the manger, His helplessness. Thus God put His Son at the mercy of man. He who might have set in mo tion an atomic reaction that would have destroyed all mankind sent His Son to be earth’s homeless outcast, unwelcomed and unwanted but by a few. His path was one of rejection and crucifixion that we might be re deemed by His grace. That is what Paul meant when he wrote the Cor inthians, “ the weakness of God is stronger than men . . . God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:25, 27). Never was God’s weakness so ap parent as when His Son lay as a help less baby in a lowly manger, crowded out of all rooms for human occupa tion, or when He hung upon a cross, exposed to the abuse of passers-by. That is foolishness to the world; not what men ordinarily think o f as “ the Christmas spirit,” but it was the means of your salvation and mine. Christ always identified Himself with the least, the last and the lost. Perhaps we think we know too much. Perhaps we possess too much. We cannot understand Christ’s indif ference to what we consider the good things of life. We think we can get along without Him. Once three little sisters slept in one bed. One night one little girl neg lected her prayers. Her father asked her why. “ Oh,” she replied, “ I’m sleeping in the middle tonight and do not need to pray.” No room for Jesus! If I fill the rooms of my life with things, there will be no room for Him. Eternal Life in the Baby’ s Face L IFE begins with the Baby. In the j face of Jesus, we see God’s Life coming to earth, entering into the stream of human life. When He comes into your life and mine, Heaven comes down to earth. What does Christ’s entrance into life bring to your life and mine? The first word of the angel was “ Fear not.” There is no path of life 'not haunted by some fear. When Christ enters our lives, He banishes all fear. Once and for all we are His, and we have nothing to fear. All in life is un der His keeping, and death but ushers us into His presence. “ For, behold, I bring you good tid ings of great joy, which shall be to all
people (I evangelize to you a great joy ).” The word for gospel is “ evangel.” Joy comes through the gos pel, the good news of Christ. Every other joy is like the house on sand which collapses in the storm. Christ brings His joy with Him and that sets a foundation under all happiness and makes it secure. Does not reading of the Christmas message, the prayer to gether in the family group, give a preciousness to the ecstasies of the children as each gift is opened? If once you knelt as a family at the man ger crib on Christmas and committed yourselves anew to Christ, when the time comes for some to celebrate Christ’s birthday in Heaven, the joy of fellowship is still there. “ For unto you is born . . . a Sav iour.” All joy in life flows from the salvation, the oneness of fellowship that we have with God through Christ. He is a personal Saviour. The message is “ unto you.” The fourth element in the spirit o f Christmas, the entrance of Christ’s life into our life, is peace. “Glory to God in the highest,” was the heavenly message, “and on earth peace among men of good pleasure” (Gk. Tr.). A recheck of ancient manuscripts since 1611 has brought to us the true read ing with the change of an “ s” in the Greek. Instead of the angels saying: “ on earth peace, good will toward men,” they really said: “ on earth peace among men of good will.” The Centenary Version translates it, “peace among men who please him.” Weymouth reads, “ peace among men in whom He is well pleased.” Thus the promise is not peace among the na tions in this age, but peace in the hearts of men in whom He is well pleased, because they have made room for Him. The “ glory to God in the highest” is married forever to the “ peace on earth to men in whom He is well pleased.” His kind of glory brings peace to the hearts of men. Christ’s birth brought glory to God in the highest and at the same time God’s pea6e to receptive hearts. Without Christ there can be no peace in men’s hearts or on the earth. This is not sentimentality, but ab solute realism. We shall only have peace when man gives glory to God. As long as he refuses God’s peace plan, the Prince of Peace — Jesus Christ — there will be no lasting peace. Thank God, the time will come when God shall again send His Son to earth as He did to Bethlehem nearly two thousand years ago. Then, not as a Babe in a manger, but as King of kings and Lord of lords, He shall reign for ever and ever! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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