SPECIAL SECTION OF CHRISTMAS ARTICLES
uel, “ God with us.” In the days of His flesh, Jesus could point to Him self and say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” If we want to know what God is like all that we have to do is to study the words, works, and ways of His Son. Let this truth, then, be uppermost in our minds at the Christmas season, namely, that Christ came as the culmination of the revelation of the Father. The very word incarnation means to embody in flesh. Christ, then, by His birth became God manifest in the flesh. And it will not be forgotten that Jesus not only revealed and reflected God He was God. Christ Came to Redeem Man He came to do a work of atonement, by means of which men alienated from God because of their sins, might live forever in His holy presence. To make pos sible this blessed relationship, Christ, the Sinless One, came into the world to die. He could say, as no man could ever say, “ I lay down my life. . . . No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:17, 18). Nevertheless, “ The wages of sin is death,” and those wages must be paid. Justice must be satis fied. Penalties must be met. No mortal man could meet the requirements of divine law, but the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, became the sinner’s Sub stitute, and on the cross of Calvary the sin of the world was rolled upon Him. Since that day, God’s message to sinners has been to believe on Jesus, who died for their justification. Strange though it may- seem, nevertheless the truth remains, Jesus was bom to die. He turned aside from the ivory palaces, not that He might become an Ex ample for us to follow, but to die as the Sinless Sub stitute for Sinners. C. H. Spurgeon, that prince of preachers, declared that his theology could be ex pressed in four words: “ Christ died for sin” . Jesus, then, clothed Himself with our humanity that He might take upon Himself the load and curse of our sin. Let it not be forgotten that He was bom a Saviour, and that Mary herself recognized the stupendous truth when she sang, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” The question for you to answer, my friend, is clearly evident. Is this Saviour, who entered into our world over 1900 years ago, your personal Saviour? Although He came as the Saviour of the world, such a fact will not avail on your behalf, unless He is your very own Saviour. He came to save from sin. Has He
DR. LOUIS T. TALBOT, BIOLA Chancellor
\ t t h i s time of the year, when men’s thoughts turn to the coming into the world of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is well for those who know and love Him to recall clearly just why our Saviour came to earth. What is the true significance of His birthday we celebrate at this season of the year? We know, of course, that He lived before He was born: that by His birth we mean the beginning of His appearance in human form. Hundreds of years before the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit drew portraits of the coming Messiah, the Christ of God. And these inspired word pictures, preserved for us in the Word of God, emphasize the purpose of Christ’s birth according to the flesh. There are at least three truths wrapped up in the glorious truth of our Lord’s incarnation. Christ' Came to Reveal God “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). In Old Testament days, men knew something of God. The psalmist speaks of the heavens as declaring the glory of God and of the firmament as showing His handiwork. But there is more to be known of God than can be grasped through this revelation in nature. And Jesus, as He walked among men, brought that fuller understand ing. He said, in effect: “ I am God uncovered; I am God unveiled.” If one would know who God is, and understand something of His nature and work, he must study the four Gospels, for therein is Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, revealed as Imman
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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