If Christ Had Not Come
By Herbert Lockyer, D.D.
H ave you ever paused to think what kind of a world this world would be, if Jesus had stayed in the glory? That He did turn aside from the ivory palaces and wrap Himself around with the garment of our humanity is one of the incontrovertible facts of his tory, Biblical and secular. But suppose Christ had not come? He Himself hinted at the hopelessness of man had He not been bom in Bethlehem. “ If I had not come” (John 15:22). The presence and glorious triumph of the church through the centuries, however, as well as our own salvation, testify to the fact that Christ did. come to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Yet suppose Christ had not come, how spiritually and morally destitute the world would be. It may be a cesspool of iniquity still, but society would be more putrid if it were not for the influence of Christ’s character and church. Life without Christmas is, indeed, a life unthinkable. Looking at it from the material angle, what would our home life, social life, commercial life and re ligious life be without Christmas? Dis play cards and newspaper announcements constantly remind us, as the month of December approaches, that there are only so many days left before Christmas. Such a warning is a spur to business as well as a call to ourselves to purchase all our gifts and perfect our holiday plans. But what would the world be like without the traditional Christmas trees, presents, cards and greetings, and all that is associated with the happy and welcome occasion we call Christmas? Has it ever impressed you that the only free peoples of the earth are those who, in their own national way, celebrate Christ mas? In this meditation, however, we are not concerned with debatable matters, such as Romish aspects of Christmas, or of the exact date of Christ’s birth. The important thing is that, stripped of its trimmings, the most unbelieving concede that Christmas commemorates the en trance of Christ into the world. And, surely, there must have been something unique about the One whose birth has claimed, through the centuries, universal and perpetual recognition! True, there have been others whose advent has blessed mankind, and whose birthdays are nationally remembered. But
the birthday of Christ has gained in creasing honor with the years. Our Lord Himself, in His rebuke of the Pharisees, pictured the desolation of mankind if He had not been born in Bethlehem’s manger. For more than nineteen centuries the world has heard His teachings and has been subject to His influences, so much so that friend and foe alike testify to His uniqueness. Coming from the Father, Christ trans formed a dreary wilderness into a gar den of roses. But suppose He had not come, then we would have been of all men most miserable. Over against “ If I had not come,” we place, “ I am come,” and we bless Him for His coming. Have you ever stopped to consider what life would be like had there been no first Christmas morn? Revelation would have been without a climax, and prophecy without a fulfillment, humanity without an ideal, men without a Saviour, eternity without a hope, and the world without a song. Had Christ not come on the first Christmas, we should have had a God without honor. Because of His foreknowledge, God was able to look down the vista of the ages and know that man, after his crea tion, would sin and require a Saviour. Thus, in the dateless past, love drew salvation’s plan, and in the fullness of time Jesus came as the promised One. The character of a person has a good deal to do with the fulfillment of any promise he may make. Who was it promised that Christ should come accord ing to the flesh and die as man’s Saviour? It was God Himself, and He was not a man that He should lie. But think of how the honor of God would have suffered, and man’s faith in His integrity been blighted, if the angelic announcement, “ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” (Luke 2:11) had not been realized. However, “ He is faithful that promised” (Heb. 10:23) and who for our sakes carried out to the very letter His declaration to send His Son to die in our stead. Bethlehem, then, vindicated the honor of God. Ever true to His Word, He fashioned for His beloved One a body in which to die, in order that we might be delivered from sin. Ever before Christ was the thought that in His ways and work He was fulfilling a divine purpose
and promise. “ My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work,” Christ declared (John 4:34). Had He not come, the character of God would have been revealed as imperfect. Had Christ not come, we should have had a revelation without a climax. Majestic as the Old Testament is, with its unfolding of the Person and purpose of God, without the New Testament it would have been but a broken arc of a divine revelation. The expectation of the Old Testament awaited the manifestation of the New. But suppose Jesus had not come, then a complete Bible would never have been ours. If the Ancient of Days had not become the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, there would never have been a New Testament. And what a tragic loss we would have suffered. The Old Testa ment without the New would have been as a bridge half way, only, over the chasm of human darkness. The last word of the Old Testament is curse (Mai. 4:6). What a pitiable ending to the first half of the Bible, commencing as it does with the sublime sentence, “ In the beginning God.” First, God’s majestic creation—then a curse; there you have the story of the Old Testament. The curse fell upon man be cause of sin and rebellion. “ Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). How miserable man would have been if left under a curse! How then did God come? Did He descend in judgment to mete out the promised curse? The answer is found in Matthew 1:1. The first line of the New Testament is taken up with Christ! The curse—then Christ; yes, He came to deliver the sinner from the curse. “ Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). That was where Jesus hung, and by dying that death He delivered all who believe on Him from the law’s curse and condemnation. Coming, then, as He did, the long ex pected One, Christ completed the divine revelation, climaxing thereby the un folding of the mind of God. This is why the New Testament ends, not with a curse, but with a benediction, even with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:21). If we had had only the Old Testa ment, with all its yearnings, promises and prophecies, one would have said, Where is the other half of the Book?
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