Something, nay, Someone is missing. Christmas gave us the other half, the final crown of revelation. Had Christ not come we should have had prophecy without a fulfillment. Such was the mercy of God, that with the en trance of sin into the world, the first prophecy of redemption immediately fol lowed. And Satan, the one responsible for sin, was the first to hear that the Seed of the woman would bruise his head, that is, destroy his authority. It is no wonder that the devil tried to destroy the royal seed from which Christ was to come. But ultimately He came, and at Calvary Christ fulfilled the prophecy first given at the scene of man’s transgression. God supplied an abundance of prophe cies and types in the Old Testament to foreshadow Christ’s life and ministry. In the Pentateuch alone we have Christ pictured in a sevenfold way, as the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the Salvation of Jehovah (Gen. 49:18), as the Sceptre (Gen. 49:10; Num. 24:17), as Shiloh (Gen. 49:10), the Shepherd of Israel (Gen. 49:24), the Stone of Israel (49:24) and the Star of Jacob (Num. 24:17). How futile these predictions would have been if Christ had remained in Heaven! The blessedness of Christmas, however, is the glorious truth that the Christ of prophecy became the Christ of history, and, by faith, He becomes the Christ of experience to those who receive Him. Another loss to the world if there had never been a first Christmas, would have been that of its only perfect Man. In Christ, we have the sum of all virtues, the flower of humanity. There is none like unto Him. In perfection He is supreme, unapproachable. The best among men are only men at the best and tainted with sin. But Christ came as God’s perfect Man, as man’s perfect God. How poor the world would have been if Jesus had not come! He it was who wrote the charter of emancipation for women, who taught us the value of the child, and who proclaimed the priceless ness of the human soul. Apart from the fact that this unique Person changed the world’s calendar (for this is the year of our Lord 1952), all institutions beneficial to the human race owe their origin to His influence. Hospitals, homes for the aged, and orphanages are with us today because of His teaching re garding the worth of the individual. There has never been another comparable to Him in world influence. The impact of His personality is stamped upon every phase of life. Coming into the world Christ found it a very dark place in which to live, but as the Light from Heaven, He caused much of the darkness of sin, error and unbelief to disappear. How true it is that the Light of the world is Jesus! What a hopeless, helpless life would have been ours if Jesus had not been born of a woman, for man would have Page Twenty
only the great fragrance of Heaven, but a fuller, more complete revelation of eternal bliss. Without the New Testament, we would never have had the unmistakable under standing which is ours today, of the two destinies awaiting all travelers to eter nity, namely, Heaven and Hell. It is to Christ we turn for the certainty of “ the damnation of hell” for the sinner, and “the Father’s house,” with its many mansions, for the saint. Had Christ not come, what gloom, despair and anguish would have been our portion. But coming as the Eternal One, He brought life and immortality to light through His gospel. Had Christ not come, the world would have been without a song. Heathenism has no songs. Singing is characteristic of Christianity. It was fitting, therefore, that the angels sang as Christ was born. What a sad, songless life ours would have been, if Jesus had not made possible the Song of the Lamb! and, truly, His con descension, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension have given us something about which to sing. If there had never been that first Christmas, there would never have been any churches, Sunday schools, missions, hymn books and spiritual classics! What a difference His coming has made! How His wondrous birth has enriched the world, turning its night into day, its sighs into songs, its despair into delight. Thus, as we sing our carols anew, let us bless Him who has put a new song into our mouth, a song we will never tire of singing through the un ending ages of eternity. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
been without a Saviour. All humanity, ruined by the Fall, would have remained ruined, with nothing but the blackness of darkness before it. But when Jesus came, the power of sin was broken. He was bom a Saviour, and His Name declares His willingness to save men and women from their sins. He came into the world, Paul reminds us, to save sinners. Vaughn Shoemaker’s famous Christ mas cartoon, “ The First Christmas Gift,” which first appeared in 1934, has a most interesting background. Shoe maker walked into the office of the Chicago Daily News with his rough sketch under his arm, a drawing of a star gleaming down upon a manger, with the words of John 3:16 pencilled across the sky above it. The editors, while praising the sketch, argued that a Scripture reference might offend some readers. Shoemaker held his ground, however, and said that John 3:16 must be retained or he would not submit the sketch. Colonel Frank Knox, the publisher, said to his editors, “ Let’s be sensible. If it weren’t for John 3:16 there wouldn’t be any Christmas. It’s a good cartoon. Run it. We need more like it in the News.” However, unless the Christ bom in Bethlehem is born within our hearts as Saviour and Lord, the event of Christ’s coming will avail us nothing. Had Christ not come, man would be forced to face eternity without hope. While the Old Testament saints knew that the grave did not end all, their conception of the future was dim and partial. But Christ, having lived before He was born, brought with Him not
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