day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Unto you! Unto you! “ Unto you is born this day . . . a Saviour.” If Christmas has any message for a holiday-weary world it is this—for cen turies preceding His birth Christ was promised unto us! The humble sheep herders who were willing to receive Him were told that Christ the Saviour was born unto them! Have we received Him? The Gospel, the good tidings, begins with a Saviour born to us—to you, and ends with His glorious reign upon earth “upon the throne of David” as “ Christ the Lord.” Thus will our earth reach its golden age. The Desire of Nations shall come into His own. The longings of the nations for peace will be satis fied. Phillips Brooks’s stanza sets forth both aspects of the good tidings:
O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in; Be bom in us today! We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with i*,s, Our Lord Emmanuel!
be satisfied. 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, Jesus was born to die. He turned aside from the ivory palaces, not that He might become an example for us to follow, but to die as the Sinless Substitute for sin ners. He clothed Himself with our hu manity that He might take upon Him self the load and curse of our sin. Let it not he forgotten that He was born a Saviour, and that Mary herself recog nized the stupendous truth when she sang, “ My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Our Lord’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection form a triad of truth upon which our minds never tire of meditating. In the virgin womb of Mary, the human body of Jesus was fashioned. In the virgin tomb of Joseph, the glori fied body of Jesus was prepared. And the Holy Spirit was responsible for both miracles. By His broken body, Christ made possible our salvation and by His resurrection, He guaranteed it. This may be our last Christmas. Who knows? Are you ready? If not, then why not fill the heart of Jesus with joy by surrendering yourself unreservedly to Him? Give Him a happy Christmas. Give Him yourself 1--L.T.T. Christ Is Born— Unto Us! The promise of God through Isaiah (9:6,7) is familiar to every child of God, “ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . .” Unto us! Unto ns! “ Unto us a child is born . . .” The Saviour was born as a babe in Bethle hem for us—for you, for me. The angel who appeared to the shep herds near Bethlehem on the night of the Nativity brought them “ good tidings of great joy” in the following words (Luke 2:11), “ For unto you is born this
Why Jesus Came At this 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. “ 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’ declar ing the glory of God and of the firma ment’s 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 under standing. 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 Immanuel, “ God with us.” In the days of His flesh, Jesus could point to Himself 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 cul mination of the revelation of the Father. The very word incarnation means to em body 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. 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 possible 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). Neverthe less, “ The wages of sin is death,” and those wages must be paid. Justice must Page Four
■ —D.G.D.
The Christ o f Christmas Christmas has become a great festi val. Te millions it will be an opportunity for eating and drinking and making merry, sometimes at the expense and the miseries of others. Before the day has passed there will be broken bodies on the streets and highways of the country because people had no vision of the significance of Christmas. But on the whole, it will not be that the great est majority will be sinning consciously. To most of us it will be the sin of forgetfulness. We will be so interested in our festivities that we will forget that Christmas is the celebration of the day in which God gave His all for man kind. We certainly do not mean to give the impression that God does not expect people to be happy on Christmas day. He does not begrudge them their din ners and parties and their wholesome fun. All these are natural celebrations of a great event. Of course, He will be hurt when these things descend to sin particularly when that sin militates against the happiness of others. But He does want all of us to be willing even in the midst of our festivities to give Him the only gift which He has ever desired and that is ourselves. It is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe that the God that holds everything in the hollow of His hand should desire the fellowship and devo tion of the human heart. But although it is unfathomable, it is nevertheless true. Therefore, if you are one of those who has never given your heart to Christ, there will be rejoicing in the presence of the angels this Christmas day if you would give Him that gift. Even to those of us who did that per haps long years ago, we can still make T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter