although they lived in Nazareth. She laid the Lord in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Many times those early hostels were actually caves where the poorer people could spend the night. Ani mals were placed in a less desirable cave, tied to rocks. Sometime later, as wisemen came from the east to worship the King of the Jews, Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled by the news. In the hearts of the rulers, as with the inn, there was no room for Israel’s Mes siah. Has earth more room for Him today? The answer is quite obvious. One has written, “Emmanuel, Emmanuel, I know Thy lowly birth. Thine advent was not heralded by trump or song of earth. But a watcher and an holy One from heaven’s glory came Down with a legion of the shining host that advent to proclaim.” In Philippians 2, Paul opens up facts about the virgin birth. In the incarnation he describes three steps in the pathway of our Lord as He came into this world. This is so beautifully portrayed in Philippians 2:5-11. This shows us the tremendous stooping, or bending down, that the Redeemer carried out to ransom us from our sins. He became like men (but without sin) and was born a hu man being. He abased and humbled Himself carrying His obedience to the extreme of death by crucifixion. Because of this God has highly ex alted Him. He now has that name which is above all others. In a com ing day, all men shall bow their knees in His presence. Christ did not cling tenaciously to His glory as a prize to be held fast. This was the glory He had with the Father before the world was formed. It was not His attributes or characteristics which He had laid aside, but rather He di vested Himself of His glory. Paul, through the Holy Spirit, says that
Christ made Himself of no reputa tion. He became a bondslave will ingly. Christ ministered to men in lowly grace. His was the pathway of deep abasement. In the incarnation we see the Sav iour fashioned as a man, sharing his human experience. He toiled as men toiled, He partook of their food, and He dressed in the same manner as they did. He willingly became obe dient unto death, even the death of the cross. He stooped from the throne to the manger. He went down to the fathomless depths of the woes of the death of Calvary’s cross. Yes, His incarnation was marvelous, beyond human understanding. His Glorious Birth The central theme of our Christian faith is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The historical prophecies of the virgin birth are seen throughout the Old Testament with their com plete and literal fulfillment in the New. In them lowliness and great ness, suffering, joy, humiliation and exaltation were closely intertwined. It was from Bethlehem that He was revealed in human flesh. John tells us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He who was in the beginning came to dwell among men. In His person He remained all that He had ever been, and yet, through the incarnation, He became flesh, that which He had never been. While His outward circumstances were greatly altered, yet He unquestion ably remained the Word of God. To the fullness of Deity was added the fullness of humanity. All of the Sav iour’s acts were those of one indivis ible Person. He had the rich posses- Page 31 It is one thing to hear God's Word read and quite another to understand it and take it in. There is no exhortation more needed today than the exhortation to “continue.”
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