December 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
538
The Babe of the manger, who was announced as the Son of God, is now heralded as the Son of the Father’s,; right hand. As we think, therefore, of the birth of Christ, let us permit our minds to pass on to His life, and then on to His death. But we dare not leave Him crucified and buried. We must follow the Babe of Bethlehem past the empty tomb. We need, on this Christmas Day, to stand with the disciples at the Mount of Olives. We need to see the Lord ascending through the heavens. We need to hear the cry of the angels, a mighty host, saying, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” We need to behold our Christ seated at the Father’s right hand—a Prince and a Saviour. We need to see Him clothed with authority and power, with principalities and the rulers of this world under His feet. We need to see Him coming in the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory. We need to see Him reigning on David’s throne. How else can we, with the wise men, rightly worship the Babe of Bethlehem?
ing in the close of an age which finds the hearts of men filled with fears and strange forebodings of the things which are about to come to pass upon the earth. When we speak of the Babe of the manger, let us rejoice that in that “sign” we see God’s pledge of better days in the king doms of this world. He was born King of the Jews; and He is now about to take His throne. In spite of every strategy of Satan to op pose, and in spite of every counsel of human conclaves to avert, God will set His Son, His King, upon the holy hill of Zion; and God’s dynasty will be ordered and established in righteousness and peace upon the throne of David. V. Let saints shout and sing, their glad anthems bring, Praise Christ on this good Christmastide: Christ became a Babe and grew into manhood for the purpose of being a Saviour. He took upon Him flesh and blood, that He might have blood to shed. He is now no longer the Babe of Bethlehem, the Youth of Nazareth, or the Man of Galilee. God has made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. “Wherefore God also hath highly ex alted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” He is God, now exalted with power and sway, He is God, but not now on a cradle of hay, Let all in His glory abide.
If we do not recognize in that Babe all the glory which His life and death and resurrection and ascension and sec ond coming and eternity give to Him, how can we bring an adoration, on this Christmas Day, which is acceptable unto God? PUTTING CHRIST INTO CHRISTMAS . . . By JOHN BUNYAN SMITH,* San Diego, Calif. T h e s t o r y of Christmas is the most widely published story in the world today. Christ was in the world before
men from the open country. Later we behold the Babe encircled by scholars, saints, angels, and enemies. They were looking for a King To slay their foes and lift them high; Thou earnest, a little baby thing ■That made a woman cry. On Christmas, Christ stepped out of a Book arid became a Babe, out of a prom ise and became a fulfillment, out of' a prophecy and became a historical char acter, out of an ideal and became a reality. The Christ-child attracted the world. Both friends and enemies appeared. The kingdom of nature was there in a guiding star. The kingdom of knowledge was there in the persons of the wise men from the East. The kingdom of worldliness was there in Herod and his court. And the kingdom of other-worldliness was there in the angels. So, in our first view of Christ, we look down into a lowly manger, and we see a little Child bom of a woman.
Christmas. Two other great facts art linked closely with the Christmas story. These are Christ’s death and Christ’s res urrection. The world celebrates Christ mas, but it robs Christmas of its Christ. To gather about Bethlehem’s cradle is not sufficient. Salvation did not come by mere incarnation. Salvation did not come mere ly by crucifixion. Salvation did not come by the resurrection alone. Christianity is complete in a living Christ. If, at Christ mas, we get no farther than a cradle, small indeed is our Christ at Christmas. T h e C radle of C hrist Christmas finds the shepherds stand ing about the manger cradle—“they saw the young child” (Matt. 2:11). It was in deed a rude manger. God had come near in the form of a little Babe—what a bun dle of mysteries! Never before nor since
DR. JOHN BUNYAN SMITH
We reverently bow. Multitudes turn from the cradle and go away. True, they celebrate Christmas. They give and receive, but they never put Christ into Christmas. T h e C ross of C hr ist From the cradle of our blessed Lord, it is only a step to
was so much compressed into so small a compass. Many guests grouped themselves about the cradle. There was the mother, the blessed Mary; there was the toiler, the faithful Joseph; there were the shepherds, the
*Pastor, First Baptist Church, San Diego, Calif.
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