might be delivered from sin (John 4:34). The expectation of the Old Testament awaited the manifestation of the New. If the Saviour had not come, the complete Bible would never have been ours. The Old Testament without the New would have been as a bridge only half way over the chasm of human darkness. A curse fell upon man because of sin and rebellion (Gal. 3:10). How miserable man would have been if left in such a hopeless state. Christ came to deliver the sinner from the curse (Gal. 3:13). By dying that death Jesus delivered all who believe on Him from the condemnation of the law. The New Testament, unlike the Old, ends with a benediction rather than a curse (Mai. 4:6). Christmas gives us the final crown of God’s revelation. It is no wonder that the devil tried to destroy the royal seed from which Christ was to come. God supp lied an abundance of prophecies in the Old Testament to foreshadow Christ’s coming and min istry. In the first five books of the Old Testament alone we have the Lord pictured in a seven-fold way. He is the Seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15. He is the Salvation of Jehovah in Gen. 48:18. He is the Sceptre in Gen. 49:10. He is Shiloh in Gen. 49:10. He is the Shepherd of Israel in Gen. 49:24. He is the Stone of Israel in Gen. 49:24. He is the Star of Jacob in Numbers 24:17. How futile these predictions would have been had Christ stayed in heaven. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan declared, “In Christ we have the sum of all vir tues, the flower of humanity; there is none like Him. In perfection He is supreme. He is absolutely unapproach able; the best among men our only Man. Christ was the One who wrote the charter of the emancipation for women. He taught us the value of the children. He proclaimed the priceless ness of the human soul. All the insti tutions which are beneficial to the human race owe their origin to His in fluence. The impact of His life and power, personality and Saviourhood
is stamped upon every phase of human life. Coming into the world, Christ found a very dark place in which to live but brought to it, as to all the world, the light of heaven. ‘The light of the world is Jesus.’ When Jesus came the power of sin was broken. His very name declares His willing ness to save men and women from their sins. It is to Christ we turn NEW YEAR'S WISHES What shall I wish you? Treasures of earth? Songs in the springtime, pleasure and mirth? Flowers on your pathway, skies ever clear? Would this insure you a happy new year? What shall I wish you? What can be found Bringing you sunshine all the year round? Where is the treasure, lasting and dear, That shall insure you a happy new year? Faith that increaseth, walking in light, Hope that aboundeth happy and bright. Love that is perfect, casting out fear, These will insure you a happy new year! Peace in the Saviour, rest at His feet, Smile on His countenance, radiant and sweet, Joy in His presence, Christ ever near. These will insure you a Happy New Year! with a certainty of the proclamation of heaven, as well as of hell. He brought life and immortality to light through His own blessed Gospel. What an inexpressable difference His coming has made in our lives.” As one writer put it, “Thus, as we sing our carols anew, let us bless the Christ who has put a new song into our mouths, a song that we will never tire of singing, throughout the unend ing ages of eternity to come.” All of this is ours simply because the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world on His mission of divine love! 9
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