(Christmas day Sermon):--Here is joy, joy at a sight, at the sight of a day, and that day Christ’s, and no day is so properly His as His birthday.
First, Christ has a day proper to Him. “My day.” Secondly, this day is a day of double joy--“rejoiced,” “was glad.” Thirdly, this was so to Abraham. Lastly, all this nothing displeasing to Christ, for it is spoken to the praise of Abraham that did it, and to the dispraise of the Jews who did it not. We are now disposing ourselves to this, and have a three-fold warrant.
1. We have Abraham for our example. We do but as he in making Christ’s day a day of joy.
2. Abraham’s example approved by Christ, who commends the patriarch, not that he rejoiced at the sight of Him, but of His day. Verily, the speech is in honour of Christmas.
3. He reproves the Jews for not doing herein as Abraham, which is against them that have a spleen at this feast, and think they can joy in Him and yet set by His day. Nay, love Him, love His day. They tell us that to keep it they would Judaize (Gal_4:10), but the context shows not to keep it is to Judaize.
I. THE OBJECT. “My day.”
1. Not as the Son of God. He has no day.
(1) Day and night are parts of time, but His goings forth are from eternity Mic_5:2).
(2) If we would improperly call it a day, no day to be seen (1Ti_6:16).
(3) If we could see it and Him in His Deity, yet there is small joy.
2. But as the Son of Man He hath more days than one; but this notes one above the rest, a day with the double article. There are two such eminent days. Of His Genesis, and of His Exodus; of His nativity and His passion.
(1) Not of His passion; for that was none of His (Luk_22:53), but ours: and no day, but rather night; and no day of joy (Luk_23:48).
(2) But of His birth, and so the angel calls it (Luk_2:11). And His day because every man has a property in His birthday; as kings in the day of the beginning of their reigns; as Churches, when they are first dedicate; as cities, when their first trench is cast. And a day of joy in heaven and earth Luk_2:10-14): to all people, not only on and after it, but before, and so to Abraham. Of course “day” must be taken for the whole time of Christ’s life; yet that time had its beginning on a day, and that day even for that beginning may challenge a right in the word.
II. THE ACTS.
1. Abraham’s first act--his desire.
(1) The cause of it. Why should Abraham so desire two thousand years before! What was it to him? You remember Job’s Easter (19:25). The joy of this was the same as Abraham’s Christmas; oven that a day should come when his Redeemer should come into the world. For a Redeemer he needed, and therefore desired His day (Isa_29:22). The time when hehad this day first shown him he complains of his need (Gen_18:27).
(2) The manner of it. We may take measure of the greatness of the day by the greatness of his desire. The nature of the word is, “he did even fetch a spring for joy,” and that not once but often. He could not contain his affection, it must out in bodily gesture. Think of a staid, discreet man being so exceedingly moved; and to do all this only in the desire.
2. Abraham’s second act. “He saw it,” though “afar off” (Heb_11:13), “as in a perspective glass” (1Co_13:12). He did not know precisely the day, but that such a day should come. How did he see it?
(1) Not as if he could not see it unless Christ had been in the flesh in His day. So Simeon saw (Luk_2:30). But better than this, for if Simeon had not seen in Abraham’s manner, he had been no nearer than the Jews who stoned Christ.
(2) If not with the eyes, then how? There is in every man two men--outward and inward. Now if there be an inward we must allow him senses, and so eyes (Eph_1:18); it was with these that Abraham saw, and by no other do we see.
(3) By what light saw he? He was a prophet, and might be in the Spirit, and have the vision clearly represented before him; but he was a faithful man Gal_3:9), and saw it in the light of faith (Heb_11:1; Heb_11:27).
(4) Where was this and when? The text is enough, but the Fathers hold that he saw his birth at Mature, His passion at Moriah (Gen_17:19; Gen_18:10). But this day he saw at Mature. Christ was in person there, one of the three.
3. Abraham’s third act. He that was glad that he should see it must needs be glad when he did see it; accomplishment is more joyful than desire. And what grounds (Gen_26:4)!
Conclusion: The reference to us.
1. Our desire. We have greater cause to desire this day because we have greater need.
2. Our sight is much clearer than his. For though we see as he, and he as we, by the light of faith; yet he in the faith of prophecy yet to come, we in the faith of history now past.
3. Our joy is to be above his, as we have the greater cause and the better sight. Rules for our joy.
(1) Here are two sorts
(a) Our exultation, a motion of the body.
(b) The other, joy, a fruit of the spirit. Let the former have its part, but should not have so large an allowance of time and cost as to leave little or nothing for the spirit.
(2) That our joy in Christ’s day be for Him. We joy in it as it is His. The common sort wish for it and joy in it as it is something else, viz., a time of cheer and feasting, sports and revelling, and so you have a golden calf’s holiday. (Bp. Andrewes.)
Abraham’s sight of faith
I. THE GROUND OF ABRAHAM’S FAITH--the promise of God. (Gen_12:3; Gen_22:18). To open this promise we must inquire
1. What was this seed? We must distinguish of a two-fold seed; that to whom the blessing was promised, and that in whom both Abraham, his seed, and all nations were to be blessed (Gen_17:7). Now this promise was either to his carnal seed or to his spiritual seed (Gal_3:7). But then there was another seed--the Messiah.
2. What was this blessedness? All the good which results to us from God’s covenant.
(1) Our reconciliation with God consisting of
(a) remission of sins (Psa_32:1-2), which is included in the blessing of Abraham (Gal_3:8).
(b) Regeneration (Act_3:25-26).
(2) Eternal life.
(a) The patriarchs sought it by virtue of this promise (Heb_11:13-15).
(b) Unless this had been included God could not act suitably to the greatness of His covenant relation (Heb_11:16; Mat_22:31-32).
II. THE STRENGTH OF HIS FAITH.
1. His clear vision of Christ. “He saw my day.” Three things argue the strength of bodily sight.
(1) When what we see is far off. Thousands of years intervened, yet they went to the grave in full assurance. The nature of faith is that it can look upon things absent and future as sure and near, but without it man looks no further than present probabilities.
(2) When there are clouds between. Now when the promise was made it was impossible in the course of nature for Abraham to have a son; but when the son was miraculously given he was commanded to sacrifice him. Now to strive against these and other difficulties argues strong faith Rom_4:18).
(3) When there is little light to see by. The revelation was obscure; the patriarchs had only Gen_3:15; Abraham’s was a little clearer, but it was a small glimmering compared with what we enjoy. Yet they could do more with their faith than we with ours.
(1) As to Christ there is a sight of Him
(a) Past. To see Him whom we have not seen, as if we had seen Him in the flesh, is the work of faith (Gal_3:1).
(b) Present. To see Him so as to make Him the object of our love and trust (Joh_6:40; Act_7:56).
(c) Future. We must be assured of His second coming and that we shall see Him (Job_19:25-27).
What, then, is this clear vision of Christ to us? How shall we judge of the strength of our faith by this? Ans
(2) As to the glory and blessedness of the world to come. Faith is the perspective of the soul, by which it can see things distant as present Heb_11:26; Heb_6:18; Heb_12:2).
2. His deep affection or rejoicing in Christ.
(1) No other affection will become Christ but great joy (Luk_2:10, Act_13:48; Act_8:39; Act_16:34).
(2) The reasons for this joy.
(a) The excellency of the object in Himself and His work (Joh_3:16); in His necessity to us (Mic_6:6-7; Psa_49:7-8; Job_33:24); in His benefit (1Co_1:30-31).
(b) The subjects are delivered from their misery and find their happiness in God.
(c) The causes--the Holy Ghost and faith as His instrument Rom_14:17; 1Th_1:5; Rom_15:18; 1Pe_1:8).
(3) The nature of this joy and its solid effects.
(a) It enlarges our hearts in duty and strengthens us in the way of Neh_8:10; Psa_119:14).
(b) It sweetens our calamities (Heb_3:17-18).
(c) It draws us off from the vain delights of the flesh (Psa_4:7; Psa_43:4). (T. Manton, D. D.)
Abraham beholding Christ’s day
I. THE DAY OF CHRIST. Not a period of twenty-four hours, but, as is usual in the Bible, a dispensation.
1. Some of the remarkable days that Abraham saw.
(1) Looking back he saw the day when the Everlasting Father embraced Abraham and all His chosen in Christ and designed their salvation (Pro_8:28).
(2) The day of Christ’s incarnation. “In thy seed,” etc.
(3) The day of Christ’s oblation.
(4) The day of Christ’s resurrection.
(5) The day of Christ’s ascension.
(6) The day of Pentecost.
(7) The day of judgment as winding up the dispensation and completing the fulfilment of the promise.
2. The characteristics of this day. It was a day of
(1) Light.
(2) Gladness.
(3) Life.
(4) Love.
(5) Peace.
(6) Salvation.
II. THE BLESSED VIEW WHICH FAITH TAKES OF THIS DAY.
1. It could not have been a sensible view--for sense never can discover God. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
2. It was a spiritual view--a sight by faith. Faith, like the bodily eye, is
(1) A recipient organ.
(2) An assuring organ. When a man sees a thing he cannot be mistaken if his sight is good, so a man cannot believe without knowing he is saved.
(3) A directing organ. By the eye we are guided in our daily life, and by faith we walk in the light.
(4) While a small, the eye is a capacious organ. What a wide prospect it can take in! So the least faith pierces the invisible.
(5) An impressible organ. As scenes are impressed on the retina, so is Christ on faith.
III. THE JOY AND GLADNESS ARISING OUT OF THIS SIGHT. It was not carnal but spiritual joy, including
1. Spiritual health (Psa_33:1).
2. Soul satisfaction (Psa_36:8).
3. Enlargement of soul.
4. It is cordial, hidden and unknown to the world, lasting, matchless and transcendent. (T. Bagnall-Baker, M. A.)
Christian piety in relation to the future
Christian piety
I. TURNS THE SOUL TOWARDS THE FUTURE. Piety seems to have turned Abraham’s mind to the “day” of Christ. This refers, undoubtedly, to Christ’s incarnation, personal ministry, and spiritual reign. Nineteen long centuries rolled between. Still he saw it. In relation to the future, Christian piety
1. Gives an interesting revelation of it. Science, poetry, literature, shed no light on the on-coming periods of our being; but the Bible does. It opens up the history of the race.
2. Gives a felt interest in the blessedness of the future. It gave Abraham a felt interest in the day of Christ. It gives the good a felt interest in the glories that are coming. And what glorious things are on their march!
II. FASTENS THE SOUL UPON CHRIST IN THE FUTURE. “My day.” To the godly Christ is everything in the future. Do the rivers point to the sea, the needle to the pole, the plants to the sun? Does hunger cry for food, life pant for air? Even so does the heart of piety point to Christ in the future. He has a “day,” a universal day of His glorious revelation to come.
III. BRINGS JOY TO THE SOUL FROM THE FUTURE. Abraham was “glad”
1. With a benevolent gladness; he knew the world would be blessed by Christ’s advent.
2. With a religious gladness; he knew that God would be glorified by His advent. Several reasons might make us glad as we think of the coming day of Christ.
(1) There will be a solution of all difficulties.
(2) A termination of all imperfections, physical, mental, spiritual.
(3) A consummation of unending blessedness.
Conclusion: Learn
1. The congruity of Christianity with the prospective tendency of the soul. The soul is always pointing to the future. Christianity meets this tendency and satisfies it.
2. The antidote of Christianity to the forebodings of the soul. Some souls are always boding evil, and well all the ungodly may. Christianity lights up the future.
3. The fitness of Christianity to the aspirations of the soul. Wonderful is the good after which some souls are aspiring in the future. The present and the material have lost for them their attractions. Man cannot aspire after anything higher than that which Christianity supplies. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ seen afar off
A very lofty mountain, rising in lonely grandeur on the horizon to cleave the blue sky with its snowy pinnacles, is descried from afar. We see it a long way off--from where hills and heights, shaggy forests, silent uplands, and busy towns, and all other individual objects that lie between, are lost in distance, and present the appearance of a level plain. So, just so, Adam and Eve descried a child of theirs rising above the common level of mankind, at the long distance of four thousand years. Of the millions who were to spring from them and people the earth of which they were the lonely tenants, this distinguished child was the only one on whom, on whose birth, and life, and death, and works, their weeping eyes and eager hopes, were fixed.
Christ before Abraham
But how did Abraham see Him and His day? One answer is, Abraham was in heaven when the Son of God left the seat of glory and came to earth. He saw the return of the trooping bands of angels whose faces flashed out in the sky above the plains of Bethlehem, and whose voices sang the anthem of incarnation, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” All heaven was stirred from its centre to its outermost rim over the coming of Christ to earth and over the great work which brought Him among men. Abraham was in the midst of this stir. There is another answer. You find it upon the page of Old Testament history. There we are taught that the Son of God did not always maintain invisibility prior to Bethlehem. Under the former religious economy He fellowshipped with men. He walked with Adam in Eden and communed with him in the cool of the day. There is quite a long chapter in the Old Testament concerning His visit to Abraham: how He found his tent; what Abraham was doing; how He was received; how a kid was dressed and cakes were baked; how He ate and refreshed Himself at Abraham’s table; even a report is given of the conversation which passed between them. From the declaration of superiority to Abraham, the Jewish ideal of superior human greatness, Jesus passes to the declaration of His equality with God. Christianity’s Christ is a distinct and a well-defined person. Everything about him is sharply cut and fearlessly stated. He speaks for himself. He entraps no man into discipleship. He is not afraid of the light, nor of the witness-stand, nor of the crucible. He asks no blind faith, but submits himself to scrutiny. The man with a true Christ is a true man. The Christ and the man always correspond. (David Gregg.)
