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‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’
Joh_1:14
I. A perfect Saviour.—And He became not only flesh, but a perfect Saviour. You can trust Him, for He was God of God, Light of Light. He was true God, begotten ‘for us men and for our salvation.’ John tells us to think of the Incarnation not as an evanescent thing, for the Word was ‘tabernacled’ amongst us. He took up His abiding place here. ‘I am with you always’ are the words of His mouth, and He Who came between God and man, the Saviour and friend of the world, came to stay. The Saviour of mankind is a living, present Saviour to-day.
II. Is there room for Him?—Is there room in your hearts for Jesus? Have you opened your very souls to Him? Have you opened your whole life to Him? Make room for Him, for sad indeed is the condition—awful will be the eternity—of that one to whom He comes and who receives Him not. Listen to what Isaiah says about the wonderful life of Christ: ‘The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.’ There are men and women to-day who would give anything for light. ‘More light! More light!’ Take the light of the Babe of Bethlehem—follow the Star to the manger, and it will lead you to everlasting life, it will bring you perfect peace.
III. Let the Prince of Peace give you peace always.—What will it mean to you as well? It will mean life; it will mean power. ‘The government shall be upon His shoulder: and He shall be called the mighty God.’ The power belongeth unto God and that helpless Babe of Bethlehem. And look at the helpless Babe of Bethlehem—a Herod cannot kill Him. A Cæsar cannot slay Him. The devils in hell cannot silence Him, for He is ‘the mighty God.’ Do you want power to overcome sin? Do you want to live an upright and godly life—take Him as God’s gift to the world. Do you want hope and strength and sustenance for life? You will find it not merely in His power, but in His eternal life. Take Him to-day, make room in your hearts for Him.
Rev. R. W. Atkinson.
THE IMMENSITY OF DIVINE LOVE
The secret of our Christmas joy cannot be expressed in fewer or in better words than those. It may without any difficulty be expanded into at least twice as many more.
II. In order to make anything of this great subject, we must perforce take one aspect of it only at a time.—Thus, we shall do well if we seek to realise the immensity of Divine love which such an emptying of glory implies. Or else we shall seek to form a notion of the nature of Divine condescension, by dwelling in the thought that it is the Creator of heaven and earth of Whom we speak. Or let us understand how grand and august is the event which we celebrate to-day; we shall call to remembrance the long retinue of types and shadows, the vast machinery and preparation which Almighty love set agoing four thousand years before, to enable His servants at last to go forth and say, ‘Come, for all things are now ready!’
But whichever of these things you do, be faithful enough to find some moments, at least, for the more central truth in its simplicity.
Dean Burgon.
THE MOST STUPENDOUS FACT IN HISTORY
I. Look at man in the light of nature.—We look upwards at the myriads of planets, and a sense of our own nothingness tempts us to think of ourselves as the creatures of a passing moment, the prey of blind forces in the blinding whirl of chance. We look downwards at the earth, wrinkled with innumerable graves—the very dust composed of the decay of unnumbered organisms; and we are tempted to believe that nothing remains for us but ‘dust to dust.’ We look around, and, seeing the vanity and vileness of mankind, not savage tribes alone, but communities nominally Christian tainted by greed, by dishonesty, besotted by drink, the bondslaves of base and brutal passions, we are tempted to despise our race—our own selves. It is such thoughts that drive men into the devil’s gospel of despair, and lead so many to cry wearily ‘that life is not worth living.’ But
II. Turn from the shadows—face the sun!—Turn your eyes from the phenomena of evil and ruin, and behold the manger-cradle of Bethlehem! Look at man in the light of the Incarnation, and see how all is changed! Jesus, Who is Christ the Lord, was the Perfect Man, the Representative Man; God as a Man with men; God, not merely revealing Himself to man, not merely uniting Himself to man, but God becoming Man. And so we take our estimate of man, not from the churl and villain, the liar and scoundrel, the selfish miser and staggering drunkard, not from the harlot and the felon, and those yet more guilty who made them what they are, but from the pure, the good, the spiritually-minded. These alone are true men and women. In the light of Bethlehem’s candle we see man not as he often is, but as he may be, as we trust he yet will be. God became Man that man might become as God; that he might be a little higher than the angels, instead of a little lower than the brutes. Thus, in the light of this truth, we escape from the snare of the devil, which would lead us to despise human nature. We say, ‘I trust in the nobleness of human nature, in the majesty of its faculties, in the fullness of its mercy, in the joy of its love.’
III. Do not regard this lesson of the Incarnation as a mere vague trust, a mere abstract speculation.—It is a belief which affects our estimate of ourselves—our conduct to others. There is not one degradation of our being which does not spring from lack of self-reverence, of reverence for beings whom Christ hath redeemed, to whom He has given a right to be children of God. The Incarnation teaches us that our part is in Christ, our bodies His temple, our nature His image, our hearts His shrine. He who regards himself as akin to the beasts that perish will live as they do. He who regards himself as an immortal being, partaker of the nature which Christ wore and Christ redeemed, will aim at a noble and godly life.
—
Dean Farrar.
‘We beheld His glory … full of grace and truth.’
Joh_1:14
I. The religion of Jesus Christ is bound up in the Person of Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem. He is the attraction. For Who is He? He is God. He is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. He Who was from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; He Who all along the ages had been creating, inspiring, directing all that had ever made for truth and love in the world, became flesh and dwelt among us. Then what conviction should this lead us to but that He in Himself is worthy of our deepest consideration, of our deepest love?
II. But the attraction lies not only in the fact of our Lord’s personality.—The attraction lies in what John, for instance, and the others beheld and experienced, as being bound up with and demanding from the Person of Christ. Now, what did that Personality contain? In the Babe of Bethlehem there resided, John tells us, a fullness—full of grace and truth.
(a) What is grace that our Lord offers to the world? It means favour. God entertains favour towards His creatures if they are His. But grace is more than mere favour. If God entertains favour towards a creature, then He blesses that creature, and God’s grace becomes, not simply a passing feeling, but a gift; and what gift can it be except such a gift as can enable man to be filled with the fullness of the Divine life? And such a gift it is in Jesus Christ, the free gift of love towards mankind, which enables man to fulfil what God demands.
(b) And He bestows truth as well as grace. If man is to serve God, a true idea of God is necessary. That is why people do not serve God. They do not know God. They have no true idea of God; and once they get a true idea of God they will serve God as intelligent beings should. And Jesus Christ gives us that idea. He is God. All truth is summed up in Him. Truth, as seen in Christ, is no abstract speculation. It is living; it is personal. As grace can help the change, so truth can free.
Rev. H. G. Daniell-Bainbridge.