Sunday Night Meditations 26 Message and Song - 1950's — Welcome Detweiler

Christ, the Greatest Gift from Heaven

To exalt the greatest gift that heaven has sent to earth. It was God's only begotten Son who descended from the hills of glory to be born in the city of Bethlehem. In lowliness and in poverty did he come to do the Father's will.

Joy came to the world when Christ brought to us poor, helpless sinners a full and a free salvation. I trust you will be able to listen as we seek to sing his praises and speak well of him.". 5 The birthplace of Christ is foretold, but thou Bethlehem, Ephrathah, thou that art of little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Isaiah 7 .14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 9 .6. For unto us a child is born, and to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.

Which hosts of angels chanted from above, with them joyful tidings first begun of God.

Incarnate and the virgin son. Then to the watchful shepherds it was told, who heard the angelic herald's voice, Behold, I bring good tidings of a Savior's birth to you and all the nations upon earth. This day hath God fulfilled his promised word.

This day is born a Savior, Christ the Lord. He spake, and straightway the celestial choir in hymns of joy unknown before conspired. The praises of redeeming love they sang, and heaven's whole Lord with alleluia rang.

God's highest glory was their anthem still. Peace upon earth, and unto men goodwill. To Bethlehem straight the enlightened shepherds ran to see the wonder God had wrought for man, and found with Joseph and the blessed maid her son, the Savior, in a manger laid.

Then to their flock still praising God returned, and their glad heart with holy rapture burned. Oh, may we keep and ponder in our mind God's wondrous love in saving lost mankind. He that was born upon this joyful day around us all his glory shall display.

Christmas Joy and the World's Limited Understanding

Saved by his love, incessant we shall sing eternal praises to heaven's almighty King. Where Christianity is acknowledged, the Christmas day is considered the brightest spot on the calendar. The children talk about it a month or two in advance.

The businessman prepares for it nearly a year in advance. Family circles plan their reunions. The sick and the aged are visited, and everyone makes a special attempt to spread joy and happiness. But the man of the world seems to have a very limited capacity to enter into the true meaning of the coming of Christ.

For the unsaved person there is the holly, the tinsel, the colored lights, but not much beyond, for the true light of the world has not been allowed to enter of the heart. As soon as the gaiety of the season is past, the unsaved person must go back to a very monotonous life.

In sharp contrast, the true believer finds the heart going out anew and afresh in praise and adoration, for he is able to enter into the true meaning of the coming of Christ into the world. Those who know Christ as Lord and Savior are taught to make no exceptions to special days.

Every day to the born-again believer should be a day of opportunity to proclaim the riches of God's grace in the person of God's beloved Son. As Christians, we recognize the fact that there is no instruction in the Holy Scriptures for the celebration of Christ's birth.

In fact, no one can give us the exact date of his birth. In the history of the early church there is no record of any such celebration, but somewhere down the line a suggested date was given, and this proposed day has at least served the purpose, even though no one can prove that December the 25th is the actual day of Emmanuel's birth.

The Word Made Flesh and the Revelation of God

The great and important fact that is emphatically announced in the Bible is that in the fullness of time God clothed himself in human flesh and came down to earth in the person of his Son. It would seem as though God considered former means of communicating his mind to his creatures as rather inadequate, so Christmas to the child of God marks the beginning of a new and more blessed revelation of God.

This time he is speaking in simple language so that everyone can understand. In John's Gospel, one's first thought is that he does not say much regarding the birth of Christ, but closer observation leads one to discover that he does say a great deal in a few words.

His sublime account is couched in five words. The word was made flesh. Ordinarily you don't write the word W-O-R-D with a capital W, but if you have a good Bible you will find in John 114 a capital W.

It is not a printer's mistake. It is so written because it is the name of a person. God's Son is called the capital W-O-R-D. It's a very suggestive name. We think of words as a means by which knowledge is communicated.

And Jesus Christ came to proclaim the knowledge of God. He came as the Word. The Word was made flesh. It is true that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork, but no person can be fully known by his works.

The Incarnation, Virgin Birth, and Atoning Sacrifice

God's heart of love and his desire to redeem lost and guilty sinners could only be expressed in one of the Godhead coming down to earth. In order to redeem sinners he had to have a body, and in his incarnation a body was given to Christ, that in that same body he might suffer and bleed and die for my sins.

Christ might have come into the world as a full-grown man, but God chose to send him by way of a virgin birth. His holy sinless life gave value to his atoning sacrifice. We must ever remember that the Christmas story has no value except when it is linked with the crucifixion and Easter story.

If Herod had been successful in slaying Christ while he was under two years of age, his coming would have been in vain. When Christ was twelve years of age he was missing for three days in Jerusalem. Let us suppose that his mother and father had never found him, and he would have mysteriously disappeared.

If so, the purpose of his coming would have been in vain. Supposing again that after he began his public ministry while in his thirties that his enemies who sought to kill him would have been able to do it.

A murdered Christ, without going to the cross and dying for our sins, would have marked his visit the earth a complete failure. The value of his coming to Bethlehem is found in the sequel to the story when he died on Calvary's cross for your sins and mine.

After remaining in the tomb until the third day, God raised him from the dead, and soon after that he called him back to heaven. His cycle was completed. If I didn't know the full story of the purpose of his coming, I doubt seriously that I would be able to worship a mere newborn baby.

All newborn babies are wonderful, but why should I worship any one of them? I can only worship the Christ Child because He loved me and died for me. I was hell-bound like every other child of Adam's race, but Christ through his death and resurrection has given to me everlasting life, and now I am heaven-bound, and that means everything to me.

I find no difficulty in saying, O come, let us adore him! If I didn't know him as my personal Savior, I would not be able to adore him as Christ the Lord. I might be able to admire him, I might have nothing against him, but only those who know him as Lord and Savior can worship him.

It is some of Satan's subtleness to call more attention to the birth of Christ than to the death of Christ. It is his death that atones for sin, and it is because he would do such a thing as die on the cross for us that makes his birth so amazing.

Christ's Mission: Salvation Through His Death and Resurrection

The angel's message to Joseph before the birth of Christ was, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin, and that is made possible only by his sacrificial death and resurrection.

When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that he might receive the adoption of sons. The New Testament tells us that the birth of Christ was a great mystery, 1 Timothy 3 .16, and without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness.

God was manifest in the flesh. Human wisdom will never be able to explain it, but faith believes it, because it is in God's infallible word. Through faith we understand. The great mystery of his incarnation is in the fact that in human affairs love is only extended to the good and loving, but God's love gift was given to the most undeserving, to sinners, and we all are found in that class.

Giving Ourselves to the Christ Child

The wise men who came to worship Christ when he was about two years old did not exchange gifts, but they brought their gifts and presented them to the Christ child. Usually the one whose birthday is celebrated is the one who receives the gift.

How would you feel if your friends decided to have a birthday party on your birthday, and they exchanged gifts with one another, and went home without presenting a gift to you? What have you given to Christ on this season of his celebrated birthday?

If you are unsafe, perhaps you ask, what would he desire? The answer is found in his word. He wants you. He will accept nothing else from you until you present yourself. He wants to save you from your sin.

There is nothing that would please him any more than if he would hear you say, just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid'st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.

The Invitation to Receive Christ and Find Peace

He is just now extending his loving arms of sympathy to you to save you from sin, to love and befriend you. We have a Savior who has proven in the lives of countless millions that he satisfies all the cravings of the human heart.

If you will accept by simple faith this wonderful Savior, he will meet your need, whatever it may be, and you will hardly have a merry Christmas as long as you reject his offer of peace and salvation.

Things don't bring satisfaction. Religion won't bring peace to the soul, but Christ will, and his desire is expressed in the words, Son, give me thine heart. He came to save sinners. I wonder if he has saved you, and if he hadn't, it must be your fault.

It must lay in the fact that you haven't surrendered your life to him. You haven't allowed him to receive you and save you and make you his own. If you will confess your lost and guilty condition, you will open your heart's door, and you will trust him as your Lord and Savior.

You will be giving to him just what he wants. You will bring pleasure to his heart. If you are a Christian, you may present an acceptable gift to him, for according to Romans 12 and 1 he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

To yield your life entirely to him will be more gratefully received than gold and frankincense. Isn't it wonderful that each one of us have the privilege of bringing gifts that will gladden the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ?

I trust that you will have a very joyous Christmas, rejoicing not in material things, but rejoicing in the fact that you know this wonderful Savior. Will you trust him, my unsafe friend? If so, you will have the happiest Christmas you've ever had, and you'll be able to thank this wonderful Savior, and join with all the Christians, and say, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Gracious Father, we ask now, thou wilt bless thy word to every listening heart, in the name of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.