"NOW HEAR THIS"
How many times did we hear this blare out over the loud speakers on the ship on our way to Europe during the Second World War. These words, repeated twice, always prefaced an important announcement to get our attention.
The divinely instructed Psalmist has something important to announce. In Psalm 49 he begins: "Hear this . . . " "Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world (or earth); both low and high, rich and poor together" (vv. 1, 2).
What is this important announcement that all mankind should hear? Simply this: "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him" (7). The redemption of the soul is most important (8), giving man eternal life and delivering him from corruption (9). But as important as it is no one can by human ingenuity ever redeem one precious soul.
Some trust in their wealth to somehow effect their redemption (6). Some depend on their wisdom and others plead their ignorance (10). Some just put it off (11). Others think because they are honorable they will get by (12). But such is not the case.
"NONE OF THEM CAN BY ANY MEANS REDEEM . . . "
"When he (who trusts in human ingenuity) dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him" (17). Note which direction he goes when he dies: descent. "He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light" (19). "Cast him into outer darkness," said our Lord (Matthew 22:13).
No man can by any means effect man's redemption. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me" (15). How does God redeem? "When the fulness of the 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 we might receive the adoption of sons . . . and if a son then an heir of God through Christ" (Galatians 4:4, 5, 7).
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). None can by any means redeem -- none but God, and all who have experienced His redemption know it, "forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (or manner of life) . . . but with the precious blood of Christ . . . " (I Peter 1:18, 19).
"Hear this, and heed it, all ye people; give ear, and believe it, all ye inhabitants of the earth." Do you, my reader, believe that God alone can redeem you? Will you believe? Will you believe in Him, even in our Lord Jesus Christ, for your own redemption? God help you to do so!
-- The Editor
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"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
John 17:3
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A Graphic Description Of
THE NATIVITY
By Martin Luther
How unobtrusively and simply do those events take place on earth that are so heralded in heaven! On earth it happened in this wise: There was a poor young wife, Mary of Nazareth, among the humblest dwellers of the town, so little esteemed that none noticed the great wonder that she carried. She was silent, did not vaunt herself, but served her husband, who had no man or maid. They simply left the house. Perhaps they had a donkey for Mary to ride upon, though the Gospels say nothing about it, and we may well believe that she went on foot. The journey was certainly more than a day from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, which lies on the farther side of Jerusalem. Joseph had thought, "When we get to Bethlehem, we shall be among relatives and can borrow everything." A fine idea that was! Bad enough that a young bride married only a year could not have her baby at Nazareth in her own house instead of making all that journey of three days when heavy with child! How much worse that when she arrived there was no room for her!
The inn was full. No one would release a room to this pregnant woman. She had to go to a cow stall and there bring forth the Maker of all creatures because nobody would give way. Shame on you, wretched Bethlehem! The inn ought to have been burned with brimstone, for even though Mary had been a beggar maid or unwed, anybody at such a time should have been glad to give her a hand. There are many of you who think to yourselves: "If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby! I would have washed his linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manger!" Yes, you would! You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Childish and silly thoughts are these! Why don't you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ himself.
The birth was still more pitiable. No one regarded this young wife bringing forth her first-born. No one took her condition to heart. No one noticed that in a strange place she had not the very least thing needed in childbirth. There she was without preparation: no light, no fire, in the dead of night, in thick darkness. No one came to give the customary assistance. The guests swarming in the inn were carousing, and no one attended to this woman. I think myself if Joseph and Mary had realized that her time was so close she might perhaps have been left in Nazareth. And now think what she could use for swaddling clothes -- some garment she could spare, perhaps her veil -- certainly not Joseph's breeches, which are now (supposedly) on exhibition at Aachen.
Think, women, there was no one there to bathe the Baby. No warm water, nor even cold. No fire, no light. The mother was herself midwife and the maid. The cold manger was the bed and the bathtub. Who showed the poor girl what to do? She had never had a baby before. I am amazed that the little one did not freeze. Do not make of Mary a stone. For the higher people are, in the favor of God, the more tender are they.
Let us, then, meditate upon the Nativity just as we see it happening in our own babies. Behold Christ lying in the lap of his young mother. What can be sweeter than the Babe, what more lovely than the mother! What fairer than her youth! What more gracious than her virginity! Look at the Child, knowing nothing. Yet all that is, belongs to Him, that your conscience should not fear but take comfort in Him. Doubt nothing. To me there is no greater consolation given to mankind than this, that Christ became man, a child, a babe, playing in the lap and at the breasts of his most gracious mother. Who is there whom this sight would not comfort? Now is overcome the power of sin, death, hell, conscience, and guilt, if you come to this gurgling Babe and believe that he is come, not to judge you, but to save.
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HAVE you ever tried praying for someone else when you are in great pain, great sorrow, great trial? Praying for someone less fortunate than yourself? Try it! It brings rich and satisfying results.
Have you ever tried praying when it seemed there was a gray cold mist between you and the Lord? Try it! It does your soul good and the answer is on the way.
Have you ever tried praying when you seemed to have failed in every way in the Lord's work and you feel you can't hold on? Remember, God holds on to you, not you to Him.
If you would be blessed beyond measure: "Keep on Praying."
-- V. G. (Violet Gordon)
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THE LIGHT SHONE OUT OF DARKNESS
By Anne E. Montgomery
I was home for the holidays during my junior year at college when my mother told me that she had been praying for me. How naive, I thought! I began with Hegel and Kant, to lecture her concerning what I had learned. Belief in God really was quite old-fashioned; my college professors had said so, and they were exceedingly learned men.
But mother had been going to church, and apparently the minister was inane in his thinking. Of course he had not gone to a big university -- just some small "religious" school of no reputation. Anyway, likely he was incapable of comprehending some of the more complex philosophic concepts.
My senior year I was home again. My great uncle lived with us, and on this particular day he had been away to a farm sale, returning in late afternoon to relate that he had seen Preacher Hereford. They had discussed the longevity of uncle's life; in four months he would be an octogenarian. Then, the old man wept as he disclosed that the preacher had inquired, whether he was "ready to meet his Maker." Mother reiterated the same inquiry to which uncle replied, "I'm ready when He calls me." In three months I was called from school to see uncle once more while he might recognize me. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which caused him, within a few days, to be ushered out of this life.
Four years later I was called home suddenly -- this time from my teaching position. This was to be a long stay, for both my father and mother were seriously ill. An only child, I must assume the responsibilities of caring for them, of managing the household and cooking for the farm hands who carried on the field work on the small farm where we lived. The furnishings were unpretentious, the work was hard, the hours were long, and the worry was great.
As I sat up the long nights keeping vigil over my dad and mom, my heart cried out for strength, for comfort, for help. My mother and I had been particularly close; what could I do if she were to die? The college professors were not much help now, neither were the philosophers; they were mere men. They had no more power than I, and I was completely helpless. There were the doctors though; surely they possessed some superhuman power. But the experienced diagnostician had shaken his head as he told me, "There is a higher Power who has taken over now; there isn't anything we can do for your father." There wasn't a more reputable specialist in the area. It seemed incredible to me that somebody couldn't exert power. Falling into a deep coma, my dad did not recover consciousness.
Somewhat improved but a semi-invalid, confined to a wheel chair, mother needed constant care. In the weeks, months, and years ahead, there was time for much reflection. Often I thought of the conversation between my mother and uncle and how he had been "ready." These thoughts permeated my mind as we sat occasionally in the congregation of the little local church; however, everyone appeared so plain and "homespun"; there just wasn't the finesse I had known on the "dress-up" occasions at college.
For a while mother was better, but within three years she was stricken again. The older specialist's successor was in the office now. He gave me no encouragement and even shocked me when he disclosed that doctors can cure minor ills but are often helpless in serious physical breakdowns. Here was a graduate of Harvard Medical School telling me of man's inadequacies!
During ten years of uncertainty and worry, I found myself tuning in religious broadcasts and planning to attend the little church more often. Through the ministry of the Word and the testimony of an acquaintance, the Lord brought conviction to my heart. I had reached "man's extremity"; light had shone out of darkness! In the course of these earthly trials, the learned men -- the college professors and the philosophers -- had given me nothing. I came to realize that "power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11); only He can help the afflicted. He is the Author of life; He executes judgment. He is the source of strength and comfort. In HIM ALONE IS LIFE.
"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God" (Job 19:25, 26). "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1). "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5). "In him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4).
Now, I can say as my elderly uncle, "I am ready to meet my Maker." Do not you be deluded, my friend, with the varnish of this world. Do not rely as heavily as I did upon the vain philosophies of this world. The Hegels and the Kants will never extend to you the arm of comfort; they cannot give you peace or hope. Life is not theirs to give. Do not suffer in the obstinacy in which I suffered, but rather turn today to the only light, the One who can supply tranquility, joy, contentment and life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Today I rest content in Him, thankful that He permitted me to experience the trials and chastening through which I felt the need for the strength, the grace and the saving power of the all-powerful God.
"Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation . . . (for there is no) creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him" (Hebrews 3:15; 4:13). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
I invite YOU to consider HIM, the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, today.
(For the American Tract Society, Oradell, NJ.)
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COMPLETE IN HIM
By Charles H. Spurgeon
"In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in Him."
Colossians 2:9, 10.
All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal.
All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that marvelous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete.
He cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but He has done all that can be done, for He has made even His divine power and Godhead subservient to our salvation.
His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are all combined for our defense.
Arise, believer, and behold the Lord Jesus yoking the whole of His divine Godhead to the chariot of salvation!
How vast His grace, how firm His faithfulness, how unswerving His immutability, how infinite His power, how limitless His knowledge!
All these are by the Lord Jesus made the pillars of the temple of salvation; and all, without diminution of their infinity, are covenanted to us as our perpetual inheritance.
The fathomless love of the Saviour's heart is every drop of it ours; every sinew in the arm of might, every jewel in the crown of majesty, the immensity of divine knowledge, and the sternness of divine justice, all are ours, and shall be employed for us.
The whole of Christ, in His adorable character as the Son of God, is by Himself made over to us most richly to enjoy.
His wisdom is our direction, His knowledge our instruction, His power our protection, His justice our surety, His love our comfort, His mercy our solace, and His immutability our trust.
He makes no reserve, but opens the recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for the hidden treasures.
"All, all, all are yours," saith He, "be ye satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord."
Oh! how sweet thus to behold Jesus, and to call upon Him with the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of His love or power, we are but asking for that which He has already faithfully promised.
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THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF
JESUS CHRIST
By Dr. G. R. Paterson, Pastor
FAGGS MANOR UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Cochranville, PA
I would like to bring before your minds a subject of paramount importance. It is true to say that never in the history of the Christian Church has so many attacks, so many of them subtle, evil and insidious, been made upon some of the vital truths of the Word of God. Taking first place in this attack is the doctrine of "The Virgin Birth of the Lord Jesus" and it is upon this subject that I would like to confine myself, in the hope that those of you who profess His name will be fortified against specious errors, be furnished in spiritual things, and be fed by the Bread of Life.
Many years ago there was an unwanted baby born in Bethlehem. In a sense His birth was a tragedy. A king tried to kill Him by means of a massacre of all the babies in Bethlehem. And even today He is an unwanted baby, not in the same way and for the same reason, but because many people refuse to believe in the basic supernatural fact of His birth, that He "was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary." They don't want Him to be a baby who entered the world that way.
One theologian has said: "We can no longer confess with a straight face that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin Mary." Another said, "This belief tends to put a barrier between Jesus and the human race, and to make of Him something that cannot properly be called human." Still another has said, "This doctrine of our forefathers is an insult to our intellect." And so, here is the conclusion to which the heretic and the liberal theologian has come:
Jesus was the child of Joseph and Mary, and had an uneventful childhood. This means, of course, that He was one of those unfortunate children who go through life under the blight of illegitimacy. For His mother was not married when she discovered she was to become a mother.
What a mystery it was: indeed, it was almost a complete secret, the coming of the Son of God to save the world. God coming all the way from Heaven, yet practically unnoticed . . . by night . . . in a little out-of-the-way town . . . and in a barn. The cattle were there, and the stars above but no people. Joseph was there of course, but he hat nothing to do with it: he was not the father of the child. The record says, "She brought forth her first-born son, and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and she laid him in a manger." She did it all -- and God -- on that silent holy night.
And Mary "kept all these things in her heart and pondered over them." That was the place for the secret. She was the portal of human flesh through which the Son of God entered the world, but she also knew that He had entered the world to enter her heart with His saving grace, for she could say, "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
It was all a mystery to her, as it is to all who believe it. Who could understand the miracle of the Virgin Birth, that holy, Divine and supernatural Incarnation? Mary too had a question to ask, a very profound one at that, which the world has been asking ever since: "How shall this thing be, seeing I know not a man?" Don't let us try to cover up that question in the interests of a false modesty. How could she have a baby without having a husband and without committing adultery? That indeed is the mystery stated. No, she did not know how it happened, except that the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, and who can understand that?
But she did not do what so many people do, including many of our modern preachers and theologians. She did not deny the miracle and refuse to believe it because she could not understand it. She just bowed before the wisdom of God and said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word." It was too much for her mind, but she had a place for it in her heart. And so, without comprehending the mystery of motherhood, she learned the secret of her salvation. No, she did not know how it happened, but she did know why it had happened: to give her and the world a Saviour who would save His people from their sins.
How do those who deny the Virgin Birth account for the unique place which He occupies in history? How do they explain the purpose of the atonement, the facts of His life, the power of His resurrection and the timeless influence of Jesus Christ in the lives of millions?
Here is a Man who was born in an obscure village, of a peasant woman. He grew up in a humble home, worked in a carpenter's shop until He was thirty, and then for three years was an itinerant preacher and teacher. He never wrote a book; He never held an office; He never went to college; He never travelled more than two hundred miles from the place where He was born; He never did one of the things that usually accompany true greatness; He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with the world except the power of His divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth -- His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone: today He is the centerpiece of the human race, and Leader of the column of progress. It is true to say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, and put them all together, have not affected the life of mankind upon this earth so powerfully as that One Solitary Life -- JESUS CHRIST.
When Abraham Lincoln died, Edwin Stanton, Secretary of State was at his bedside, and when he saw that the great man had gone, he said, "Now he belongs to the ages." That can be said of many men, but when you talk of the Lord Jesus, He does not belong to the ages, "the ages belong to Him."
Who is this Man? He is none other than the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, the only begotten Son of God. Yes, but He is also Son of Man. He stands among us and yet above us, as Man and as God. But how did He come here? You cannot explain His unique place in the world if you say He is the son of Joseph and Mary, born as all babies are born, except that He was an illegitimate child, but neither can you explain it if you say that He was only Son of God. It is His unique manhood you must explain.
This cannot be explained by Immaculate Conception, that Mary was without sin, for she acknowledged her sinnership; nor by Supernatural Conception merely, for that was true of Isaac and John the Baptist. We know and understand from the Word of God that Jesus was divinely conceived in the womb contrary to the course of nature. The simple, though mysterious answer to the question -- How did He come here? -- is that He was born of a woman, who was a virgin, who had never known a husband, and who never committed adultery. Because He had no earthly father, only an earthly mother, He could enter the stream of sinful humanity without becoming a sinner Himself, to be both God and Man in one person; two natures in a unity of one personality . . . losing neither His deity nor His purity, for He is indeed, Immanuel, God with us.
Take away His Deity and you lose one part of the bridge of our salvation; remove the other, His perfect Humanity, and the other half is lost, and salvation has gone completely, for His Deity and Humanity are the two inseparable parts of the perfect salvation for mankind. And then you have nothing left, nothing but another sinner, like the rest of us, conceived and born in sin, and unqualified to be the Saviour of the World.
How incredibly stupid we are if we deny this basic truth of the Virgin Birth of Christ. And how utterly naive, for we play right into the hands of our enemies who look upon Christianity as dope and untrue, based on lies and forgery. To say that it is not important is tantamount to saying that there are parts of the Bible we can accept, whilst others we must reject, our own human minds being the standard and final authority. Even the devil is master at picking out texts that suit his diabolical ends, as he did in the wilderness when he quoted, or misquoted Scripture. A marred and mutilated Bible in our hands is as bad as no Bible at all. The devil is shrewd and subtle, and if he can get us to doubt the Word of God, he has gained a great victory. If he cannot cut your throat, he will invite you home to tea and put poison in it!
The acid test of our belief is: Is the Bible the Inspired Word of God? The Virgin Birth is only one of other great Truths which are denied by the liberal theologian, for he just does not accept the Bible as God's Word, infallible and inspired, and so it is just there that we must part company. To deny this Biblical truth of the Virgin Birth is to reduce this great doctrine and Divine event to a cheap story of infidelity and illegitimacy. And worse than that, the heretic and liberal endeavour to remove the very cornerstone from our Historic Faith. What is Christianity without a sinless Christ, and how can His sinlessness be explained apart from the Virgin Birth?
Listen to the Word of God on this subject: "Who (Jesus) being in the form of God . . . " "Great is the mystery of godliness, and God manifest in the flesh." "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman." "Fear not to take unto thee Mary, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."
To you dear saints who may be troubled and distracted by the utterances of men, of whom we expect something better than a denial of this Divine event, do not fear, for many have been trying to remove this same truth -- and others -- for 2,000 years, but they might as well try to shift the rock of Gibraltar with a catapult, for the Word of God will outlast the ages and the thoughts of mere men. To say that it has neither been proved nor disproved is to discredit the Eternal Word and to doubt the power of the Omnipotent God. Shall we not say, with the words of a great man of God?:
"Christ by highest Heaven adored,
Christ the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the Incarnate Deity
Pleased as Man with men to dwell:
Jesus our Immanuel,
Hark the herald angels sing:
Glory to the new born King.
And to HIM, the Eternal Son of God, our Saviour and our Lord, be all praise, honour, glory, dominion and power. Amen.
(In The Manor Crier.)
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