DECEMBER 26, 2023
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
It is noteworthy that the clearest promises of the Messiah’s coming have been given in the darkest hours of history. Immanuel is the light of life. “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.” (Isa. 9:2) When Judah was in great distress in the days of Ahaz; when she was over-matched by her two powerful enemies, and no other ray of comfort could be found, light came through the promise of the wondrous birth of Him whose name is “God with us.” God alone would be the Deliverer of Judah! God would dwell among men: He would wear their nature in the person of The Virgin Born.
Had prophets been otherwise silent about the Coming One, they found their voice in the dark days. At such times the Spirit made them know that the coming of God in human flesh is the lone star of the world’s dark night. It was so in the beginning, when our first parents had sinned and plunged the race into darkness and were doomed to leave the Paradise of delight. Before they went out, there fell upon their ears the prophecy of the Deliverer who would be born of woman. “The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” How bright did that promise shine amid the surrounding darkness and gloom. Truly, those who walked in darkness saw a great light in the original promise. One would, “in the fullness of the time,” be born of the virgin, whose name is Immanuel – God with us!
As we once again celebrate Immanuel’s birth, may our great joy be that He is the true light that is come to illuminate this world of darkness. Behold the Incarnate Son of God born of Mary at Bethlehem! What can this intend for us but grace? If the Lord had meant to destroy us, He would not have assumed our nature. If He had not been moved by mighty love to a guilty race, He would never have taken upon Himself their flesh and blood. It is a miracle of miracles that the Infinite should become an infant; that He who is pure spirit, and fills all things, should be wrapped in swaddling clothes, and cradled in a manger. He took not on Him the nature of angels, though that would have been a tremendous descent from Deity, but He descended lower still, for He took on Him the seed of Abraham. “He was made in all things like unto His brethren;” though “He counted it not robbery to be equal with God.” This one miracle speaks greater comfort to our souls than all tongues of men and angels combined could ever express. The birth of Jesus proves the goodwill of God toward men. Of this, the great heavenly host sang to poor shepherds, as “the glory of the Lord shown round about them.”
We have comfort in the fact our Lord was truly man. He was born as other children are born, save that His mother was a virgin. He was fed as other children were fed upon curds and honey, the food of a pastoral country. He had to be developed physically, like all children. He grew from childhood to youth and from youth to manhood, passing through phases of human weakness, even as we have done. He was obedient to His parents as all children should be. He is really and truly a man; and this fact is a bright and shining star for the eyes of sinners.
We must all tremble with dread before the Majesty of Deity; but in Christ, we see how compassionate He is, and how sympathetic, in that, He has become of near kin with us. This wonderful truth is especially comforting to us, when we remember that, unlike us, He, though “in all points tempted like as we are,” was “yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15) He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” except for the sin. He is God; but He is God with us. He is bone of our bones, and flesh of our flesh, a brother born of adversity. Even the most trembling soul may be at rest. God in our nature is the grand prophecy of salvation for sinners. Why has He come down to us, but that He might bring us up to Him?
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