HE IS TO BE LOVED, OBEYED AND HONORED
The time is here again to observe the birthday of Jesus Christ. While no
one knows the date of the birth of our Lord, December 25 has been set as His
birthday and we feel it is good to celebrate on this day in some appropriate
way in commemoration of that time when He came into the world a little baby in
fulfillment of prophecy and the word of the angel. Even if the date is not
known, we know He came into the world to save sinners. We know, too, that there
is salvation in none other because there is no other name under heaven given
among men whereby we shall be saved. We know, also, that He is to be loved,
obeyed and honored by those who accept Him as their Saviour, because our God
has exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name and the time will
come that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and in
earth and every tongue shall confess that our Saviour is Lord.
Many of us know the Christmas story well. It has been a
part of us all of our lives because we can’t remember when we first heard it.
But it is so beautiful that it seems to belong to every Christmas message,
because without this true story there would be no Christmas. There has never
been a story like it and there will never be another. Only our Christ was born
of a virgin. Only our Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost. Only Mary was visited
by the angel to announce the fact that she would bear a son and His name should
be called Jesus.
Many true stories have been written and told but none like the wonderful
story of the birth of Jesus. No other baby had a special star to
lead the wise men to the place where He was. It is written of Jesus only, “Where
is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and
are come to worship him.” When the wise men learned that Jesus was to be
born in Bethlehem, they started on their way and the star went before them
until it came and stood over where Jesus was. How happy those men were and they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy when they knew their search was ended and
they would soon see the Christ of God. They came to the house where He was and
they worshipped Him and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh.
This part of the story
concerning the birth of Jesus is truly wonderful, but this is not all. When the
time came for Jesus to be born Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, the very
place where He should be born according to the Scriptures. There was no room
for them in the inn, so Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger. The
news of His birth was not carried to the king or other men of high rank, but
there were some shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks that
night, and an angel of the Lord came to them and the glory of the Lord shone
around them. They were frightened because of this unusual happening, and the
angel said, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12). After the angel had
delivered this message, these shepherds were allowed to behold one of the most
beautiful scenes ever looked upon by human eyes. All of a sudden there appeared
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
The keenest imaginative mind could not picture a scene to compare with
the one that the shepherds saw. This was God’s way of announcing the birth of
His own Son. When we meditate upon the many happenings surrounding the birth
of Jesus, we feel like saying with Mary, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and
my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46, 47).
This Jesus who is called Christ came into the world to
save sinners. When the angel appeared to Joseph before Jesus was born in
Bethlehem, he said, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16, 17). The Apostle
Paul said to Timothy, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1
Tim. 1:15). John the beloved said, “And ye know that he was manifested to
take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). The writer of Hebrews referred to Jesus as a high
priest “who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). Then he said of Him, “Wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
This Christ whose birth we celebrate is our Saviour.
Through Him we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Himself. John said, “Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). Then he said, “Now are we the sons of
God” (v.2).Through God’s great love, right now at this moment we are
members of His family, and this kinship with Him came about through the gift of
Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. He gave Himself for us and made it
possible for us to be equal with Him. We don’t know what we shall be but we do
know that when He appears we shall be like Him. If we had received our just
dues, we should have died, but He took our place. We who by nature are the
children of wrath have eternal life abiding in us through the Christ of
Bethlehem, and He who came to this earth as a little babe is now at the right
hand of the Father making intercession for us. It is a wonderful consolation
to us to know He is interceding in our behalf.
Since it is through Jesus that we have eternal life, it is only reasonable
that we should love, obey and honor Him. Who would not love one that has done
so much for the eternal welfare of the soul? Surely we do love Him and He
requires that we prove our love by being obedient and doing the things He has
commanded. When Jesus had asked Peter the third time of he loved Him, he said, “Lord,
thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee” (John 21:17). So
it is today, Jesus knows when we love Him. He told Peter to feed His lambs and sheep. There
was something for Peter to do, and he worked faithfully because he loved the
Lord. There is something for each of us to do and we must not fail in our
service to the Master. Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21). Then He said, “If a
man love me, he will keep my words” (v. 23). And again, “He that loveth
me not keepeth not my sayings” (v. 24).
These words of Jesus show that love for Him and obedience to His Word
go together. We do not love Him if we do not obey Him. If we do love Him, we
will be obedient to Him. That means we will obey His Word when He said, “This
is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John
15:12). It also means that we will obey His last words before He ascended back
to the Father, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...” (Matt. 28:19, 20).
It is only reasonable to believe that we will certainly have to know and do all
of the commandments of the Lord ourselves before we are able to teach others to
observe them. And it is necessary that we obey the command to let our light
shine and put in practice all of the words of Jesus if we are to do the work
that Jesus left for us to do. By doing these things we show we love Him.
Our Christ is worthy of all of the honor that we can give Him. He is
due honor along with the Father who sent Him into the world. He said, “For
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That
all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that
honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John
5:22, 23). Then Paul commanded Timothy to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life
and he charged him to keep this commandment unto the appearing of Jesus Christ,
“Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in
the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:
to whom be honour and power everlasting” (1 Tim. 6:15, 16).
We hold certain people in esteem because of
their positions but none can be as worthy as our Lord. None but Jesus can save.
None but Jesus can do what He has done for us and what He will do in the
future. No earthly position can equal His. Even though He came to this earth a
little baby the first time, yet the day will come when He will return riding
upon a white horse and upon His vesture will be written KING OF KINGS, AND LORD
OF LORDS. He will be the mighty conqueror. Even now He is all powerful and we
should always think of Him as having all power over all the power of the enemy.
And He is able to give those who serve Him overcoming power. Before He ascended
to heaven He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt.
28:18). Shouldn’t we love, obey and honor the One who came into the world to
save sinners? I am sure we should, so at this season let us be careful to
celebrate His birth in a manner that will be pleasing to Him. Let us show our
love to Him by loving others. Let us obey Him by giving as He commanded. We
can follow the example of the wise men by giving to the cause of Christ and to
those less fortunate than ourselves. Let us honor Him and magnify His name
throughout the Christmas season. Our Christ means more than all the world to
us, so let us exalt Him in our lives, our words, our actions and our deeds that
others may see Him in us and help us glorify God for sending a Saviour into the
world to give Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify unto Himself a peculiar people.
Our message this month is a reprint from the WWM, December 17th, 1960, by M. A. Tomlinson
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