There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. (2:15–21)
How long the angels lingered is not known, but eventually they returned to heaven to resume their praise and worship before the throne of God (cf. Rev. 5:11–14). After the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds immediately started discussing the amazing event they had just witnessed, and what they should do next. Although the angel had not specifically commanded them to do so, they excitedly began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” Understandably, they wanted to get to Bethlehem as soon as possible. But since they were responsible for the sheep under their care, they could not just drop everything and leave. Either some of them had to remain with the sheep, or they had to find other shepherds to watch over them. As soon as those details were worked out, the shepherds went at once to Bethlehem. The shepherds’ response illustrates the first two things involved in a person’s coming to Christ: they heard the revelation from God that the Savior had come, and they believed that revelation. In Romans 10:14 Paul described those same two steps (in reverse order): “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” As noted earlier, these shepherds were most likely devout worshipers of the true God, who were looking for the redemption of Israel. Their hearts were prepared so that when they heard the revelation of the Savior’s birth they believed it. After making provision for their sheep to be cared for, the shepherds came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby. The traditional site of the field where the shepherds were watching their sheep is about two miles from Bethlehem. Luke does not describe how the shepherds found Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. However, there would not have been many babies born in a small village like Bethlehem on any given night. Certainly news of any birth would have spread rapidly by word of mouth, especially since Mary gave birth in a semipublic place (see the discussion of v. 7 in the previous chapter of this volume). When the shepherds saw the Child as He lay in the manger, the angel’s prophecy was confirmed and their faith verified. The shepherds’ seeking out Mary, Joseph, and Jesus illustrates the next step in the salvation process. Those who truly believe the revelation of God in Christ will come to Him. They will accept His invitation, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30; cf. John 5:40; 6:37, 44; 7:37). There must have been an interesting dialog between the shepherds and Mary and Joseph between verses 16 and 17. The young couple was no doubt overwhelmed by the shepherds’ recounting of the amazing event they had just witnessed. The words of the angel provided further confirmation to Mary and Joseph of who their Child was. And Mary’s account of Gabriel’s appearance to her (1:26–38), coupled with Joseph’s account of his dream (Matt. 1:20–23) could only have increased the shepherds’ amazement. The angels’ appearance to them and their conversation with Mary and Joseph made the shepherds privy to information no one else had. Their enthusiastic response was to make known the statement which had been told them about this Child. They went everywhere proclaiming the news that the Savior, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, had been born. The shepherds thus became the first New Testament evangelists. Once they had heard, believed, and acted on the truth, the shepherds could not help but tell others about it. Their witness to the good news they had received reveals something else that happens in the life of a newborn soul. The response of those who come to Christ is to tell others about Him. Usually the most bold and passionate people in proclaiming the gospel are the newest Christians; the longer people are saved, the less excited they seem about their salvation, and the less eager they are to share their faith. But true spiritual commitment is determined by the quality and tenacity of believers’ long-term joy over their salvation. One measure of that joy is how eagerly they share the gospel. Lack of the zeal and passion that compels believers to tell others about Christ betrays a sinful heart of indifference and ingratitude. The shepherds did not have that problem. The astounding nature of their message, coupled with the eagerness and enthusiasm with which they shared it, caused all who heard it to wonder at the things which were told them by the shepherds. Thaumazō (wondered) appears frequently in Luke’s writings (cf. 1:21, 63; 2:33; 4:22; 7:9; 8:25; 9:43; 11:14, 38; 20:26; 24:12, 41; Acts 2:7; 3:12; 4:13; 7:31; 13:41). From the very beginning the life and ministry of Jesus Christ caused people to marvel and be amazed. Unfortunately then, as now, much of that amazement produced not commitment, but merely curiosity. When the shepherds heard the good news of the Savior’s birth, they immediately sought Him out. But all that is said of those to whom they witnessed is that they wondered. After their initial amazement wore off, most of them probably just went on with their lives as if nothing had happened. In contrast to the shallow, superficial reaction of many who heard the news, Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. She reflected deeply on the significance of the birth of God’s Son, and on what that birth portended for her and Joseph as His earthly parents. In addition to the normal thoughts that go through the mind of any new mother, Mary had many other things to think about. She considered God’s redemptive purpose, how just as He had promised, He had sent a Savior to redeem His people. But that redemption would come at a fearful cost. As Simeon would later warn Mary, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (2:34–35). Years later, Mary would watch her Son die on the cross bearing God’s wrath against sin (John 19:25–27). Mary’s deep meditation on the Savior illustrates another aspect of what it means to truly embrace Christ. Salvation’s initial euphoria and excitement deepens into a richer, fuller, more profound understanding of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John described the Christian life as a progression from being a spiritual child, who only knows God as Father and forgiver of sins, to being a spiritual young man, well grounded in biblical truth, to being a spiritual father, with a deep understanding of God’s person (1 John 2:12–14). But no Christian will ever be satisfied with the level of knowledge they have attained. Paul, many years into his Christian pilgrimage, yearned to know Christ even better. He expressed to the Philippians his desire to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). The shepherds had had an amazing evening, one that forever changed their lives. But life goes on, and eventually the shepherds went back to their flock, glorifying and praising God (cf. 1:64; 5:25–26; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15; 18:43; 23:47; 24:52–53) for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. Their hopes and longings that the Redeemer would come had been realized, and their lives were marked by a newfound attitude of praise and worship. That same attitude characterizes all who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Ps. 22:26; 30:4; 33:1; 34:1; 100:4; Acts 16:25; Heb. 13:15), whom Paul describes as “the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:3).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2009). Luke 1–5 (pp. 161–164). Moody Publishers.
But Mary continued to treasure up all these things, mulling them over in her mind. Cf. verse 51. Mary was treasuring, carefully storing away, all these things; such things as the following: what an angel had told Joseph, what Gabriel had told her, what her experience had been upon arriving in Bethlehem, what the shepherds had reported with respect to voices of angels, etc. “She was putting them all together in her heart” (thus literally), though in such a case as the present (because of “mulling over”) English idiom would probably substitute “mind” for “heart.” Aside from the nativity narrative Scripture tells us little about Mary’s development in faith. Nevertheless, such passages as John 2:5; Acts 1:14 show that she became a worshiper of the One to whom, with respect to his human nature, she had given birth. Her prayerful “putting together” of the things she had experienced, seen, and heard, was blessed by God and in course of time produced the result he had determined from eternity. To be sure, on Mary’s part there were missteps along the way, but the end was victory.
Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (Vol. 11, p. 158). Baker Book House.
We who have walked in deep darkness have seen a great light! For unto us a child is born, one who will bring eternal peace (Is 9:2–7). We celebrate Christ’s birth (Lk 2:1–20) because he became what we are, giving his life freely that through his grace we might have the hope of salvation (Tit 2:11–14). Because of Jesus, we praise God and declare his glory (Ps 96).
OPENING PRAYER: Christmas
Bless, O Lord, the worship of your church this day, and bless our endeavors to glorify your name. Let not our hearts be unduly set on earthly things, but incline us to love things heavenly that even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, we may cling to those that shall abide; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. The Leonine Sacramentary
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 9:2–7
REFLECTIONS FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS
Christ’s Purity. CASSIODORUS: We often find the Lord Christ described as a child because of the purity of his innocence. The simplicity of youth bestows on a child the blessing of aversion from vices and from the malice of the world. Exposition of the Psalms 68:18.
The Mystery of Christ’s Cross. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: When Isaac himself carried the wood for the sacrifice of himself, in this, too, he prefigured Christ our Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Of this mystery much had already been foretold by the prophets: “And his government shall be upon his shoulders.” Christ, then, had the government upon his shoulders when he carried his cross with wonderful humility. Not unfittingly does Christ’s cross signify government: by it the devil is conquered and the whole world recalled to the knowledge and grace of Christ. Sermon 84.3.
The Wonder of His Birth. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Today was born the child, and his name was called Wonderful! For a wonder it is that God should reveal himself as a baby. Hymns on the Nativity.
Christ’s Peace Is Unending. CHRYSOSTOM: For Isaiah said, “There is no end of his peace.” And what did happen makes it clear that this peace has spread over the whole earth and sea, over the world where people dwell and where no one lives, over mountains, woodlands and hills, starting from that day on which he was going to leave his disciples and said to them, “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” Why did Christ speak in this way? Because the peace which comes from a human being is easily destroyed and subject to many changes. But Christ’s peace is strong, unshaken, firm, fixed, steadfast, immune to death and unending. Demonstration Against the Pagans 2.8–10.
PSALM OF RESPONSE: Psalm 96
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Titus 2:11–14
REFLECTIONS FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS
Sacrifices Disappeared Like Smoke. GREGORY OF NYSSA: Who does not know that the deceit of demons filled every corner of the world and held sway over human life by the madness of idolatry? Who does not realize that every people on earth was accustomed to worship demons under the form of idols, by sacrificing living victims and making foul offerings on their altars? But as the apostle says, from the moment that God’s saving grace appeared among humanity and dwelled in human nature, all this vanished into nothing, like smoke. Address on Religious Instruction 18.
The Christmas Feast. LEO THE GREAT: It is, therefore, with an unmistakable tenderness that so great a wealth of divine goodness has been poured out on us, dearly beloved. Not only has the usefulness of foregoing examples served for calling us to eternity, but the Truth himself has even “appeared” in a visible body. We ought, then, to celebrate this day of the Lord’s birth with no listless and worldly joy. Sermons 23.5.
True Renunciation. CHRYSOSTOM: Worldly passions are directed toward things that perish with the present life. Let us then have nothing to do with these. Homilies on Titus 5.
He Offered His Real Flesh. ATHANASIUS: How could he have given himself if he had not worn flesh? He offered his flesh and gave himself for us, in order that undergoing death in it, “He might bring to nothing the one who held the power of death, that is, the devil.” For this reason we continually give thanks in the name of Jesus Christ. We do not bring to nothing the grace which came to us through him. For the coming of the Savior in the flesh has been the ransom and salvation of all creation. Letter to Adelphus 60.6.
GOSPEL READING: Luke 2:1–20
REFLECTIONS FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS
All Great Feasts Have Their Origin in Jesus’ Nativity. CHRYSOSTOM: A feast day is about to arrive, and it is the most holy and awesome of all feasts. It would be no mistake to call it the chief and mother of all holy days. What feast is that? It is the day of Christ’s birth in the flesh. It is from this day that the feasts of the theophany, the sacred Pasch [Passover], the ascension and Pentecost had their source and foundation. Had Christ not been born in the flesh, he would not have been baptized, which is the theophany or manifestation. Nor would he have been crucified, which is the Pasch. Nor would he have sent down the Spirit, which is Pentecost. Therefore, just as different rivers arise from a single source, these other feasts have their beginnings in the birth of Christ. On the Incomprehensible Nature of God 6.23–24.
Bethlehem Has Opened Eden. ANONYMOUS: Bethlehem has opened Eden: Come, let us see! We have found joy hidden! Come, let us take possession of the paradise within the cave. There the unwatered stem has appeared, from which forgiveness blossoms forth! There the undug well is found from which David longed to drink of old! There the Virgin has borne a child, and at once the thirst of Adam and David is made to cease. Therefore let us hasten to this place where for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child! Ikos of the Nativity of the Lord.
Christ Became a Humble Child. AMBROSE: He was a baby and a child, so that you may be a perfect human. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be freed from the snares of death. He was in a manger, so that you may be in the altar. He was on earth that you may be in the stars. He had no other place in the inn, so that you may have many mansions in the heavens. He, being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich. Therefore his poverty is our inheritance, and the Lord’s weakness is our virtue. He chose to lack for himself, that he may abound for all. The sobs of that appalling infancy cleanse me, those tears wash away my sins. Therefore, Lord Jesus, I owe more to your sufferings because I was redeemed than I do to works for which I was created.… You see that he is in swaddling clothes. You do not see that he is in heaven. You hear the cries of an infant, but you do not hear the lowing of an ox recognizing its Master, for the ox knows his Owner and the donkey his Master’s crib. Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.41–42.
Through Swaddling Clothes Jesus Looses the Bands of Sin. JOHN THE MONK: Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and celebrate, all who love Zion! Today the ancient bond of the condemnation of Adam is loosed. Paradise is opened to us.… Therefore let all creation sing and dance for joy, for Christ has come to restore it and to save our souls! Stichera of the Nativity of the Lord.
CLOSING PRAYER
Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no one free from sin, came to free us all. Leo the Great
Oden, T. C., & Crosby, C., eds. (2007). Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle A (pp. 32–36). IVP Books.
9:6–7. The joys described in vv. 1–5 are grounded in the birth of a child within the Davidic line. The child’s birth will bring deliverance, and the titles bestowed upon him are impressive. The first given is that of Wonderful Counselor. The word Wonderful (extraordinary to the point of being miraculous) is not meant in the colloquial usage of contemporary society. Rather it refers to the supernatural work of God. A good example is its usage in Jdg 13:15–21, wherein the angel of the Lord does a “wonderful” thing (v. 18) and ascends to heaven in the flame of Manoah’s sacrifice (v. 20). The title of Counselor does not carry the same sense as the modern English word, which is often associated with a therapist or social worker. Instead, the word means “one who advises, who serves as a consultant to help and lead others.” The title here must be construed as denoting this child’s capacity to guide the people of the nation, particularly with reference to military endeavors. Though the child’s guidance of the nation would not be limited to warfare, it does suggest that his skill in making decisions for the nation exhibits a divine or miraculous character that would not be possible through simply human devices (Smith, Isaiah 1–39, 240). The word “wonderful” stands in epexegetical construct to “counselor,” and could be translated “a wonder of a counselor” or “a wonder-counselor.” The second title, Mighty God, is repeated in Is 10:21 and applied to God Himself. Although the Hebrew word for Mighty can refer to a valiant warrior, this close usage to 10:21 seems to indicate a reference to deity. The word means “valiant military hero” or “champion.” Similar phrases are also used in Dt 10:17 and Jr 32:18 with reference to God. Oswalt notes, “This king will have God’s true might about him,” being so powerful so as to be able to absorb all evil and defeat it (Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39, 247). The child is also called Eternal Father. Filial relationships, such as father and son, were emphasized in the ancient Near East. The king was generally the son in such relationships and the deity the father (John H. Walton, et al., IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000], 518). Kings, however, also claimed to be the “father” of those they ruled (Oswalt, Isaiah 1–39, 247). The notion of a human king as father of his people is not foreign to the OT. Note, for instance, 1Sm 24:12 in which David calls Saul his father. But this one is not merely the royal father of His people. The adjective Eternal speaks to the idea of one who is forever or eternal. He is the “Father of eternity,” indicating that He is the author or creator of time. The child born here is not to be confused with the Father in the triune Godhead. Rather, the Son of God is the creator of time, the author of eternity. The final title given to the child is Prince of Peace. This child will have a reign characterized by peace. There will be no more war under this king. Instead, the child will usher in an era of rest from conflict that is noted in 2Sm 7:10–11. Some have suggested that these titles are merely a theophoric name, a name that embeds God’s name in a human name. Hence, “Isaiah” (“The Lord saves”) is theophoric, but does not indicate that Isaiah is deity. If this is so here, then the child is not necessarily deity, but rather a royal human figure with a long name, similar to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (“Swift is the booty, fast is the prey,” Is 8:1), containing names of deity. They translate this as “A wonderful counselor is the Mighty God, the eternal Father is the Prince of Peace.” This explanation is unlikely for three reasons. (1) The name in 8:3 is dependent on 8:1 and is not parallel syntactically to 9:6. All the words in 9:6 are substantives that do not have subjects and predicates. (2) Titles such as this one frequently reflect the nature of the person (cf. 2Sm 12:24–25; Is 1:26; Hs 1:10). (3) Frequently, the verb “call” with a name indicates the nature of the one named, either by a play on words (cf. Gn 5:29) or direct meaning (cf. Is 1:26). Hence, this usage in v. 6 indicates that the names are related to the nature of the child born. Robert Reymond is correct in stating that there is no reason, “except dogmatic prejudice,” to prohibit the conclusion that Isaiah meant nothing other than unabridged deity here (Robert L. Reymond, Jesus, Divine Messiah: The OT Witness [Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications. 1990], 51). The child will fulfill the promise of the Davidic covenant (cf. 2Sm 7:12–16), and establish the messianic kingdom through justice and righteousness. This kingdom will not be the outworking of a king with human wisdom and power. The child will rule with the wisdom, power, and peace of God. The final statement in v. 7 notes that the Lord will accomplish all that has been described. Isaiah again underscores that trust in the Lord is the key to receiving the promised blessing.
Rydelnik, M. A., & Spencer, J. (2014). Isaiah. In M. A. Rydelnik & M. Vanlaningham (Eds.), The moody bible commentary (pp. 1024–1025). Moody Publishers.
9:6–7. Here Isaiah recorded five things about the coming Messiah.
He was to be born a Child. The implication, given in parallel style, is that this Child, a Son, was to be born into the nation of Israel (to us) as one of the covenant people.
He will rule over God’s people (cf. Micah 5:2) and the world (Zech. 14:9). The government will be on His shoulders figuratively refers to the kingly robe to be worn by the Messiah. As King, He will be responsible to govern the nation. In Isaiah’s day Judah’s leaders were incompetent in governing the people. But the Messiah will govern properly.
He will have four descriptive names that will reveal His character. He will be the nation’s Wonderful (this could be trans. “exceptional” or “distinguished”) Counselor, and the people will gladly listen to Him as the authoritative One. In the kingdom many people will be anxious to hear the Messiah teach God’s ways (2:3). He is also the Mighty God (cf. 10:21). Some have suggested that this simply means “a godlike person” or hero. But Isaiah meant more than that, for he had already spoken of the Messiah doing what no other person had been able to do (e.g., 9:2–5). Isaiah understood that the Messiah was to be God in some sense of the term. This Deliverer will also be called the Everlasting Father. Many people are puzzled by this title because the Messiah, God’s Son, is distinguished in the Trinity from God the Father. How can the Son be the Father? Several things must be noted in this regard. First, the Messiah, being the second Person of the Trinity, is in His essence, God. Therefore He has all the attributes of God including eternality. Since God is One (even though He exists in three Persons), the Messiah is God. Second, the title “Everlasting Father” is an idiom used to describe the Messiah’s relationship to time, not His relationship to the other Members of the Trinity. He is said to be everlasting, just as God (the Father) is called “the Ancient of Days” (Dan. 7:9). The Messiah will be a “fatherly” Ruler. Third, perhaps Isaiah had in mind the promise to David (2 Sam. 7:16) about the “foreverness” of the kingdom which God promised would come through David’s line. The Messiah, a Descendant of David, will fulfill this promise for which the nation had been waiting. The Messiah is also called the Prince of Peace, the One who will bring in and maintain the time of millennial peace when the nation will be properly related to the Lord. Together, these four titles give a beautiful picture of the coming Messiah’s character (Isa. 9:6 includes the first of Isaiah’s 25 references to peace.)
The Messiah, seated on David’s throne (Luke 1:32–33), will have an eternal rule of peace and justice. His rule will have no end; it will go on forever (cf. Dan. 7:14, 27; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:33; Rev. 11:15). Following the kingdom on earth, He will rule for eternity. He will maintain righteousness (cf. Jer. 23:5), as His rule will conform to God’s holy character and demands.
This will all be accomplished by the zeal of the LORD Almighty. The coming of the millennial kingdom depends on God, not Israel. The Messiah will rule because God promised it and will zealously see that the kingdom comes. Without His sovereign intervention there would be no kingdom for Israel. Apparently Isaiah assumed that the messianic Child, Jesus Christ, would establish His reign in one Advent, that when the Child grew up He would rule in triumph. Like the other prophets, Isaiah was not aware of the great time gap between Messiah’s two Advents (cf. 1 Peter 1:10–12; and see comments on Isa. 61:1–2).
Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1053–1054). Victor Books.
9:6 The First Advent is described in verse 6a: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” The first clause speaks of His humanity, the second of His deity. The next part of the verse points forward to the Second Advent:
the government will be upon His shoulder—He will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. The rest of the verse describes His personal glories:
His name will be called Wonderful—this name is a noun, not an adjective, and speaks of His Person and work.
Counselor—His wisdom in government.
Mighty God—the omnipotent, supreme Ruler.
Everlasting Father—or better, the Father (or “Source”) of eternity. Eternal Himself, He confers eternal life on those who believe in Him. Vine comments: “There is a twofold revelation in this: (1) He inhabits and possesses eternity (57:15); (2) He is loving, tender, compassionate, an all wise Instructor, Trainer, and Provider.”
Prince of Peace (Sar-Shālôm)—the One who will at last bring peace to this troubled world.
9:7 His government will be far-flung, peaceful, and endless. Sitting upon the throne of David, He will rule with judgment and justice. How will all this be brought about? The Lord’s jealous care for His people will perform this.
MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.; p. 947). Thomas Nelson.
9:6 Born speaks of the Child’s humanity and given of His deity. Wonderful, Counselor is one name, meaning “wonderful divine Counselor” (11:1–5). Mighty God indicates that the Lord is a powerful Warrior (10:21). Everlasting Father describes a King and Father who provides for and protects His people forever (40:9–11; Matt. 11:27–30). Thus the word Father is used here of the Savior’s role as an ideal king. Prince of Peace is the climactic title (2:4; 11:6–9; 53:5; Luke 2:14; Rom. 5:1). The Child is the true Prince—the One who has the right to reign and who will usher in peace. The four double names combine aspects of Jesus’ deity and His humanity. Together, these four double names assert the dual nature of the Savior: He is God become man.
Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (pp. 818–819). T. Nelson Publishers.
9:6 child … son. These terms elaborate further on Immanuel, the child to be born to the virgin (7:14). The virgin’s child will also be the royal Son of David, with rights to the Davidic throne (9:7; cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31–33; 2:7, 11). government. In fulfillment of this verse and Ps 2:9, the Son will rule the nations of the world (Rev 2:27; 19:15). Wonderful Counselor. In contrast to Ahaz, this King will implement supernatural wisdom in discharging His office (cf. 2Sa 16:23; 1Ki 3:28). Mighty God. As a powerful warrior, the Messiah will accomplish the military exploits mentioned in 9:3–5 (cf. 10:21; Dt 10:17; Ne 9:32). Eternal Father. The Messiah will be a Father to His people eternally. As Davidic King, He will compassionately care for and discipline them (40:11; 63:16; 64:8; Pss 68:5, 6; 103:13; Pr 3:12). Prince of Peace. The government of Immanuel will procure and perpetuate peace among the nations of the world (2:4; 11:6–9; Mic 4:3). 9:7 throne of David. The virgin’s Son will be the rightful heir to David’s throne and will inherit the promises of the Davidic Covenant (2Sa 7:12–16; cf. Ps 89:1–37; Mt 1:1).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Is 9:6–7). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
9:6 to us. A gift of divine grace to sinners. a child … a son. This is the invincible figure striding across the world stage, taking gracious command, according to vv. 4–5 (cf. Ps. 2:7–9; Luke 1:32). Isaiah presents the events as if it were the time of the child’s arrival, with an expectation of what he will achieve (Isa. 9:7). Wonderful Counselor. A “counselor” is one who is able to make wise plans (cf. 11:2). He is a ruler whose wisdom is beyond merely human capabilities, unlike intelligent but foolish Ahaz (cf. 28:29). Mighty God. A title of the Lord himself (10:20–21; Deut. 10:17; Neh. 9:32; Jer. 32:18). Everlasting Father. A “father” here is a benevolent protector (cf. Isa. 22:21; Job 29:16), which is the task of the ideal king and is also the way God himself cares for his people (cf. Isa. 63:16; 64:8; Ps. 103:13). (That is, this is not using the Trinitarian title “Father” for the Messiah; rather, it is portraying him as a king.) Prince of Peace. He is the ruler whose reign will bring about peace because the nations will rely on his just decisions in their disputes (cf. Isa. 2:4; 11:6–9; 42:4; 49:7; 52:15). This kind of king contrasts with even the best of the Davidic line that Judah has experienced so far, because these titles show that this king will be divine. Thus this cannot refer to, say, Hezekiah (whose father Ahaz was king at the time), who for all his piety was nevertheless flawed (cf. 39:5–8) and only human.
9:6 The Messiah is both human (from the line of David) and divine (see John 1:14; Col. 2:9).
9:7 God called Abraham to be the channel of blessing to the whole world (Gen. 12:1–3), and this was the purpose of Israel’s life in their land (Ex. 19:5–6). Isaiah focuses the messianic hope on an heir of David who would extend his rule from Israel to include all the Gentiles, and thus finally to bring to them the blessing of knowing the true God (Gen. 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:8–16). Of the increase … no end. The empire of grace will forever expand, and every moment will be better than the last. the throne of David. Cf. Luke 1:32. with justice and with righteousness. Unlike apostate Ahaz (cf. Jer. 33:15–16). zeal. The final victory is a miracle, accomplished with a passionate intensity of which only the LORD of hosts is capable (cf. Isa. 42:13; 59:15–19; 63:15).
9:7 The Messiah establishes his rule in justice (Rom. 3:26; Eph. 1:20–22) and peace (John 16:33).
Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (pp. 1257–1258). Crossway Bibles.
9:6 child … son. The good news is the birth of Jesus Christ. The four royal names express His divine and human qualities, giving assurance that He is indeed “Immanuel” (7:14).
born … given. The verbs are consistent with His humanity and deity respectively.
Mighty God. As a warrior, God protects His people (10:21; Deut. 10:17; Jer. 32:18).
Everlasting Father. The Father and King cares for His subjects (40:9–11; 65:17–25; Matt. 18:12–14; 23:9–12; Rom. 8:15–17).
Prince of Peace. His government brings peace (2:4; 11:6–9; Ps. 72:7; Zech. 9:10; Luke 2:14).
9:7 throne of David. He is a descendant of David (11:1 note), who will establish the kingdom of God in “justice and with righteousness” (1:21 note).
Sproul, R. C., ed. (2005). The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (p. 963). Ligonier Ministries.
Old Testament Isaiah 60:1–6
Psalm Psalm 72:1–11 (12–15)
Epistle Ephesians 3:1–12
Gospel Matthew 2:1–12
Index of Readings
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 60:1–6
1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
And the glory of Yahweh has risen upon you.
2 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth
And dense gloom the peoples;
But Yahweh will rise upon you,
And His glory will appear upon you.
3 “Nations will come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 “Lift up your eyes round about and see;
They all gather together; they come to you.
Your sons will come from afar,
And your daughters will be carried on the nurses’ hip.
5 “Then you will see and be radiant,
And your heart will tremble and be large with joy;
Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you,
The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 “A multitude of camels will cover you,
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba will come;
They will bring gold and frankincense,
And will bear good news of the praises of Yahweh.
PSALM Psalm 72:1–11 (12–15)
1 O God, give the king Your judgments,
And Your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he render judgment to Your people with righteousness
And Your afflicted with justice.
3 Let the mountains lift up peace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.
4 May he give justice to the afflicted of the people,
Save the children of the needy,
And crush the oppressor.
5 Let them fear You while the sun endures,
And as long as the moon, from generation to all generations.
6 May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth.
7 May the righteous flourish in his days,
And abundance of peace until the moon is no more.
8 May he also have dominion from sea to sea
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Let the desert creatures kneel before him,
And his enemies lick the dust.
10 Let the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands bring a present;
The kings of Sheba and Seba offer tribute.
11 And let all kings bow down to him,
All nations serve him.
[
12 For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help,
The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will have compassion on the poor and needy,
And the lives of the needy he will save.
14 He will redeem their life from oppression and violence,
And their blood will be precious in his sight;
15 So may he live! And may they give to him the gold of Sheba;
And let each pray for him continually;
Let each bless him all day long.
]
EPISTLE Ephesians 3:1–12
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
2 if indeed you heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
4 About which, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit:
6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
GOSPEL Matthew 2:1–12
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
3 And when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he was inquiring of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A LEADER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and carefully determined from them the time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”
9 Now after hearing the king, they went their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, was going on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.
10 And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 And after coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi departed for their own country by another way.
Lutheran Service Book Three Year Lectionary. (2009). Concordia Publishing House.
Everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6)—how can this be the name of the child? Only because in this child the everlasting fatherly love of God is revealed, and the child wants nothing other than to bring to earth the love of the Father. So the Son is one with the Father, and whoever sees the Son sees the Father. This child wants nothing for himself. He is no prodigy in the human sense, but an obedient child of his heavenly Father. Born in time, he brings eternity with him to earth; as Son of God he brings to us all the love of the Father in heaven. Go, seek, and find in the manger the heavenly Father who here has also become your dear Father. “Prince of Peace”—where God comes in love to human beings and unites with them, there peace is made between God and humankind and among people. Are you afraid of God’s wrath? Then go to the child in the manger and receive there the peace of God. Have you fallen into strife and hatred with your sister or brother? Come and see how God, out of pure love, has become our brother and wants to reconcile us with each other. In the world, power reigns. This child is the Prince of Peace. Where he is, peace reigns.
In our lives we don’t speak readily of victory. It is too big a word for us. We have suffered too many defeats in our lives; victory has been thwarted again and again by too many weak hours, too many gross sins. But isn’t it true that the spirit within us yearns for this word, for the final victory over the sin and anxious fear of death in our lives? And now God’s word also says nothing to us about our victory; it doesn’t promise us that we will be victorious over sin and death from now own; rather, it says with all its might that someone has won this victory, and that this person, if we have him as Lord, will also win the victory over us. It is not we who are victorious, but Jesus. “Christus Victor” address, November 26, 1939
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Mark 4:35–41
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 74–75). Westminster John Knox Press.
Old Testament Isaiah 63:7–14
Psalm Psalm 111
Epistle Galatians 4:4–7
Gospel Matthew 2:13–23
Index of Readings
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 63:7–14
7 I shall bring to remembrance the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh, the praises of Yahweh,
According to all the ways that Yahweh has dealt bountifully with us,
And the abundant goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has dealt bountifully to them according to His compassion
And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.
8 And He said, “Surely, they are My people,
Sons who will not deal falsely.”
So He became their Savior.
9 In all their distress He was distressed,
And the angel of His presence saved them;
In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them,
And He lifted them and carried them all the ancient days.
10 But they rebelled
And grieved His Holy Spirit;
Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy;
He fought against them.
11 Then His people remembered the ancient days, of Moses.
Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them,
12 Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses,
Who split the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,
13 Who led them through the depths?
Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble;
14 As the cattle which go down into the valley,
The Spirit of Yahweh gave them rest.
So You led Your people,
To make for Yourself a glorious name.
PSALM Psalm 111
PSALM 111
1 Praise Yah!
I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart,
In the council of the upright and in the congregation.
2 Great are the works of Yahweh;
They are sought by all who delight in them.
3 Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness stands forever.
4 He has made His wondrous deeds to be remembered;
Yahweh is gracious and compassionate.
5 He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever.
6 He has declared to His people the power of His works,
In giving them an inheritance of the nations.
7 The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are faithful.
8 They are upheld forever and ever;
They are done in truth and uprightness.
9 He has sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever;
Holy and fearsome is His name.
10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom;
Good insight belongs to all those who do His commandments;
His praise stands forever.
EPISTLE Galatians 4:4–7 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
GOSPEL Matthew 2:13–23
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and departed for Egypt.
15 And he remained there until the death of Herod, in order that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”
16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had carefully determined from the magi.
17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
18 “A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH,
WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING,
RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN;
AND SHE WAS REFUSING TO BE COMFORTED,
BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.”
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
20 “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.”
21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the district of Galilee,
23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
ON THE SAME DATE | FEAST HOLY INNOCENTS, MARTYRS
On the same date: First Sunday after Christmas
Old Testament Jeremiah 31:15–17
Psalm Psalm 54
Epistle Revelation 14:1–5
Gospel Matthew 2:13–18
Index of Readings
OLD TESTAMENT Jeremiah 31:15–17 15 Thus says Yahweh, “A voice is heard in Ramah, Wailing and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children Because they are no more.” 16 Thus says Yahweh, “Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears, For your work will be rewarded,” declares Yahweh, “And they will return from the land of the enemy. 17 “And there is hope for your future,” declares Yahweh, “And your children will return to their own territory.
PSALM Psalm 54
PSALM 54
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
1 O God, save me by Your name,
And render justice to me by Your might.
2 O God, hear my prayer;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen against me
And ruthless men have sought my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah.
4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is among those who sustain my soul.
5 He will return the evil to my foes;
Destroy them in Your truth.
6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You;
I will give thanks to Your name, O Yahweh, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me from all distress,
And my eye has looked in triumph upon my enemies.
EPISTLE Revelation 14:1–5
1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.
3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth.
4 These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
5 And NO LIE WAS FOUND IN THEIR MOUTH; they are blameless.
GOSPEL Matthew 2:13–18
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and departed for Egypt.
15 And he remained there until the death of Herod, in order that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”
16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had carefully determined from the magi.
17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
18 “A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH,
WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING,
RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN;
AND SHE WAS REFUSING TO BE COMFORTED,
BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.”
Lutheran Service Book Three Year Lectionary. (2009). Concordia Publishing House.
Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads” (Isa. 35:10). Since ancient times, in the Christian church, acedia—sadness of heart, resignation—has been considered a mortal sin. “Serve the Lord with gladness!” (Ps. 100:2 RSV), urges the Scripture. For this, our life has been given to us, and for this, it has been sustained for us to this present hour. The joy that no one can take from us belongs not only to those who have been called home, but also to us who are still living. In this joy we are one with them, but never in sadness. How are we supposed to be able to help those who are without joy and courage, if we ourselves are not borne by courage and joy? What is meant here is not something made or forced, but something given and free. With God there is joy, and from him it comes down and seizes spirit, soul, and body. And where this joy has seized a person, it reaches out around itself, it pulls others along, it bursts through closed doors. There is a kind of joy that knows nothing at all of the pain, distress, and anxiety of the heart. But it cannot last; it can only numb for a time. The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore it is invincible and irrefutable.
Acedia may be an unfamiliar term to those not well versed in monastic history or medieval literature. But that does not mean it has no relevance for contemporary readers.… I believe that such standard dictionary definitions of acedia as “apathy,” “boredom,” or “torpor” do not begin to cover it, and while we may find it convenient to regard it as a more primitive word for what we now term depression, the truth is much more complex. Having experienced both conditions, I think it likely that most of the restless boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair that plagues us today is the ancient demon of acedia in modern dress. Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 72–73). Westminster John Knox Press.
Authority rests upon his shoulders” (Isa. 9:6). Authority over the world is supposed to lie on the weak shoulders of this newborn child! One thing we know: these shoulders will come to carry the entire burden of the world. With the cross, all the sin and distress of this world will be loaded on these shoulders. But authority consists in the fact that the bearer does not collapse under the burden but carries it to the end. The authority that lies on the shoulders of the child in the manger consists in the patient bearing of people and their guilt. This bearing, however, begins in the manger; it begins where the eternal word of God assumes and bears human flesh. The authority over all the world has its beginning in the very lowliness and weakness of the child.… He accepts and carries the humble, the lowly, and sinners, but he rejects and brings to nothing the proud, the haughty, and the righteous (Luke 1:51–52).
From the Christian point of view there is no special problem about Christmas in a prison cell. For many people in this building it will probably be a more sincere and genuine occasion than in places where nothing but the name is kept. The misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness, and guilt mean something quite different in the eyes of God from what they mean in the judgment of man, that God will approach where men turn away, that Christ was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn—these are things that a prisoner can understand better than other people; for him they really are glad tidings. Bonhoeffer’s letter to his parents from Tegel prison, December 17, 1943
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5–11
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 70–71). Westminster John Knox Press.
Who is this God? This God is the one who became human as we became human. He is completely human. Therefore, nothing human is foreign to him. The human being that I am, Jesus Christ was also. About this human being Jesus Christ we say: this one is God. This does not mean that we already knew beforehand who God is. Nor does it mean that the statement “this human being is God” adds anything to being human. God and human being are not thought of as belonging together through a concept of nature. The statement “this human being is God” is meant entirely differently. The divinity of this human being is not something additional to the human nature of Jesus Christ. The statement “this human being is God” is the vertical from above, the statement that applies to Jesus Christ the human being, which neither adds anything nor takes anything away, but qualifies the whole human being as God.… Faith is ignited from Jesus Christ the human being.… If Jesus Christ is to be described as God, then we do not speak of his omnipotence and omniscience, but of his cradle and his cross. There is no “divine being” as omnipotence, as omnipresence.
And now Christmas is coming and you won’t be there. We shall be apart, yes, but very close together. My thoughts will come to you and accompany you. We shall sing “Friede auf Erden” [Peace on Earth] and pray together, but we shall sing “Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe!” [Glory be to God on high] even louder. That is what I pray for you and for all of us, that the Savior may throw open the gates of heaven for us at darkest night on Christmas Eve, so that we can be joyful in spite of everything. Maria von Wedemeyer to Bonhoeffer, December 10, 1943
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:1–7
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 62–63). Westminster John Knox Press.
The authority of this poor child will grow (Isa. 9:7). It will encompass all the earth, and knowingly or unknowingly, all human generations until the end of the ages will have to serve it. It will be an authority over the hearts of people, but thrones and great kingdoms will also grow strong or fall apart with this power. The mysterious, invisible authority of the divine child over human hearts is more solidly grounded than the visible and resplendent power of earthly rulers. Ultimately all authority on earth must serve only the authority of Jesus Christ over humankind. With the birth of Jesus, the great kingdom of peace has begun. Is it not a miracle that where Jesus has really become Lord over people, peace reigns? That there is one Christendom on the whole earth, in which there is peace in the midst of the world? Only where Jesus is not allowed to reign—where human stubbornness, defiance, hate, and avarice are allowed to live on unbroken—can there be no peace. Jesus does not want to set up his kingdom of peace by force, but where people willingly submit themselves to him and let him rule over them, he will give them his wonderful peace.
I’m in the dark depths of night, and my thoughts are roaming far afield. Now that all the merry-making and rejoicing and candlelight are over and the noise and commotion of the day have been replaced by silence, inside and out, other voices can be heard.… The chill night wind and the mysterious darkness can open hearts and release forces that are unfathomable, but good and consoling.… Can you think of a better time than night-time? That’s why Christ, too, chose to come to us—with his angels—at night. Maria von Wedemeyer to Bonhoeffer, December 25, 1943
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18–25
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 68–69). Westminster John Knox Press.
Wonderful Counselor” (Isa. 9:6) is the name of this child. In him the wonder of all wonders has taken place; the birth of the Savior-child has gone forth from God’s eternal counsel. In the form of a human child, God gave us his Son; God became human, the Word became flesh (John 1:14). That is the wonder of the love of God for us, and it is the unfathomably wise Counselor who wins us this love and saves us. But because this child of God is his own Wonderful Counselor, he himself is also the source of all wonder and all counsel. To those who recognize in Jesus the wonder of the Son of God, every one of his words and deeds becomes a wonder; they find in him the last, most profound, most helpful counsel for all needs and questions. Yes, before the child can open his lips, he is full of wonder and full of counsel. Go to the child in the manger. Believe him to be the Son of God, and you will find in him wonder upon wonder, counsel upon counsel.
In winter it seems that the season of Spring will never come, and in both Advent and Lent it’s the waiting that’s hard, the in-between of divine promise and its fulfillment.… Most of us find ourselves dangling in this hiatus, which in the interval may seem a waste of time.… But “the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” With such motivation, we can wait as we sense that God is indeed with us, and at work within us, as he was with Mary as the Child within her grew. Poet Luci Shaw, in God with Us
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. Galatians 4:4–7
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 60–61). Westminster John Knox Press.
for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. (2:11–12)
Having reassured the stunned and frightened shepherds that he came bearing good news, the angel then gave them the details of that good news. That very day, in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4), history’s most significant birth had taken place. It had happened in the most unlikely of places—in the city of David (the tiny hamlet of Bethlehem; see the discussion of 2:4 in chap. 12 of this volume). The angel prefaced his threefold description of the newborn Child by telling the shepherds that the One of whom he spoke had been born for them. Collectively, as noted above, Jesus is the Savior of both Jews and Gentiles; individually, He is the Savior of everyone who believes in Him (John 3:16). The angel did not give the Child’s earthly name; Savior, Christ and Lord are all titles. But since the name “Jesus” means “the Lord is salvation,” its meaning is encompassed by the term Savior. The description of Jesus as Savior is an apt one, since the reason He was born was to “save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21; cf. Luke 19:10). That obvious truth is often obscured in contemporary presentations of the gospel. Too often Jesus is presented as the One who will rescue people from unfulfillment in their marriages, families, or jobs; from a debilitating habit they cannot overcome on their own; or from a sense of purposelessness in life. But while relief in those areas may be a by-product of salvation, it is not its primary intent. Mankind’s true problem, of which those issues are only symptoms, is sin. Everyone (Rom. 3:10, 23) is guilty of breaking God’s holy law and deserves eternal punishment in hell. The true gospel message is that Jesus Christ came into the world to rescue people from sin and guilt—not psychological, artificial guilt feelings, but true, God-imposed guilt that damns to hell. Christ is an exalted title for a baby born in such humble circumstances. The name and its Old Testament counterpart, Messiah (Dan. 9:25–26), both mean “anointed one”; one placed in a high office and worthy of exaltation and honor. Jesus was anointed first in the sense that He is God’s appointed King, the “King of kings” (Rev. 17:14; 19:16), who will sit on David’s throne and reign forever, as Gabriel told Mary (1:32–33). He was also anointed to be the great High Priest (Heb. 3:1) for His people; the mediator between them and God (1 Tim. 2:5) who makes intercession for them (Heb. 7:25). Finally, Jesus was anointed as a prophet, God’s final and greatest spokesman (Heb. 1:1–2). Lord in a human sense is a term of respect and esteem, given to someone in a position of leadership and authority. Especially it was the title borne by slave owners; kurios (Lord) and doulos (slave) were connected. To call someone Lord was to acknowledge your subservience. In the New Testament Sarah called Abraham lord, acknowledging his authority over her as her husband (1 Peter 3:6). But in this context Lord is no mere elevated human designation; it is a divine title. To say that this Child is Lord is to say that He is God. When used in reference to Jesus Christ, kurios (Lord) conveys all that is implied by the tetragrammaton YHWH (“Yahweh,” which the Septuagint translates kurios)—the name of God (cf. Ex. 3:14–15). The most fundamental and basic confession of Christianity is, “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor. 12:3). No one who does not affirm Christ’s full deity and equality with God the Father can be saved for, as He warned the Jews, “Unless you believe that I am [God], you will die in your sins” (John 8:24. For a discussion of the “I am” statements in John’s gospel in reference to Christ’s deity, see John 1–11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2006], 14, 348). Romans 10:9 declares that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” The angel then gave the shepherds a sign by which they could recognize this remarkable Child: they would find find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. That the baby would be wrapped in cloths would not single out Jesus for the shepherds, since that was done to all Jewish babies (see the discussion of 2:7 in the previous chapter of this volume). To fail to properly care for a newborn baby, including wrapping it, was unthinkable (cf. Ezek. 16:1–5). But Jewish mothers did not usually put their newborn babies in a manger, so that would narrow the shepherds’ search to the Child of whom the angel spoke. The stark contrast between Jesus’ exalted status as Savior, Messiah, and God and the humble circumstances of His birth emphasizes the magnitude of His “[emptying] Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2009). Luke 1–5 (pp. 158–160). Moody Publishers.
Ver. 12. And this shall be a sign unto you.—What the angels said to the shepherds was, “This shall be the sign unto you; ye shall find a babe,” a babe like any other, “wrapped in swaddling clothes,” differing from other babes only in the lowliness of His birth, “lying in a manger.” The absence of any adventitious source of interest, anything awe-inspiring in the circumstances of the birth of Christ, was no mere casual incident; it was eminently significant, characteristic of His life, a symbol of His sway. The identification of “signs” with “wonders” was the common error of the Jews. All Israel was expectant of the Messiah. The reason why they received Him not was that they could not recognize the Divine in the ordinary. A babe was born in Bethlehem: only by those who shared the mother’s prophetic insight was the mystery of God’s interposition seen in His birth. Angels sang of His advent; their song was mute save to the listening ear of a few shepherds. And this is the common error of us all. “He that receiveth a prophet,” says Christ, “in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward.” Yes, we respond, that is well; we all shall know a prophet when we see him. But Christ also says, “Whoso shall receive a little child in My name receiveth Me.” He who is blind to the Christ in the little child may also fail to see the prophet when he comes. Such as Christ was manifested here, such did He ever continue. He would steal into the life of humanity as a babe twines round a mother’s heart. He would draw men to Him by the charm and sweetness of humna sanctity; and to those who were thus attracted to Him and abode in His fellowship, there came at length the revelation that this was the Divine. The cross lay hidden in the manger of Bethlehem. He was already bearing the only cross a babe can bear, poverty and man’s contempt; sweetened by a mother’s care, the symbol of that affection of pious hearts which never failed Him throughout His vexed and troubled history; and hallowed by the Father’s approval of the well-beloved Son, in whom, now as ever, He was well pleased. The sacrificial purpose and saving energy of His life already appeared. “Though He was rich, yet for our sakes,” &c. The mother of Jesus and the adoring shepherds must have been struck by the contrast between the honour of His annunciation and the meanness of His birth; between the splendours of the angelic host, and the manger where He lay. Eighteen centuries of Christian history have taught us that herein is no contrast, but profound consistency. What honour could the world have rendered the Son of God which would not have more sharply contrasted with His character and mission than poverty and the world’s neglect? There is nothing in common between Christ and the luxury of wealth, the ostentation of a palace, the statecraft of a Court. The manger of Bethlehem is the sign of the Messiah; the lowly, self-accepted lot of Jesus is the seal of His divinity. Men soar, God stoops; ambition is human, condescension is Divine. When God reveals Himself for man’s salvation it can only be by sacrifice; and the more complete the sacrifice, the fuller is the revelation. (A. Mackennal, D.D.)
The sign of Jesus Christ:—What a wonderful contrast between this verse and that which follows! What greatness on the one side, what humility on the other! That humility is the sign of the greatness. I. The sign of humility by which the entrance of Jesus into the world was announced, is found throughout the whole course of His history. II. The same contrast is found in the institutions which Jesus has left to preserve in His Church the remembrance of His benefits. III. There is, again, this same contrast of grandeur and humility to mark, with a Divine seal, the Church of Jesus Christ. 1. In its origin, composed of obscure persons from lowest ranks of a small unknown people. 2. As it exists to-day wherever the true Church is to be found. IV. The same sign of humility will enable us to recognize the worship with which God is pleased. V. The sign of humility which is constantly found in Christ, and in all that springs from Christ, must be found also among His disciples. (Horace Monod.)
Lessons of the holy manger:—At the cradle of Christianity, we may observe something of the predestined form both of Christian doctrine and Christian life. In the bud we trace the probable shape and colour of the coming flower. When standing at the source of a river we can determine at least the general direction of its course. In the Sacred Infancy, too, we may discern, without risk of indulgence in over-fanciful analogies, a typical portraiture of the Christian creed, and a precious lesson for good Christian living. To the theologian and the practical Christian, the sign of the manger and of the swaddling clothes is at least as full of meaning now as it was of old to the shepherds of Bethlehem. I. LOOK THEN AT THE CREED OF THE CHURCH. It has two sides, two aspects. It is one thing to sight, another to faith. To sight, it is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. To faith, it is revealed from heaven as supernatural and Divine. II. Consider THE MORAL IMPORT OF THE MANGER-BED OF THE INFANT JESUS. The world-wide principle of spiritual death needed to be expelled by a stronger and not less universal principle. It demanded a regenerating force, resting not on theory but on fact, a principle human in its form and action, but Divine in its strength and origin. Such a privilege we find in the Babe, wrapped, &c. This was indeed the Divine Word, engrafted on human nature, and able to save the souls of men. The Incarnation was the source of a moral revolution. By saving man it was destined to save human society. It confronted sensuality by endurance and mortification. It confronted covetousness by putting honour upon poverty. It taught men that a man’s highest life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. But its great lesson was a lesson of humility. In the humiliation of the Highest, the nations read the truth which the incarnate Lord taught in words:—“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” For us men humility is the law of progress, because it is the admission of truth. At Christ’s manger may we learn the blessed temper which makes faith, repentance, perseverance, easy, and to which are promised the crowns of glory, worn by the blessed around His throne. (Canon Liddon.) The babe: A Christmastide meditation:—The Incarnation was the great event in the world’s history. Nothing can rival in interest to us the coming of God in our mortal flesh; the shadowing of Deity in a human form, so that we might see Him; the manifestation of Deity in a saving love, so that we might be drawn to Him; the shinings in our humanity of a Divine purity; which should at once reveal to us our sins; and deliver us from their power. I. OUR SAVIOUR WAS A REAL MAN. All are alike at birth—babes. Christ came as we came. He passed through the entire experience of human life, starting from the cradle, right up to and beyond the tomb. II. OUR SAVIOUR WAS SIMPLY A MAN. “Ye shall find the babe”: just a babe, no more. No accident of birth limited Jesus to any part of the community; there were none of those things about Him on which men pride themselves. He belongs to all, however humble, obscure, poor, simple, needy. III. HE WAS A LOVING MAN. A babe is the emblem of the mightiest thing on earth—love—the sunshine of the Divine radience. IV. He was, for the most part, A REJECTED MAN. There never seemed to be any room for Him, from His birth onwards. V. HE IS ALL IN ALL TO THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIM. 1. To find this Babe will be the beginning of truest peace to our own hearts. 2. To find this Babe will be the beginning for us of a better, nobler life. 3. To find this Babe will give to us the true spirit of brotherhood and charity. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
The sign of the manger:—Let us think what is the connection here. A sign—a signal: how so? In what sense did the mode and circumstance of the birth make it typical of the thing which Christ comes to do? What is that thing which Christ comes to do? He has come to be the God-man, the Redeemer, the Emmanuel, and the Saviour—the God for us, and God with us, and God in us—of the fallen, the sinful, the erring and straying man. Now, to be this, He must first incorporate Himself with men, take the flesh and blood, the nature and body and spirit of the race which He comes to save. He must first of all incorporate Himself—not with a man, or a few men, but with humanity—with man as man, and not with certain privileged specimens and choice individuals of the race. He has come to undo the fall. He has come to bear the sins, to wipe away the tears, to take the sting out of the death of the Adam race as a whole; therefore He must not only take flesh and blood—become one of us and live our very life: that is not enough. He must go down to the very rock from which we are hewn, and He must put on our nature—not in its ornamental but in its bare form—not as it may deck itself in the embellishment of rank or wealth, of social distinction or philosophical culture, but as it is in itself and in the commonest experiences of its humblest children. If the Divine Saviour had appeared in any other form than this, He would have misled men as to the thing which He came to do, and as to the relation in which He desired to stand as to the lower and the lowest portions of the human family. The sign of the helpless babe and the manger cradle was no capricious or accidental idea; for, inasmuch as it is Christ the Lord, therefore ye shall find Him not in the miraculous strength of an instantaneous maturity, and not in the guest-chambers of a king’s palace, but as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. There was a connection and a congruity between the sign and the reality; for thus it was that Christ became, not the faith of a few, but the Saviour of all. None are poorer, none are humbler, none are less learned, none are less noble after the flesh, than He. None can say now, “His is the religion of the educated—of the philosophical—of kings and princes—His is the religion which admits or which favours a position of comfort or respectability, and I am none of these, so Christ is not for me.” And when, at this Christmas season, wealth surrounds itself with all its luxuries of mind and body, and thinks it much if, for a moment and in the most perfunctory way, it remembers the poor, we feel how slight must be the hold of these self-indulgers upon the faith which they profess to honour. If we would know the mystery of Christmas; if we would read the riddle of the angel; if we would know why he said, “The Saviour is born, and the sign is the manger,” we should turn our steps to some poor man’s chamber with its highbacked chair and its open Bible. We shall hear that man say, “Oh, I love both to be abased and to abound. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, for Christ the Lord was born this day for our salvation, and His first earthly resting place was a yard and a manger.” (Dean Vaughan.)
Divine things veiled under earthly forms:—This shall be your sign: not the march of a conqueror, not the splendour of a king, but the Babe wrapped in swaddling bands and lying in a manger! Wherever God is, the presence is secret. What, for example, is the Book of God—the Bible—but an example of this sanctity in commonness: a heap of leaves, marked with ink and hand, stamped with signs for sounds, multiplied by printing-press and steam-engine, conveyed hither and thither by railways, bought and sold in shops, tossed from hand to hand in schools and homes, lost and dissipated by vulgar wear and tear? But go back to its composition. What was the Bible as it came forth originally, book by book, and chapter by chapter, from the mind which thought, and from the hand which wrote it? Was it not written, after all, both in composition and in dictation, like any other work of poetry or philosophy, of history or fiction—by the brain and nerve power of common human beings? Was it not given forth line by line from the lips of a Paul sitting at the tent-making, or some other evangelist alternating between preaching and handicraft—by the utterance of sounds in an imperfect human language to some obscure Persis or other amanuensis reporting? Yet in that Book of books, thus material, thus earthly, thus human in its circumstances, there lies concealed the very breath and spirit of God Himself, mighty to stir hearts, and mighty to regenerate souls. The swathing bands of sense and time enclose the living and moving power which is of eternity, which is Divine. Nay, the sign of the true Deity is the fact that the form is human. Take another example of this from another of God’s instruments of communication. What is that vessel for holding common water, which is the appendage of every Christian place of worship? Is there anything in that laver—that font—but what is of the earth, and of the very commonest of all earth’s gifts for refreshing and purifying? “What can be the use,” some might inquire, “of bringing that earthly water into the House of God’s worship, as though we had forgotten our Master’s own words, ‘God is a Spirit’? What significance can there be—certainly what virtue—in sprinkling those few drops of common water upon the forehead of a child, with or without a particular form of sacred words accompanying? What, again, can be less intelligible than that sight of that little frugal table of common bread and common wine, standing there in front of the congregation? How can eating and drinking in God’s house affect, in any degree, for good the soul of the worshipper?” We can but answer that Christ our Master commanded the one sacrament as the appointed way of dedicating a new life to His service, and that He appointed the other sacrament as commemorative of His own death and passion—as instrumental, also, in nourishing the soul that in it feeds upon Him by faith. And though it would be presumptuous, indeed, to attach any value to a form of man’s invention, we feel that the presumption would be all the other way if we neglected an ordinance of Jesus Christ, because it was either too mysterious for us, or too carnal. Nay, we can almost read in the very simplicity a signal of His working, who, when He came on earth came as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and made it a sign of His presence that He was lying in a manger. But the same thing which is true of the Bible and of the sacraments, is true also of the Church and of the Christian. Where is it, we ask, that God in Christ dwells most certainly, most personally, on this earth? It is no word of man’s invention which answers, to the Church—“Ye, collectively, are the temple of God,” and, to the Christian—“your body is the shrine of the Holy Ghost, which is in you.” Yet if we look at the men and the women and the children thus spoken to, we see nothing but human beings, frail and fallen, occupied for a large part of their life in the employments and the relaxations, in the talk and in the seeking, which are common alike to the righteous and the wicked, and which would equally be theirs if they had neither faith nor heaven. The treasure of the Divine light is always held in earthen vessels; not until the pitcher is broken at the fountain shall the full radiance shine out so as to be read of all men. Meanwhile the sign of God is the commonness. Christ came not to take men out of the world, but to consecrate and keep them in it. Coming to redeem earth, He takes earth as it is: not the ideal, but the real; and makes this the very token of His being amongst us—that we find a helpless babe and a manger cradle. (Ibid.)
The practice of swathing infants:—When the Gospels were translated in our venerable version, it did not occur to any of the translators that the word “swaddling clothes” would ever be an obsolete word, needing to be illustrated by a description of ancient or foreign customs. And yet so it is at this day. The usage which is alluded to in this word is to us entirely strange. Few things among the old world customs, I venture to say, strike some of us as more outlandish—more pitiable even—more entirely removed from our notions of good care and right training—than the swaddling of little helpless babies, as it is practised, for instance, in Germany. I do not believe an American mother can generally pass one of those poor little Wickelkinder, strapped down on its back to a pillow by spiral after spiral of convoluted bandages, without longing to apply the scissors and let the little prisoner go free. And yet it is only a few generations since this way of treating new-born children prevailed, with variations and aggravations, in all nations, even the most civilized. We owe our own emancipation, in this land and century, from this and other artificial traditions, to no other single influence so much as to a remarkable book published in the middle of the last century by a citizen of Geneva—the “Emile” of Jean Jacques Rousseau. It speaks thus of the universally prevalent treatment of an infant child as it had continued to his day: “Scarcely does the child begin to enjoy the liberty of moving and stretching its limbs, when it is placed anew in confinement. It is wound in swaddling clothes, and laid down with its head fixed, its legs extended, its arms at its sides. It is surrounded with clothes and bandages of all sorts that prevent it from changing its position. It is a good thing if they do not even draw the bands so tight as to hinder respiration, and if they have the foresight to lay it on its side to avoid the danger of strangulation.… The inaction and constraint in which the child’s limbs are confined must necessarily disturb the circulation, hinder the child from gaining strength, and affect its constitution.… Is it possible that such cruel constraint can fail to affect the character of the child, as well as its physical temperament? Its first conscious feeling is a feeling of pain and suffering. It finds nothing but hindrances to the motions which it craves. More wretched than a criminal in irons, it frets and cries. The first gifts it receives are fetters; the first treatment it experiences is torture.” Such was the practice of a hundred years ago in the highest families of the most civilized country in the world. In many lands, partly owing to this very protest, the practice is better now. But in the slow-going East the common practice of the nursery is no better, and it is probably no worse than it was nineteen hundred years ago. But it is worse than anything we ever see or hear of in this part of the world. In fact, it comes nearer to the binding of an Indian papoose to a board, than to anything that we are accustomed to see in the families of Christendom. Once wound around with these swathing-bands, sometimes with an addition of fresh earth against the skin, and packed in their cradles like a little mummy in its coffin, the poor little babies are expected to stay there, all cries and complaints notwithstanding; they are not removed by their mothers even for such necessary occasions as to be fed. I have heard pitiful stories told by missionaries’ wives, and by missionary physicians, in the East, of the sufferings of little infants in consequence of the obstinate persistence of parents in a usage which we clearly see to be so unreasonable and unnatural. (Leonard W. Bacon.)
The sign of the swaddling clothes:—Is it not strange, you will ask, that when the shepherds were given a sign by which they should know their new-born Saviour, they should be told, not of something distinguishing Him from all children beside, but of something common to all the infants that were born that night in all Judea? “Ye shall find wrapped in swaddling clothes.” Why not say, according to the instincts of heathen mythology, Ye shall know Him by the bees that gather to suck the honey of His lips, or the strangled serpents that lie about His cradle? Why not say, according to the suggestions of Christian legend and art, Ye shall know Him by the aspect of supernatural majesty, which it shall be the dream and the disappointment of all the world’s artists to attempt to portray? Or, Ye shall know Him by the halo of celestial light beaming from His brow, as in the “Holy Night” of Correggio, and filling the rude stall with an unearthly brightness? Or, Ye shall know Him by some accessories worthy of so royal a birth, by gifts of gold and myrrh and frankincense that strew the humble shed? The very question brings its answer: You are to know Him from all these natural dreams of a fond imagination, from the hopeful prognostications of Hebrew mothers, or the impatient fancies of fanatics, or the artful fictions of impostors taking advantage of the general expectation with which the very atmosphere of Palestine was saturated, to set forth some feigned Messiah—you are to know Him from all these by the fact that He is just the opposite of all such imaginings—that He is to all appearance just a helpless human infant, the most helpless thing in the whole creation, bound and bandaged in swaddling clothes. And if you would know how to distinguish Him from other such, it is not by His grandeur but by His poverty. There is no room in the inn for such as He; and they have laid Him in the manger, among the cattle.… The sign given to the shepherds is a sign also to us—that we find the Holy Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Illustrious men have sometimes had an honest pride in inscribing upon their escutchon, beneath a noble crest, the symbol of the humble mechanic rank in which they had their origin. So the Church of Christ, beneath the diadem of supreme royalty, quarters upon its shield, beside the cross and the thongs, the manger and the swaddling bands, and invites the world to read the blazon. That family group which the painters of every later age have been essaying to depict—the carpenter with his simple, uninquisitive faith obedient to heavenly visions, the pure Virgin with her unskilled maiden tenderness pondering strange memories in her heart, both leaning over the Wonderful, but understanding not the saying which He speaks to them—these speak over again to us the language of that prophet who first called his child “Immanuel,” “Behold we and the Child whom the Lord hath given us are for signs and for wonders from the Lord of hosts.” (Ibid.)
Naturalness of the truly great:—To illustrate the use of such a sign as was given to the shepherds, let me suppose some traveller accustomed to the splendour and reserve of royal courts visiting the city of Washington, and asking, on his way to the White House, how he should find the President. We should tell him, “You may know him by this sign. He is a plain man, plainly dressed in a black suit, and you will find him in the centre of the thickest crowd, and everybody coming up to shake hands with him. First, he is not distinguished in the way you expect him to be; and, secondly, he is unmistakably distinguished in just the opposite way.” But for some such “sign” as this our traveller might naturally mistake for the President some attaché of a South American Embassy standing apart in a halo of dignity and a light blaze of gold lace. This “wrapped in swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger” was just the sign the shepherds needed. And we do well if, looking for the Christ, we take heed to it ourselves. We are not yet safe from the error of them of old time, who thought to find the Lord clothed in soft raiment and dwelling in king’s palaces. (Ibid.)
Christ’s humility:—In His nativity, and in His temptation (Mark 1:13), Christ was among beasts. Believers, ambitious of high place, forget their Master’s cradle. A manger is here honoured above a thousand glittering thrones. It is an ornament of His royalty, a throne of His glory. He comes in humility; He reigns in humility; He leads by humility. The manger and the cross are stumbling-blocks to many. His infancy and death are still rocks, wrecking human pride. (Van Doren.)
The sign of the Incarnation:—Christmas is full of surprises. It brings in, as no other event ever did, the element of mystery, of wonder. Its testimony is, God became manifest in the flesh. The Eternal Word was joined with a perfect human nature. The miracle of the Incarnation transcends every other that has been and will be wrought. It is in itself a wonder so great that all the accompaniments of the birth of Jesus sink into comparative insignificance. We are, I fear, inclined to forget the majesty of the fact in the strangeness of its surroundings. We count it a wonderful thing that He should have been born in the stable of a country inn, whereas the real wonder is that such a birth should take place anywhere, and so I ask you to contemplate one of the signs by which the shepherds of Bethlehem were to find and know the incarnate God—“Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.” I. It reminds us, by way of analogy, of a fact which constitutes the most trying element in the mystery of the Incarnation, namely, that GOD THEREBY CAME WITHIN CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. How an uncreated and omnipresent, that is, a boundless, Infinite Being could be contracted within the circumference of a human life is the most puzzling problem of revelation. The impossibility of our understanding this is a temptation, not perhaps to deny, but to forget the deeper meaning of the Christmas feast. Remember, then, that within these swathing bands which encircled the infant form of Jesus there was bound the nature of a Being more than human, even God Himself. Men may call this an unreasonable tax upon our faith. It is rather a sign of God’s condescension to human weakness. The whole secret of the history of idolatry among the Jews and the Gentiles was a longing for some visible manifestation of Him whom they felt they must worship. Man instinctively longs for some incarnate form, some Word of his Maker manifest in the flesh, some finite manifestation of the Infinite Father. And the birth of Jesus, the enshrining of God within a human form, the swathing of that power, which otherwise knows no bounds, was but an answer to man’s desire. II. The sign holds good, not only of the nature of Christ, but likewise of THE LIFE WHICH, FROM FIRST TO LAST, HE LIVED. That also was like every purely human life, hemmed in. It unfolded according to the ordinary laws of growth. His babyhood was as real as His manhood. He increased in wisdom as well as stature. He learned gradually the wisdom which all the world now confesses. The common idea which people have of Jesus is that, being Divine, He was exempt from the ordinary conditions of common men; that He never knew constraint; that there were no barriers opposing Him, no bands fettering the free exercise of that Divine power which lay hidden within Him. Yet duty was sometimes hard for Him. He longed to do things which He might not attempt, because the higher and more spiritual dictates of His conscience forbade it. The kingdoms of this world and their glory looked as fair and tempting to His soul as they do to ours. But the law of righteousness, the swathing-bands of duty, the rules of obedience which God throws around us, likewise constrained Him. III. The manner of the Incarnation shows GOD’S ESTIMATE OF HUMAN NATURE. If you are ever tempted to despise human nature because you see it now and then wearing disagreeable phases, or to think ill of, nay, to slight, your friends, remember God’s estimate of them. He does not thus stoop and toil to save the worthless. From being a King He descended to the lowest form of human life, entered the world in utter helplessness, was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and during all His development here on earth never rose above that form of a servant which He had taken. And He did all this, because even fallen man was dearer to His heart than the world of lost angels. (E. E. Johnson, M.A.)
Great things from small beginnings:—Not, Ye shall find the angel in the heavens, the king on his throne, the young prince in a palace, the commander at the head of his armies, but “the babe in a manger.” How strange are God’s ways of working out His strange plans! It is not by might, nor by power, that His agencies accomplish their vast work. The least things are often the greatest in His providence (1 Cor. 1:27–29). It may be the shepherd boy with his sling who gains victory over the mailed giant in whose presence the whole army of Israel stands trembling; it may be the tinker in Bedford Jail who writes a masterpiece in religious literature, to be honoured for centuries for its work and its worth; it may be the unschooled clerk from a Boston shoe-store who proclaims the gospel with a fervency and power which the best-cultured divines of all Christendom have not attained to; or it may be in the most unprepossessing child of your school or class that the grandest possibilities for the kingdom of Christ to-day lie hid. (H. C. Trumbull.)
The fitness of the sign:—“This shall be the sign,” saith the angel. “Shall be”; but should it be this? No; how should it be? Let us see. Why, this shall be the sign; ye shall find the Child, not in these clouts or cratch, but in a crimson mantle, in a cradle of ivory. That, lo, were somewhat Saviour-like I But in vain take we upon us to teach the angel; we would have—we know not what. We forget St. Augustine’s distingue tempora; as the time is the angel is right, and a fitter sign could not be assigned. Would we have had Him come in power and great glory? and so He will come, but not now. He that cometh here in clouts will one day come in the clouds. But now His coming was for another end, and so to be in another manner. His coming now was “to visit us in great humility,” and so His sign to be according. Nay, then, I say, first go to the nature of a sign; if Christ had come in His excellency, that had been no sign, no more than the sun in the firmament shining in his full strength. Contrary to the course of nature it must be, else it is no sign. The sun eclipsed, the sun in sackcloth; that is signum in sole, “the sign indeed” (Luke 21:25). And that is the sign here: the Sun of Righteousness entering into His eclipse begins to be darkened in His first point, the point of His nativity. This is the sign, say I, and that had been none. (Bishop Lancelot Andrewes.)
The sign nothing; the treasure all:—Make of the sign what ye will; it skills not what it be, never so mean. In the nature of a sign there is nothing, but it may be such; all is in the thing signified. So it carry us to a rich signatum, and worth the finding, what matter how mean the sign be? We are sent to a crib, not to an empty crib; Christ is in it. Be the sign never so simple, the signatum it carries us to makes amends. Any sign with such a signatum. And I know not the man so squeamish, but if, in his stable and under his manger, there were a treasure hid, and he were sure of it, but thither he would, and pluck up the planks, and dig and rake for it, and be never a whit offended with the homeliness of the place. If, then, Christ be a treasure, as in Him are “all the treasures of the wisdom and bounty of God,” what skills it what be His sign. With this, with any other, Christ is worth the finding. He is not worthy of Christ who will not go anywhither to find Christ. (Ibid.)
Christ born in a manger:—At midnight from one of the galleries of the sky a chant broke forth. To an ordinary observer there was no reason for such a celestial demonstration. If there had been such brilliant and mighty recognition at an advent in the House of Pharaoh, or at an advent in the House of Cæsar, or the House of Hapsburg, or the House of Stuart, we would not so much have wondered; but a barn seems too poor a centre for such delicate and archangelic circumference. The stage seems too small for so great an act, the music too grand for such unappreciative auditors, the windows of the stable too rude to be serenaded by other worlds. I. THAT NIGHT IN THE BETHLEHEM MANGER WAS BORN ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ALL THE POORLY STARTED. He had only two friends—they His parents. No satin-lined cradle, no delicate attentions, but straw and the cattle, and the coarse joke and banter of the camel drivers. From the depths of that poverty He rose, until to-day He is honoured in all Christendom, and sits on the imperial throne in heaven. Do you know that the vast majority of the world’s deliverers had barnlike birthplaces? Luther, the emancipator of religion, born among the mines. Shakespeare, the emancipator of literature, born in a humble home at Stratford-on-Avon. Columbus, the discoverer of a world, born in poverty at Genoa. Hogarth, the discoverer of how to make art accumulative and administrative of virtue, born in a humble home at Westminster. Kitto and Prideaux, whose keys unlocked new apartments in the Holy Scriptures which had never been entered, born in want. Yea, I have to tell you that nine out of ten of the world’s deliverers were born in want. I stir your holy ambitions to-day, and I want to tell you, although the whole world may be opposed to you, and inside and outside of your occupations or professions there may be those who would hinder your ascent, on your side and enlisted in your behalf are the sympathetic heart and the almighty arm of One who, one Christmas night about eighteen hundred and eighty years ago, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Oh, what magnificent encouragement for the poorly started! II. Again, I have to tell you that IN THAT VILLAGE BARN THAT NIGHT WAS BORN GOODWILL TO MEN, whether you call it kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, or geniality, or affection, or love. It says, “Sheathe your swords, dismount your guns, dismantle your batteries, turn the warship Constellation, that carried shot and shell, into a grain ship to take food to famishing Ireland, hook your cavalry horses to the plough, use your deadly gunpowder in blasting rocks and in patriotic celebration, stop your lawsuits, quit writing anonymous letters, extract the sting from your sarcasm, let your wit coruscate but never burn, drop all the harsh words out of your vocabulary—Goodwill to men.” III. Again, I remark that BORN THAT CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN THE VILLAGE BARN WAS SYMPATHETIC UNION WITH OTHER WORLDS. Move that supernatural grouping of the cloud banks over Bethlehem, and from the special trains that ran down to the scene I find that our world is beautifully and gloriously and magnificently surrounded. The meteors are with us, for one of them ran to point down to the birthplace. The heavens are with us, because at the thought of our redemption they roll hosannas out of the midnight sky. IV. Again, I remark that THAT NIGHT BORN IN THAT VILLAGE BARN WAS THE OFFENDER’S HOPE. Some sermonizers may say I ought to have projected this thought at the beginning of the sermon. Oh, no! I wanted you to rise toward it. I wanted you to examine the cornelians and the jaspers and the emeralds and the sardonyx before I showed you the Kohinoor—the crown jewel of the ages. Oh, that jewel had a very poor setting! The cub of the bear is born amid the grand old pillars of the forest, the whelp of a lion takes its first step from the jungle of luxuriant leaf and wild flower, the kid of the goat is born in cavern chandeliered with stalactite and pillared with stalagmite. Christ was born in a bare barn. Yet that nativity was the offender’s hope. Over the door of heaven are written these words, “None but the sinless may enter here.” “Oh, horror,” you say, “that shuts us out!” No. Christ came to the world in one door, and He departed through another door. He came through the door of the manger, and He departed through the door of the sepulchre; and His one business was so to wash away our sin that after we are dead there will be no more sin about us than about the eternal God. I know that is putting it strongly, but that is what I understand by full remission. All erased, all washed away, all scoured out, all gone. Oh! now I see what the manger was. Not so high the gilded and jewelled and embroidered cradle of the Henrys of England, or the Louis of France, or the Fredericks of Prussia. Now I find out that that Bethlehem crib fed not so much the oxen of the stall as the white horses of Apocalyptic vision. Now I find the swaddling clothes enlarging and emblazing into an imperial robe for a conqueror. (Dr. Talmage.)
The Child in the manger:— I. Learn from this story of the birth of Jesus, in the first place, that INDIGENCE IS NOT ALWAYS SIGNIFICANT OF DEGRADATION. When princes are born, heralds proclaim it, and flags wave it, and cannon thunder it, and illuminations set cities on fire with the tidings; but when Christ was born there was no demonstration of earthly honour or homage. Poor, and, if possible, getting poorer, and yet the recognition of the angel host proves the truth of the proposition that indigence is no sign of degradation. In all ages of the world there have been great hearts throbbing under rags, gentle spirits under rough exterior, gold in the quartz, Parian marble in the quarry, and in the very stables of poverty wonders of excellence that have been the joy of the heavenly host. Poetry, and science, and law, and constitutions, and commerce, like Christ, were born in a manger. Great thoughts that seem to have been the axle-tree on which the centuries turned, started in some obscure corner, and had Herods who tried to slay them, and Iscariots who betrayed them, and Pilates who unjustly condemned them, and rabbles who crucified them, and sepulchres which confined them until they broke forth again in glorious resurrection. Men are, like wheat, worth all the more for being flailed. Strong character, like the rhododendron, is an alpine plant which grows best in the tempest. There are a great many men who are now standing in the front rank of the Church of God who would have been utterly useless had they not been ground and hammered in the foundries of disaster. II. Again, I learn from the text that IT IS WHEN WE ARE ENGAGED IN OUR LAWFUL OCCUPATIONS THAT WE HAVE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS MADE TO US. If these shepherds had gone that night into the village, and risked their flocks among the wolves, they would not have heard the song of the angels. In other words, he sees most of God and heaven who minds his own business! We are all shepherds, and we have large flocks of cares, and we must tend them. I know there are a great many busy men who say, “Oh, if I had only time, I would be good. If I had the days and the months and the years to devote to the subject of religion, I should be one of the best of Christians.” A great mistake are you making. The busiest men are generally the best men. There is no point from which you can get clearer views of duty than at the merchant’s counter, or the accountant’s table, or on the mason’s wall. III. Again, the story of the text STRIKES AT THE POPULAR FALLACY THAT THE RELIGION OF CHRIST IS DOLOROUS AND GRIEF-INFUSING. The music that broke through that famous birth-night was not a dirge, but an anthem. It shook joy over the midnight hills. It not only dropped among the shepherds, but it sprang upward among the thrones. The robe of righteousness is not black. The religious life is not all weeping and sighing, and cross-bearing and warfare. Christianity does not frown on amusements and recreations. It quenches no light. It defaces no heart. Among the happy it is the happiest. Heaven itself is only a warmer love and a brighter joy. IV. Again, I learn from this subject, WHAT GLORIOUS ENDINGS COME FROM SMALL AND INSIGNIFICANT BEGINNINGS. The New Testament Church was on a small scale. The fishermen watched it. Small beginnings, but glorious endings. A throne linked to a manger. Mansions of light at God’s right hand associated with stables of poverty. V. I learn, finally, from this story of the birth of Christ, THE GLORIOUS RESULT OF A SAVIOUR’S MISSION. Have you ever thought how strangely this song of peace must have sounded to the Roman Empire? Why, that Roman Empire gloried in its arms, and boasted of the number of men it had slain, and with triumph looked at conquered provinces. Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Macedonia, Egypt, had bowed to her sword, and crouched at the cry of her war eagles. Their highest honours had been bestowed upon Fabius and Scipio and Cæsar. It was men of blood and carnage that they honoured. With what contempt they must have looked upon a kingdom the chief principle of which was to be goodwill to men, and upon the unarmed, penniless Christ, who, in Nazarene garb, was about to start out for the conquest of the nations. If all the blood which has been shed in battle were gathered together in one great lake, it would bear up a navy. The blow that struck Abel into the dust has had its echo in the carnage of all the centuries. If we could take our stand on some high mountain of earth, and have all the armies of other ages pass along, what a spectacle! There go the hosts of the Israelites through scores of Red Seas, one of them of water, the rest of blood. There go the armies of Cyrus, lifting their infuriate yell over prostrate Babylon. There goes Alexander, with his innumerable host, conquering all but himself, and making the earth to reel under the battle gash of Persepolis and Chæronia. There goes the great Frenchman, down through Egypt like one of its own plagues, and up through Russia like one of its own ice-blasts. Host after host. Tramp, tramp, tramp. Coming down to our day, I appeal to the grave-trench under the shadow of Sebastopol, and turning to India I show you fallen Delhi, and Allahabad, and the inhuman Sepoys, and the regiments of Havelock avenging the insulted flag of Great Britain. On this, the day before Christmas, I bring you good tidings of great joy. A Saviour for the lost. Medicine for the sick. Light for the blind. Harbour for the bestormed. Eternal life for the dead. (Ibid.)
Exell, J. S. (n.d.). The Biblical Illustrator: St. Luke: Vol. I (pp. 157–166). James Nisbet & Co.
Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6) is the name of this child. The child in the manger is none other than God himself. Nothing greater can be said: God became a child. In the Jesus child of Mary lives the almighty God. Wait a minute! Don’t speak; stop thinking! Stand still before this statement! God became a child! Here he is, poor like us, miserable and helpless like us, a person of flesh and blood like us, our brother. And yet he is God; he is might. Where is the divinity, where is the might of the child? In the divine love in which he became like us. His poverty in the manger is his might. In the might of love he overcomes the chasm between God and humankind, he overcomes sin and death, he forgives sin and awakens from the dead. Kneel down before this miserable manger, before this child of poor people, and repeat in faith the stammering words of the prophet: “Mighty God!” And he will be your God and your might.
But now it is true that in three days, Christmas will come once again. The great transformation will once again happen. God would have it so. Out of the waiting, hoping, longing world, a world will come in which the promise is given. All crying will be stilled. No tears shall flow. No lonely sorrow shall afflict us anymore, or threaten. Sermon to a German-speaking church in Havana, Cuba, December 21, 1930
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 58–59). Westminster John Knox Press.
It is set to be a quiet Christmas in the Challies home. Like so many other families, we had plans for today that have been interrupted by illness. And so we will spend the day—and, I’m sure, enjoy the day—with just the four of us. And as we begin, this prayer is on my lips:
On this Christmas Day, my Father, I come to you with a glad heart. Help me to observe the day fitly, with loving remembrance of the lowly birth in Bethlehem and the sorrows of him who came to bring redemption, and with grateful thanks to you for your great mercy.
May this be a true Christmas in my heart. Take away all unbelief, all bitter thought and feeling, all resentment and unforgiveness, all unholy desire and give me love—love that is patient and kind, that is not provoked, that thinks no evil, that seeks not its own. Save me from all selfishness. While I gratefully receive the Christmas blessings and enjoy them, may my heart be opened toward all the world in sympathy and kindly interest. Make my life a song, and may I go everywhere with joy on my face and on my lips.
I pray for all those to whom Christmas brings gladness, that their joy may be enriched by thoughts of your divine love. I pray for the multitudes of little children everywhere, to whom the day means so much, who have been waiting for it so long in eager expectancy, and who will be happy with their gifts and with the love that blesses them.
I pray also for those to whom the day brings little of joy—the very poor, the lonely and solitary; those far away from their homes, whose hearts will not be warmed by human love; prisoners in their prisons; sailors on the sea; and those who know not you. I pray for the sick in their homes and in the hospitals, that in their suffering they may be comforted by the remembrance of your divine compassion. I pray for the bereft and sorrowing, to whom Christmas brings painful memories, making more real their sense of loss. May they find comfort in the thought of Christ’s unfailing love.
May this glad Christmas leave my life richer and tenderer. May your divine love henceforth be more real to me. May I be sure of your divine care and guidance. May my heart be warmer toward my fellows, tenderer in its sympathy with human need and sorrow, and may I live a gentler, more kindly life, because of this day’s revealing of your wondrous love. Grant these favors through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have you ever heard the phrase “awkward family photos”? They are exactly what they sound like.
We have friends who take awkward family photos every year and include them on their Christmas cards. Thankfully, my friends are self-aware of their own awkwardness. For them, it’s become a game to see who can figure out what movie or cryptic pop culture reference they are trying to spoof.
Of course, sometimes people take awkward family photos, and they are very much not self-aware; they don’t realize how goofy the photos look. There’s even a company that monetizes the awkwardness by selling awkward merch.
This discussion makes me think that Hebrews 2:11 is a meaningful reflection for Christmas. Speaking of Jesus, the author writes, “He is not ashamed to call them brothers.” Who are these people that Jesus is unashamed to call his siblings? It’s not the photogenic professional models Jesus loves. He welcomes the awkward and the outcast, the sinful and the sad.
In many ways, the Old Testament can be seen as a massive coffee-table photo book. Sometimes the photos are stunning. But for any Old Testament family with a decent collection of pictures, there are—without exception—some awkward family photos. We read about priests and kings, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who we’d be ashamed to claim as family. Would Abraham have stuck Lot’s picture on his fridge at Christmas? Would you?
And as I read the New Testament, especially the stories in the Gospels, and see the kinds of people Jesus befriended, I think, “Well, this could be volume II in that coffee table series.”
Jesus befriended Jewish tax collectors, the equivalent of those who worked in organized crime. It would be one thing for a Gentile to join the mob, but for a Jew to do that to other Jews was much worse than awkward. And yet, right there in the photo of the twelve leaders is Matthew.
I think of the sick and suffering who constantly clung to Jesus. He befriended blind men, women with bleeding issues, and lepers with skin diseases that healthy, ordinary people wouldn’t come within twenty yards of, let alone post a selfie with online.
One time, while Jesus was at a dinner party with wealthy, pious religious leaders, a wayward woman came and anointed Jesus’s feet with her tears and her hair. It’s one of the most awkward stories in the New Testament, yet Jesus seems to be right at home. On social media, people would call the video cringe.
Think of the children who came running to Jesus. Again, this doesn’t hit us the same way. Oh, of course, Jesus loves the little children, we think. We sing songs about it. And he does love children. But you’ll remember that when the children tried to come to Jesus, the disciples shooed them away. Surely, Jesus has more important and less noisy people to spend time with. Adults, you know, have more to give Jesus than little children do, those who can only give Jesus their need and their curiosity.
Consider the shepherds out in the fields. Their job required them to be there, but honestly, nobody really wanted to be with them because they were so rough. Still, the angels came to them first, announcing good news of great joy for all people.
And on the cross—while he’s dying in the most shame-filled way to die—Jesus befriends a criminal.
All this befriending, essentially taking awkward family photos, turns the real Christmas story into a confrontation with what we might simply call a “nostalgic Christmas” or “sentimental Christmas.” Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas lights, cookies, presents, and parties. I love the rose-colored feeling of the way things used to be. But the real Christmas story shows how God came to live with us—not the us as we wish we were, but the us as we really are.
In this way, the real Christmas story also becomes another story of confrontation in a way that the sappy Christmas story never would: The unholy us must confront the holy God. And that confrontation quickly reminds us, if we’re honest, that we need a real savior.
This Christmas, remember that Jesus is the savior for the person riddled with doubts. He’s the savior for the one with a crumbling second marriage. He’s the savior for the dad who works too much and drinks too much and doesn’t know yet how to stop. Jesus is the savior for the woman who had an abortion years ago but is still too ashamed to mention it in her Bible Study. He’s the savior for the religious churchgoer exhausting herself trying to maintain her perfectly manicured moral image. Jesus is Immanuel, the real God with the real us—a story so unlikely and awkward that it becomes beautiful again.
However, the most hallowed observance for our family — that with the most deeply rooted traditions — is Christmas. It is not a commercial feeding frenzy for us, but a quiet and reverent time of rest and celebration of the birth of Christ, punctuated by extended family festivities.
Christmas Through the Generations
The Book of Luke contains the most familiar account on the Birth of Jesus:
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” (Luke 2:1-18).
Historically, the actual year of Christ’s birth is thought to be between 6 BC and 4 BC, at the end of Herod’s reign. The first mention of Christmas as a formal Nativity feast occurred in a Roman almanac dated AD 336.
The prophet Isaiah wrote of the coming Messiah 700 years before the birth of Jesus: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
The Christmas star that guided the Wise Men to Bethlehem may have been any of a number of recorded astronomical events coinciding with the likeliest dates of that first Christmas. Halley’s Comet appeared in 12 BC, and ancient Chinese texts note “exploding” stars, or novas, observed in both 4 and 5 BC. Exceptionally bright planetary conjunctions occurred in 2, 6, and 7 BC; among these, the most promising candidate for the Holy Star was the triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in 6 BC.
Early Christians selected December 25th for the Nativity feast to replace the pagan festival natalis solis invicti, the birth of the sun god Mithras, at winter solstice. They proclaim that Jesus Christ was the real Light of the World, the true “Sun of Righteousness,” as well as the Messiah foretold in Jewish faith. As Jesus declared, he had not come to destroy the law and the prophets of Judaism, but to fulfill them, and so he also fulfilled the deepest human longings expressed in other traditional celebrations. And we Christians believe these aspects of our human nature are not merely enduring, but eternal — because we humans are all created in the image of Eternal God.
Our American Christmas heritage derives from the mingled Christmas traditions of immigrants from many lands, with differing religious beliefs and customs of worship and celebration. Our name for this holiday, itself a word derived from “Holy Day,” arises from the old English Cristes Maesse, or Christ’s Mass. Christmas is sometimes abbreviated as Xmas, which is derived from combining the Greek letter “chi,” denoting “Christ,” with “Mass.”
Christmas was first observed in early America among the Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Moravians who settled predominantly in the Middle Atlantic colonies and the South.
Influenced by Puritanism and Calvinism, the New England Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists looked askance at a celebration they deemed based on “heathenistic traditions.” New England colonial authorities outlawed Christmas from 1649 until 1658. The General Court of Massachusetts in 1659 set a fine of five shillings per offense, punishing the observance “of any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forebearing of labour, feasting, or any such way.” Contemporaneously, the Assembly of Connecticut forbade the reading of the Book of Common Prayer, the keeping of Christmas and saints days, the making of mince pies, the playing of cards, or performing on any musical instruments.
Peter Kalm wrote on Christmas Day 1749 about Philadelphia’s holiday: “Nowhere was Christmas Day celebrated with more solemnity than in the Roman Church. Three sermons were preached there, and that which contributed most to the splendor of the ceremony was the beautiful music heard to-day. … Pews and altar were decorated with branches of mountain laurel, whose leaves are green in winter time and resemble the (cherry laurel).”
Philip Fithian, of colonial Virginia, recorded in his diary entry for December 18, 1773: “When it grew to dark to dance … we conversed til half after six; Nothing is now to be heard of in conversation, but the Balls, the Fox-hunts, the fine entertainments, and the good fellowship, which are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas.”
Fithian’s Christmas Eve 1775 diary entry from Staunton, Virginia, described other common pastimes of the holiday celebration: “The Evening I spent at Mr. Guys — I sung for an Hour, at the good Peoples Desire, Mr. Watts admirable Hymns — I myself was entertaind; I felt myself improvd; so much Love to Jesus is set forth — So much divine Exercise.” But his 1775 Christmas Day entry noted the vastly different observances of the Scots and Scots-Irish Presbyterians: “Christmas Morning — Not A Gun is heard — Not a Shout — No company or Cabal assembled — To Day is like other Days every Way calm & temperate — People go about their daily Business with the same Readiness, & apply themselves to it with the same Industry.”
The first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday was Massachusetts in 1856.
By the first battles of the War Between the States, most of our shared Christmas traditions were set, and the January 3, 1863, issue of Harper’s Weekly featured a drawing of encamped soldiers receiving Christmas gifts from home.
General Robert E. Lee wrote one wartime Christmas: “My heart is filled with gratitude to Almighty God for his unspeakable mercies with which He has blessed us in this day. For those He granted us from the beginning of life, and particularly for those He has vouchsafed us during the past year [of war]. What should have become of us without His crowning help and protection? Oh, if our people would only recognize it and cease from self-boasting and adulation, how strong would be my belief in the final success and happiness to our country! But what a cruel thing is war; to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world! I pray that on this day [Christmas] when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace.”
Christmas became a federal holiday in 1870, and today, nearly all Americans celebrate Christmas in some way, a uniformity that belies the variance with which, as in colonial days, Americans approach this holiday.
From St. Nicholas to Santa Claus
As holiday is derived from “Holy Day,” and Christmas from “Cristes Maesse,” the name “Santa Claus,” and the roots of our modern tradition of gift-giving, is derived from St. Nicholas, “Sinterklaas.” Around 300 AD, he was the distinguished Bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey. Not only was he the patron saint of children, but of the oppressed and those at sea. He was a noted defender of the faith, an attendee at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, who advocated for Trinitarianism and opposed the heretical views of Arius. He was among the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed. After his death, the St. Nicholas Church was built over the site of the Myra church where Nicholas originally served as bishop.
My colleague William Federer offered this brief history of the very real St. Nicholas, who is at the root of the modern Santa Claus.
Greek Orthodox tradition tells of Saint Nicholas being born to a wealthy, elderly couple in Asia Minor (what is today Turkey) in the year 280 AD. When his parents died, he used the wealth he inherited to generously give to the poor.
Upon hearing of a merchant who went bankrupt and that creditors were about to take his daughters, Saint Nicholas threw money in the window at night to provide a dowry for the daughters to get married, thus saving them from a life of prostitution. When the father discovered who gave the money, Nicholas made him promise not to tell, as he wanted the glory to go to God alone.
This inspired the custom of secret gift-giving on the anniversary of Saint Nicholas’ death, December 6, 343 AD.
Saint Nicholas became Bishop of Myra and was imprisoned during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians. He was freed by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. Saint Nicholas attended the Council of Nicea [in AD 325] where the Nicene Creed was written.
Just like the Apostle Paul [who was also in Myra in AD 60] as described in Acts, chapter 19, Saint Nicholas preached against the fertility goddess ‘Diana’ and her immoral temple prostitutes at Ephesus — the Las Vegas of the ancient Mediterranean world. The people responded by tearing down the local temple to Diana.
Saint Nicholas was known for courageously rescuing a soldier who was about to be executed by a corrupt governor, and for having many miraculous answers to his prayers.
After his death, Emperor Justinian built a cathedral and named it after him. Vladimir the Great of Russia converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and adopted Saint Nicholas as the patron saint of Russia.
In the 11th century, Muslim Seljuk Turks invaded Asia Minor, killing Christians, turning churches into mosques and digging up the bones of Christian saints and giving them to dogs. For protection, in the year 1087, the bones of Saint Nicholas were shipped to the town of Bari in southern Italy, thus introducing Saint Nicholas and gift-giving traditions to Western Europe.
Eventually, Dutch immigrants brought the Saint Nicholas traditions to New Amsterdam, which became New York, and they pronounced Saint Nicholas “Sinter Claes” or “Santa Claus.”
Unfortunately, there is a perennial societal tension now associated with Christmas. If not for its dire implications for the future of Liberty, the seasonal contortions over “non-offensive greetings” would be humorous. The Left insists the word “Christmas” violates the phony “Wall of Separation” doctrine if a government employee deigns to utter it within earshot, and that it is too ethnocentric for corporate use.
Some years ago, The Patriot Post coined the greeting “Happy Christmahanakwamadan.” We did so in response to the fashionable PC crowd’s ludicrous demands for “inclusive faith-neutral” greetings. We also published our legal department disclaimer outlining the terms of acceptance for the greeting as a counterpoint to retailers vying for your business who have instituted policies discouraging or outright prohibiting any mention of “Christmas.”
We do not challenge private-sector employers’ right to dictate corporate policies on such matters. However, the ongoing campaign to censor Christmas from public forums is another matter. Ironically, it’s often these same censors who take shortcuts, such as wishing folks “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Xmas.”
Despite some folks’ preoccupation with the secularization of Christmas, our Founders, the framers of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, had no such concerns about public expressions of faith, as none was warranted. Conversely, they were bold about promoting Christianity and speaking about their own faith.
Historian Peter Lillback authored Sacred Fire, an exhaustive scholarly treatise on George Washington, whom I hold to be our most esteemed and most indispensable president. In that treatise, Lillback notes that it is only in recent years, with the searchable digital publication of our Founders’ writings, that we get an accurate picture of their faith, and their expression of same.
Lillback writes, “Washington referred to himself frequently using the words ‘ardent,’ ‘fervent,’ ‘pious,’ and ‘devout.’ There are over one hundred different prayers composed and written by Washington in his own hand. He described himself as one of the deepest men of faith of his day when he confessed to a clergyman, ‘No Man has a more perfect Reliance on the alwise, and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have nor thinks his aid more necessary.’ Although he never once used the word ‘Deist’ in his voluminous writings, he often mentioned religion, Christianity, and the Gospel. He spoke of Christ as ‘the divine Author of our blessed religion.’ He wrote of ‘the blessed religion revealed in the Word of God.’ He encouraged seekers to learn ‘the religion of Jesus Christ.’ He even said to his soldiers, ‘To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian.’”
Here follows a small sample of how other notable Founders expressed their faith.
John Adams: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God. … The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.”
Samuel Adams: “I [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins. … I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world … bringing in the holy and happy period when the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who is the Prince of Peace. … We may with one heart and voice humbly implore His gracious and free pardon through Jesus Christ, supplicating His Divine aid … [and] above all to cause the religion of Jesus Christ, in its true spirit, to spread far and wide till the whole earth shall be filled with His glory.”
John Hancock: “That the spiritual kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be continually increasing until the whole earth shall be filled with His glory.”
Patrick Henry: “Being a Christian … is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast. … The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed. … This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one, which will make them rich indeed.”
John Jay: “Condescend, merciful Father! to grant as far as proper these imperfect petitions, to accept these inadequate thanksgivings, and to pardon whatever of sin hath mingled in them for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Savior; unto Whom, with Thee, and the blessed Spirit, ever one God, be rendered all honor and glory, now and forever. … The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts. … Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Thomas Jefferson: “I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others. … I am a real Christian — that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.”
James Madison: “I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ.”
And all of us should give serious consideration to these sagacious words from Benjamin Franklin: “How many observe Christ’s birth-day! How few, his precepts! O! ‘tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.”
“Endowed by Our Creator”
Clearly, our Founding Fathers understood that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” could not be sustained in the absence of Light; that these rights are irrevocably endowed by our Creator, the unalienable and inherent Rights of All Men that are the gift of God.
According to George Washington, “Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. … The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”
(Recall that General Washington chose Christmas night in 1776 to cross the Delaware River and launch his daring surprise attack on Britain’s Hessian mercenaries. His victory at the Battle of Trenton breathed much-needed life into the arduous and perilous task of securing our Liberty.)
John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. … Statesmen may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.”
Benjamin Rush proclaimed, “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”
Likewise, Gouverneur Morris wrote, “Religion is the only solid basis of good morals and Morals are the only possible Support of free governments. Therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.”
Samuel Adams added, “Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness. … Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament and its best Security.”
Perhaps John Jay said it best: “The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”
My point in listing these brief pearls of wisdom from our Founders is to make the case plain that the Left’s proscription on the expression of faith, censorship that is antithetical to our Constitution and the Liberty it enshrines, will not cease until such expressions have been expelled from all public venues and forums. Then, and only then, can the rule of men fully supersede the Rule of Law.
The Light of the World
When our children were young, Ann and I would help them comprehend how great God has always been and always will be, the Alpha and Omega, by using metaphors with tangible examples that they could grasp.
We wanted them to understand that it is only the rare occasion, given the immensity of His universal scope, which affords us a perfectly clear view of God’s plan for each of us. But we also assured them of the Truth we had learned: that through faith, we always know that He will use our circumstances, however corrupted by our own free will, to guide us to where He wants us to be.
As our kids were growing older, each demonstrated a substantial interest and aptitude for science. Thus, I was captivated when one of my sons directed me to this elucidation of God’s infinite domain from Dr. William Blair, an astrophysicist and research professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Blair wrote: “Today we know that galaxies are as common as blades of grass in a meadow. The Hubble Space Telescope recently completed a particularly deep (faint) census of a tiny ‘pencil beam’ extending far out into the Universe. This survey, called the ‘Hubble Deep Field,’ was targeted on a region of the sky that was nearly devoid of known objects, so as to be (hopefully) representative of conditions in the distant Universe. The resulting images are truly amazing. Strewn across this tiny piece of the sky are perhaps 1500 or more galaxies of all shapes, sizes, and colors! Because this survey pertains to such a small piece of the sky, the implications are staggering: if the region of sky demarked by the bowl of the Big Dipper were surveyed to the same depth, it would contain about 32 million galaxies! And the estimate for the entire visible Universe is that there are upwards of 40 BILLION galaxies, each containing tens to hundreds of billions of stars!”
To put the vastness of creation into perspective, Blair uses a sheet of paper: “Imagine that the distance from the earth to the sun (93 million miles, or about 8 light minutes) is compressed to the thickness of a typical sheet of paper. On this scale, the nearest star (4.3 light years) is at a distance of 71 feet. The diameter of the Milky Way (100,000 light years) would require a 310 mile high stack of paper, while the distance to the Andromeda galaxy (at 2 million light years one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye) would require a stack of paper more than 6,000 miles high! On this scale, the ‘edge’ of the Universe, defined as the most distant known quasars some 10 billion light years hence, is not reached until the stack of paper is 31 million miles high — a third of the way to the sun on the real scale of things!”
Pondering this vastness is a humbling experience indeed.
Knowing quite a few professional physicists who are men and women of faith, I wrote Dr. Blair and asked him, “Are you a person of faith in God as our creator?” and, “If so, what does your analogy reveal about the creator of our universe?”
As to the first question, he answered, “Yes, I am.”
As to the second, he replied, “In short, ‘God created the heavens and the earth.’ Understanding more about the ‘heavens’ and the scale of the Universe only magnifies my personal impression of what it is that God has created. Having a personal connection to that same God is a defining aspect of my faith.”
According to Blair, who at the time was in charge of NASA’s deep space project, “Some people can look at the spirals of our galaxy and not see the hand of God, but I beg to differ.”
And that brings to recollection a message of hope broadcast by the astronauts of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve of 1968. They were the first to leave Earth’s orbit for our Moon — and the first to see an “Earthrise.”
From the emptiness of space 240,000 miles from home, Apollo 8’s crew, Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders, broadcast a report watched around the world.
Unexpectedly, they began reading the Creation account from Genesis:
William Anders: “We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness.’“
James Lovell: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
Frank Borman: “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas. And God saw that it was good.”
Commander Borman finished the broadcast, saying, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.”
It can be challenging to keep the vast hand of our Creator in proper perspective. Sometimes, our idolatry of self or materialism obscures the hand of God, while other times, it is the trials of life that obscure His hand. Too often, we simply don’t look for God’s hand in our life and all around us.
During the winter season, our East Tennessee mountaintop is often shrouded in clouds which can persist for a week or more. And this can, in turn, obscure our ability to see what’s just in front of us. The absence of sun and blue sky, or crisp and clear nights under bright stars, can take its toll on the spirit. However, my spirit is lifted high when I recall with certainty that above the fog and clouds, all the heavenly bodies shine bright. Eventually, the weather will break, and light will avail itself again.
More than once, I have reminded my children that bleak winter weather that obscures the sunlight is an apt metaphor for the trials in our lives, which can obscure the Son’s light.
Life itself can, at times, seem shrouded in fog and darkness. That can be especially true if, like me, you bear a lifelong burden “to Support and Defend” our heritage of Liberty and extend that inheritance to the next generation. Occasionally, I forget that this burden I bear is also borne by tens of millions of my fellow Patriots across our nation. But our Creator, who irrevocably endowed us with Liberty, is always there, even if temporarily obscured by the fog of conflict.
As in times past, this is a difficult season for today’s American Patriots. We face daunting challenges from enemies foreign and domestic. But I hold close these words from George Washington written early in the first American Revolution: “We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.”
So, on the darkest of days, how do we find our way to Him?
The answer is obvious to all who have opened their eyes — just follow the Light.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Thus, if we want to see our Creator, we have only to turn toward the Light, and, as implicit in our motto: Veritas vos Liberabit — “The Truth will set you Free” (John 8:32).
It is the dawn of the Light and Truth that we celebrate at Christmas, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It is no coincidence that as the story of His birth is recounted, it is a star that guided wise men to his side.
In the Gospel of John (1:5), it is written, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Now, a physicist will tell you that darkness doesn’t exist except for the absence of light — which is to say, We need only to seek the Light.
As for my family and me, and hundreds of millions of our brothers and sisters around the world, Jesus Christ is the Light, our personal and irrevocable connection to our Creator. He is that for anyone and everyone who turns toward His Light.
The Gospels, which attest to the life of Jesus, reveal what we most need to know about God as our Creator, and His purpose for us.
In a sermon delivered almost a century ago, Rev. James Allan Francis provided a timeless insight into the profound impact of the life of Jesus Christ, from his birth through the generations: “Here is a man who was born in an obscure village as the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30 and then for three years was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked 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. Another betrayed him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon the cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth while he was dying, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.”
Rev. Francis concluded, “Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today he is the center of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I 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, put together, have not affected the life of man upon the earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.”
We live in a world today that is no different from yesterday and tomorrow, in the sense that we have and will always have a deep desire to understand our Creator. Unfortunately, we tend to complicate the fulfillment of that desire by satiating it with false gods. I am no stranger to false gods, which, ironically, helps me to clearly distinguish between those idols and my authentic Creator and Savior.
President George Washington wrote, “May the Father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths.” May He indeed!
Almost 200 years later, President Ronald Reagan noted: “On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Christ with prayer, feasting, and great merriment. But most of all, we experience it in our hearts. For more than just a day, Christmas is a state of mind. It is found throughout the year whenever faith overcomes doubt, hope conquers despair, and love triumphs over hate. It is present when men of any creed bring love and understanding to the hearts of their fellow man.” Indeed it is!
Patriots, in closing, I humbly ask your prayers for our Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the Spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen. Please also join us in praying for God’s blessing upon our nation, and for the protection of, and provision for, our military Patriots and their families, especially on this “Soldier’s Night Before Christmas.”
It is the words of “Silent Night” which mean most to our family in this season:
Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight, Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing alleluia; Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light, Radiant beams from thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord at thy birth, Jesus, Lord at thy birth.
In keeping with those simple words expressing the Spirit of this holy season, it is my fervent prayer that on this Christmas Day, and every day of the coming year, we seek the Light of our Creator for wisdom, guidance, and peace. Remember that attitude is a reflection of gratitude and that a grateful heart leads to a joyful spirit.
Peter Marshall, the most famous of United States Senate Chaplains, declared, “May we not ‘spend’ Christmas or ‘observe’ Christmas, but rather ‘keep’ it.” Let it be with us.
Happy Holy Days and Merry Christ’s Mass! May God’s light shine brightly upon you, your family, and our great nation in the coming year!
On behalf of our staff and National Advisory Committee, we are humbled to stand with you among the ranks of our Patriot countrymen. We wish peace and God’s blessing upon you and your family.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis! Pro Deo et Libertate
To our Patriot readers of faiths other than Christianity: We hope that this serves to deepen your understanding of our faith, and the faith of so many of our Founders. Permission to forward or reprint is granted.
What kings and leaders of nations, philosophers and artists, founders of religions and teachers of morals have tried in vain to do—that now happens through a newborn child. Putting to shame the most powerful human efforts and accomplishments, a child is placed here at the midpoint of world history—a child born of human beings, a son given by God (Isa. 9:6). That is the mystery of the redemption of the world; everything past and everything future is encompassed here. The infinite mercy of the almighty God comes to us, descends to us in the form of a child, his Son. That this child is born for us, this son is given to us, that this human child and Son of God belongs to me, that I know him, have him, love him, that I am his and he is mine—on this alone my life now depends. A child has our life in his hands.…
How shall we deal with such a child? Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this child? Has our head become too full of serious thoughts … that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this child? Can we not forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance, and for once worship the child, as did the shepherds and the wise men from the East, bowing before the divine child in the manger like children? “The Government upon the Shoulders of the Child,” Christmas 1940
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Romans 8:31–34
Bonhoeffer, D. (2010). God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (J. Riess, Ed.; O. C. Dean Jr., Trans.; First edition, pp. 56–57). Westminster John Knox Press.
The birth of Jesus Christ is not a sentimental tradition or a once-a-year story. It is the moment history bent toward hope.
At Christmas, Christians do not celebrate an idea, a feeling, or a vague sense of goodness in the world. We celebrate that God entered the world He created. Not as a distant ruler or a powerful conqueror, but as a child born into poverty, vulnerability, and obscurity.
The birth of Christ is the clearest declaration of God’s heart toward humanity.
God Came Near
Christianity stands apart from every other belief system in this way: God did not wait for us to climb our way to Him. He came to us.
Jesus was born into a broken world He already knew. He entered suffering He would eventually carry. He stepped into human weakness not to condemn it, but to redeem it.
The manger tells us something profound about God. He is not repelled by our mess. He is not distant from our pain. He is not absent in our darkness.
Christmas proclaims that God is with us.
The Birth That Redefined Power
Jesus did not arrive in a palace. He was not announced by politicians or welcomed by armies. He was revealed to shepherds, the overlooked and the ordinary.
In doing so, God redefined what power looks like.
Power is not domination. Power is not control. Power is not fear.
The birth of Christ shows us that true power is found in humility, obedience, love, and sacrifice.
That truth still confronts us today.
Why Christmas Still Matters
The world is still fractured. People still carry grief, fear, shame, and longing. Nations still rage. Families still break. Hearts still ache.
And yet, the message of Christmas remains unchanged:
Light has entered the darkness. Hope has taken on flesh. Salvation has a name.
Jesus was born not just to inspire us, but to save us. His birth set in motion a life that would end at the cross and rise from the grave, making a way back to God for everyone who believes.
Christmas is the beginning of that story.
A Confession Worth Sharing
To say “I am a Christian” is to say something bold and beautiful. It is to confess that you believe God came near, that Jesus is Lord, and that hope is not an illusion.
In a world that often pressures faith into silence or private corners, Christmas gives believers a reason to speak clearly and joyfully.
Not with arrogance. Not with hostility. But with confidence and gratitude.
We are not ashamed of Christ. We are grateful for Him.
This Is Our Joy
Christmas reminds us who God is and who we are because of Him.
We are not forgotten. We are not abandoned. We are not without hope.
Christ was born. And because of that, everything changed.
Christmas is not just a tradition. Christmas is an announcement. And it’s a message our world still desperately needs.
It feels like something’s shifted in America. The things we used to trust—institutions, leaders, even each other—feel shakier than they used to. You can hear it in how we talk. You can feel it at the dinner table. It’s like we’re all walking around a little more guarded, a little more tired, a little less sure of what’s true.
And if you’re honest, it’s not just “out there.” A lot of us carry our own mix of disappointment and weariness: family strain, financial pressure, anxiety about the future, grief that follows us into the holidays, or a quiet loneliness that gets louder when everything is supposed to be merry.
That’s why I want to say something simple, and I want to say it clearly:
Christmas is not just a tradition. Christmas is an announcement.
And it’s a message our world still desperately needs. When Jesus was born, the angels didn’t show up first to the powerful, the polished, or the “religious professionals.” They showed up to shepherds. Working-class guys doing the night shift. And they said, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10).
All the people.
Not the perfect people.
Not the cleaned-up people.
Not the “already have it all together” people.
All the people.
That includes the person who feels far from God. The person who’s been burned by the church. The person who’s quietly wondering if there’s more to life than stress, performance, and survival. The person who’s smiling in public and breaking down in private. This is what Christmas means: God moved toward us.
Not once we had everything figured out. Not once we proved ourselves worthy. Jesus came into a messy world. Into real pain, real struggle, real humanity. Because God’s love is not theoretical. It’s personal. And I’m seeing something right now that gives me a lot of hope: People are more open than we think.
I lead an evangelism organization, Pulse Evangelism, and I spend a lot of time talking with people who don’t consider themselves religious. And I’ll tell you what I hear over and over again: a hunger for something unshakable. A craving for truth, meaning, and a love that isn’t based on performance. A while back, I saw this up close in the most ordinary place: my barbershop.
My barber is in his early 20s. He’s been through a lot. One day, in the middle of a normal conversation, faith came up. I asked him what he thought about God. He paused and said, “Honestly, I’ve been trying to figure out how to pray.”
I told him what I’ve told a lot of people: Prayer is just talking to God. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t need special words. God isn’t grading your grammar. We kept talking, and before I left, I asked him a simple question. An honest question:
“Do you have peace with God? Do you know God loves you?”
He looked at me and said, “I don’t think so.”
So I told him God loves him. I told him he matters. I told him that Jesus didn’t come for the “sorted-out.” He came for the real. And right there in the chair, he started to cry. We prayed together. Right there.
And that moment wasn’t the end—it was the beginning. He started coming to church. He’s brought friends. He’s asking questions. He’s growing. All because of a simple, respectful conversation about God’s love. That’s why I believe Christmas is one of the most powerful opportunities all year to share your faith. Not as a sales pitch.
Sharing your faith isn’t about pressure. It’s about presence.
It’s slowing down enough to really see people. It’s caring about their story. It’s being the kind of person who can say, with sincerity, “I’m here,” and “You matter,” and “God hasn’t given up on you.” If you’re a follower of Jesus, you don’t have to be intimidated by this. Start small. Don’t despise small steps.
You don’t have to run a marathon. Take a spiritual walk.
Start here: Ask God to use you. And then pay attention.
Ask God to soften your heart and make you available. Ask God: What’s stopping me? And then ask: What’s one practical way I can love someone well this week?
Invite someone to a meal. Check on the friend who’s been quiet. Be generous. Give a meaningful compliment. Tip well. Write the text message. Offer to pray. And if they say yes, keep it simple: “God, thank You for them. Help them. Show them You’re real. Amen.”
You’d be surprised how often people say yes to that.
Because under all the noise, a lot of people are still searching for hope. And Christmas (real Christmas) is exactly that:
Good News. Great joy. For all people.
That’s what Jesus brought. He gave himself for the good of others, even when they didn’t understand him, even when they didn’t appreciate it. And he still loves every single one of us.
(ANALYSIS) “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the beloved animated television program, turns 60 this year. It is hard to imagine that it almost did not air.
Network executives thought it moved too slowly for a Christmas special. They also were convinced that the absence of a laugh track, a staple of 1960s-era comedies, would be the kiss of death.
To further complicate matters, “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz, the man behind the cast of animated characters, insisted upon using real kids as the voice actors. As a result, only a couple of the children who were cast had any acting experience.
But what most concerned the executives at CBS was the religious content. The climax of the 30-minute program focused on a main character quoting Scripture. The executive producer even insisted that the Bible could not be read on network television. However, the creator of what has become a Christmas classic staunchly refused to edit or otherwise water down the content.
In spite of network executives’ concerns, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” made its television debut on Thursday, Dec. 9, 1965. The result: More than 15 million homes tuned in, and it captured nearly half the possible audience.
The week it aired, it was No. 2 in the ratings. It went on to win critical acclaim as well as an Emmy Award for outstanding children’s program and a Peabody Award for excellence in programming.
CBS executives were stunned at the program’s success. Lee Mendelson, executive producer of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” once told USA Today, “When I started reading the reviews, I was shocked. … They actually liked it.”
The storyline of the 60-year-old special not only exposes the crass commercialization that characterizes too much of American Christmas, but it also highlights the real reason for the season – and after six decades it continues to be popular.
The so-called experts are still scratching their collective heads over the success of Charlie Brown. Explanations for the show’s longevity abound.
Some suggest the popularity is due to the genius of Schulz and the popularity of the characters he created. Others insist that it is the craving for nostalgia of the baby-boom generation that fuels the seasonal success of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Contrary to expert speculation about Charlie Brown’s success, I believe the popularity of Charles Schult’s story about the round-headed boy’s search for the true meaning of Christmas runs deeper than superficial sentiment for characters or the desire to reminisce. The success of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is anchored in truth.
In a society that struggles with the concept of absolute truth, “Charlie Brown” dares to declare the truth that only reason for the Christmas season is the birth of Jesus Christ.
When Charlie Brown shouts in desperation, “Isn’t there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about?” Linus, his fried, responds, “Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you.” He then takes center stage and quotes verbatim the King James Version of Luke 2:8-14.
With simple eloquence, the blanket-clutching character unashamedly announces, “For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Linus’ quotation stands in stark contrast to a popular culture that does its best to ignore the Guest of Honor during His own celebration. The message of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is the supernatural reality that God sent His only begotten son into the world so the world might through Him be saved.
In the 60 years since Charles Schulz first communicated the simple truth of Christmas through his beloved Peanuts characters, American culture has grown even more secular. However, the hearts of individuals still yearn for truth and meaning.
In the secular desert that characterizes much of the American Christmas experience, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is an oasis of truth. Year after year, thirsty souls take time to drink deeply the profound truth that God became a man in order to redeem mankind.
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!
This article has been republished with permission from Baptist Press.
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