Chapter 5: The Dedication

Chapter 5: The Dedication

About forty days after the birth of Christ, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, and to offer sacrifice. This was according to the Jewish law, and as man's substitute Christ must conform to the law in every particular.
--As an offering for the mother, the law required a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. But the law provided that if the parents were too poor to bring a lamb, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering.
--The offerings presented to the Lord were to be without blemish. These offerings represented Christ, and from this it is evident that Jesus Himself was free from physical deformity. He was the "lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:19.
*The dedication of the first-born had its origin in the earliest times. God had promised to give the First-born of heaven to save the sinner. Thus the law for the presentation of the first-born was made

particularly significant. While it was a memorial of the Lord's wonderful deliverance of the children of Israel, it prefigured a greater deliverance, to be wrought out by the only-begotten Son of God.
--The child for whom the redemption money had been paid was He who was to pay the ransom for the sins of the whole world.

Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

--This occasion did not pass without some recognition of Christ. "There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ."
--The child has been returned to Mary, and he takes it in his arms and presents it to God, while a joy that he has never before felt enters his soul. As he lifts the infant Savior toward heaven, he says, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel."
The spirit of prophecy was upon this man of God, and while Joseph and Mary stood by, wondering at his words, he blessed them, and said unto Mary, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
Anna also, a prophetess, came in and confirmed Simeon's testimony concerning Christ.
--At the cross of Calvary, love and selfishness stood face to face. Here was their crowning manifestation. Christ had lived only to comfort and bless, and in putting Him to death, Satan manifested the malignity of his hatred against God.
--But the gift of Christ reveals the Father's heart. It testifies that the thoughts of God toward us are "thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11.
*In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will understand the nature of his own rejection of truth.

From the manger to the cross, 

the life of Jesus was a call to self-surrender, 

and to fellowship in suffering.

Chapter 4: Unto You a Savior

Chapter 4: Unto You a Savior

The King of glory stooped low to take humanity. 

--Rude and forbidding were His earthly surroundings. 

--His glory was veiled, that the majesty of His outward form might not become an object of attraction.

*With amazement the heavenly messengers beheld the indifference of that people whom God had called to communicate to the world the light of sacred truth.
--"Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." Psalm 112:4.  To those who are seeking for light, and who accept it with gladness, the bright rays from the throne of God will shine.

--In the fields....shepherds were still keeping watch by night. 

--Through the silent hours they talked together... "And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round

about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10,11.

--"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14.
Oh that today the human family could recognize that song! The declaration then made, the note then struck, will swell to the close of time, and resound to the ends of the earth.

--The story of Bethlehem is an exhaustless theme. 

In it is hidden "the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Romans 11:33.

Yet into the world where Satan claimed dominion 

God permitted His Son to come,

 a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity.

Chapter 3: The Fullness of the Time

Chapter 3: The Fullness of the Time

"When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, . . . to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Galatians 4:4, 5.
--The Savior's coming was foretold in Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he might be the Deliverer. But the fulfillment of the promise tarried. Those who first received it died without the sight.
*But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay.
--As the Jews had departed from God, faith had grown dim, and hope had well-nigh ceased to illuminate the future.

Through nature, 

through types and symbols,

 through patriarchs and prophets, 

God had spoken to the world. 

Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity.

--The fullness of the time had come. Humanity, becoming more degraded through ages of transgression, called for the coming of the Redeemer.
--Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen

had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion.
--Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven.
--With intense interest the unfallen worlds had watched to see Jehovah arise, and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth. And if God should do this, Satan was ready to carry out his plan for securing to himself the allegiance of heavenly beings. He had declared that the principles of God's government make forgiveness impossible. Had the world been destroyed, he would have claimed that his accusations were proved true.
--At the very crisis, when Satan seemed about to triumph, the Son of God came with the embassage of divine grace. Through every age, through every hour, the love of God had been exercised toward the fallen race. Notwithstanding the perversity of men, the signals of mercy had been continually exhibited..... the fullness of the time had come.

Chapter 2: The Chosen People

Chapter 2:  The Chosen People

For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited the Savior's coming. Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes. In song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined His name. 

--And yet at His coming they knew Him not. The Beloved of heaven was to them "as a root out of a dry ground; He had "no form nor comeliness;" and they saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Isaiah 53:2; John 1:11.
--Yet God had chosen Israel. He had called them to preserve among

men the knowledge of His law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Savior.
--But the Israelites fixed their hopes upon worldly greatness. From the time of their entrance to the land of Canaan, they departed from the commandments of God, and followed the ways of the heathen.
--After the return from Babylon, much attention was given to religious instruction. All over the country, synagogues were erected. But these agencies became corrupted. During the captivity, many of the people had received heathen ideas and customs, and these were brought into their religious service. 

They trusted to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of resting upon Him to whom they pointed.
--While the Jews desired the advent of the Messiah, they had no true conception of His mission.

They did not seek redemption from sin, 

but deliverance from the Romans.

--Hatred of the Romans, and national and spiritual pride, led the Jews still to adhere rigorously to their forms of worship.

*The people, 

--in their darkness, 

*and the rulers, 

--thirsting for power, 

longed for the coming of One who would vanquish their enemies and restore the kingdom to Israel. 

-*-They had studied the prophecies, but without spiritual insight. 

Thus they overlooked those scriptures that point to the humiliation of Christ's first advent, and misapplied those that speak of the glory of His second coming. 

--Pride obscured their vision. 

They interpreted prophecy in accordance 

with their selfish desires.

Chapter 1: God With Us

Chapter 1: God With Us

"His name shall be called Immanuel, . . . God with us." Matthew 1:23.
--From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the

Father; He was "the image of God," (2 Corinthians 4:4).

--To this sin-darkened earth He came to reveal the light of God's love,—to be "God with us." Therefore it was prophesied of Him, "His name shall be called Immanuel."

--He was the Word of God,—God's thought made audible.
--In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of creation.
--In heaven itself this law was broken. Sin originated in self-seeking. Lucifer, the covering cherub, desired to be first in heaven. Lucifer had said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; . . . I will be like the Most High." Isaiah 14:13, 14.
--With his own evil characteristics he sought to invest the loving Creator. 

--Thus he deceived angels.--

--Thus he deceived men.--

*The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of "the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal." Romans 16:25. This great purpose had been shadowed forth in types and symbols. His divinity was veiled with humanity,—the invisible glory in the visible human form.
--In stooping to take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character the opposite of the character of Satan. But He stepped still lower in the path of humiliation. "Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:8. 

Christ was treated as we deserve, 

that we might be treated as He deserves. 

 "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him." Isaiah 53:5.
Through Christ's redeeming work the government of God stands justified.
And through endless ages as the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord, they will praise Him for His unspeakable Gift,—Immanuel, "God with us."