THE SPLENDOR OF CHRISTMAS
Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12
We are probably wrong when we paint pictures, write poetry, compose music, and preach sermons depicting the Wise Men from the East bending over the crude feeding trough in a cattle stable. That was the unique experience of the Shepherds, as recorded by Dr. Luke in his account of the birth of Jesus. It is Matthew who carefully tells us that by the time the Wise Men from the East arrived, Joseph had obviously found livable quarters, a house, for Mary and the Babe. In this Scripture lesson, I want to focus on blending the Lucan and Matthean accounts of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, the Messiah … the Christ. These two accounts form the true Biblical basis for our Christmas celebrations, and celebrating His birth is not complete apart from both accounts of His birth being carefully and prayerfully considered. It is when we blend these two accounts that there emerges what I choose to call The Splendor of Christmas. How then shall we view this Biblical account that commands the celebratory activities of Christians throughout the world, that causes the antagonistic words and actions of atheists throughout the world, and that carves out the opportunities for the economic strategies of entrepreneurs throughout the world? The Scriptures give us the keys to The Splendor of Christmas.
1. The Splendor of Simplicity. (Luke 2:7)
“And she birthed her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no place for them in the inn.”
What we get from the Biblical account is totally void of the magical and weird. There is nothing that parallels the stories of antiquity about how the gods of men and some of the religious heroes of the past have supernaturally originated. For example, the Greeks had a god called Perseus. His birth was supposedly miraculous. It was believed that Jupiter found a lovely goddess in a prison. He wooed her and won her by distilling himself into a shower of gold. Their son was Perseus. Nothing like that in the simple birth of Jesus the Christ. Rather it has within it something so exquisitely tender and homelike that year after year and century after century much of the world returns to it. The harshness of the world grows a little softer under its matchless simplicity. The calendars of nearly every nation return the world’s attention to that magnificent moment in history. The cemeteries of the world are marked with symbols that draw the attention of all who pass by to that historic day when in a cattle cave a Baby was born and laid in a crude feeding trough. Out of the simplicity of that crude feeding trough there came one for whom untold millions have given their lives, armies have marched, music has been composed, books have been written, poetry has been inspired, and above all else, lives have been transformed.
If God had revealed Himself only in the strange phenomenon of a bright star, men may well have doubted their eyes. If He had uttered Himself in some powerful voice of thunder, men might have doubted their ears. If He had taken the form of an angel, men might have been dazzled by an overcharge of brilliance. If He had come as a powerful warrior, brandishing sword and shield, men would have cringed in fear and submitted in terror! But a tiny Baby Boy with a cry in the night from a carved-out cattle shed, and a crude feeding trough, and a mother’s embracing arms, and later a plain house for shelter! Here is the legible handwriting of God on the parchment of human history. This has been, and shall forever be the Splendor of Simplicity that draws us to the birth of our Savior.
2. The Splendor of Singing. (Luke 2:13-14)
“And suddenly there was with the angel a great company of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and upon earth peace among people on whom His favor rests.’”
This is what is known in the Church as the Advent Season. It is that time of the year when the Church throughout the world focuses on the birth of Jesus. Interestingly, the Church is joined by the world that doesn’t really understand the true meaning of Christmas. What would Christmas be without the music of Christmas? The hymnals of Churches throughout the world have significant sections that contain the great Christmas carols. We think about the Advent hymns and carols and oratorios that have been accumulated through the centuries. They are the skilled and graceful servants of all praiseful hearts. Year by year we turn to them for help in bringing worship to the King of kings.
Have you ever thought about this: that if, by some cruel stroke of fortune, we should suddenly lose our Christmas carols … Silent Night, Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel … how would we feel? How sorrowful would be our Christmas time? But wait! We would still have an incomparably glorious collection of great Christmas hymns in the Bible itself. The Holy Spirit has taken care that the birth of Jesus should be surrounded by those exultant outbursts of worship and adoration and praise that we have come to recognize, and even to name, as the Songs of Christmas. There is the “Ave Maria” of the angel Gabriel. (Luke 2:26-34) There is the “Benedictus” first of Elizabeth (Luke 1:42-45) and then the longer one from the heart of Zacharias. (Luke 1:68-79) There is also the “Magnificat” of Mary as she responded to the words of her cousin Elizabeth. (Luke 1:46-55) There is the “Gloria in Excelsis” of the angels over the hills near Bethlehem. (Luke 2:14) And there is the “Nunc Dimittis” of the aged Simeon. (Luke 2:29-32) No wonder that prince of preachers, James S. Stewart, with an eloquence for which he was well known, declared that in his judgment “songs and hymns and music can carry us nearer to the burning heart of the Advent message than all the sermons and discourses in the world.”
As a Christian musician, I know that there is something so elemental and universal in music that it is the thrill of childhood, the delight of adulthood, and the comfort of old age. How can Christmas be anything but a festival of poetry and music when it strikes home to the deepest and finest instincts within us, and when its themes are those of Heaven’s grace conquering earth’s sorrows and sin, and of the love that will not let us go? All among us feel the rising of emotion when we hear themusic of Handel as he captured the splendor of Christmas in “For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given.” Yes! Christmas is caught up in the splendor of singing. “Glory to God in the highest!” But now let us consider:
3. The Splendor of Serenity. (Luke 2:14b)
“And upon earth peace among people on whom His favor rests.”
Not everything about the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus produces the impression of peace, of serenity. There was little of order or composure in the overcrowded inn, requiring the concerned Joseph to seek the shelter of a cattle shed for his beloved Mary, sensing that the time of her delivery was close at hand. There was no quietness in the heart of arrogant and worried Herod when he heard of the birth of a King. Even the shepherds on first hearing the strange news from the angel Gabriel, were somewhat ill at ease, for the Scriptures note that “they were terribly frightened.” (Luke 2:9)
But when we turn our vision toward Joseph and Mary we find an arresting contrast. When considering their plight and peril, we find them amazingly calm. And the Baby, lying in a crude feeding trough with stable noises ceaselessly sounding, was truly the Prince of Peace. In the years to come peace would sit in His heart as upon a throne. Peace would radiate from His presence like a healing aura. Peace would fall from His lips as from a quiet, exhaustless pool. Peace – for the troubled and baffled seekers after truth. Peace – for the wandering ones tossed pitilessly by the raging winds. Peace – for guilty souls reaching out hopefully for the forgiveness of sins. Peace – for frightened people wondering about the source of tomorrow’s food. Peace – for the sorrowing looking longingly into the tomorrows asking what lies beyond the grim rim of death. The Prince of Peace has come! And with Him a peace quite unknown by this world’s self-centered people.
Yes! I know that the cynical minds of the world are prone to scorn the beauty of “peace on earth among people on whom His favor rests.” After 2,000 years of hearing about this “peace on earth,” the world has been continually turning itself into one vast shambles of war, hatred, selfish greed, resulting in hideous crimes that cannot be tolerated in any civilized society. Yes! I know the words of the critics who say that “Christianity has been here for twenty centuries and just look at how much hate and horror are still everywhere.” And no one grieves over such a state of things more than do the followers of Jesus the Christ. It is this inner heart grief that compels us in evangelism and missions and Christian social action throughout the world.
But there IS peace in this world. No implements of war can alter that fact. The Apostle Paul wrote it clearly: “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1) Hear that! “We have peace!” Or again, we hear the same Apostle Paul writing in his same letter to the Romans: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) Then too, we discover the Apostle Paul writing to his beloved friends at Philippi: “The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7) But supremely and above all else we hear our Lord Jesus Himself saying comfortingly to us: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27) Here then, is the quiet reassurance of the splendor of serenity that takes its residence in the people who come to the crude feeding trough in a simple cattle shed in Bethlehem.
4. The Splendor of Surrender. (Matthew 1:24; Luke 2:11; Luke 2:16-17; Matthew 2:11)
Here we bring together the challenge that the sacred account sets before each of us. It is found in the challenging approach of four persons or groups of persons who came to the place where they discovered the Baby born that history-dividing night in Bethlehem. We look at them and hear them!
A. The Acceptance of Joseph. (Matthew 1:24)
“And after Joseph had risen up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took her as his wife.”
This is amazing! Jewish custom and religious law demanded that an unmarried woman found to be pregnant was to be stoned to death. She was a disgrace to her family, and if engaged to a young man, an even greater disgrace to him. But the Scripture is clear! “But Joseph, her husband, being righteous and not willing to disgrace her, desired to put her away quietly.” (Matthew 1:19) Please note: it was AFTER his careful, God-directed and compassionate decision to treat Mary kindly that the angel of the Lord instructed him to take Mary to be his wife in every sense of legality. Something of the splendor of Christmas would be lost if we could not see the godly spirit of Joseph as he gave the gift of his obedience … the gift of acceptance.
B. The Acclamation of the Angels. (Luke 2:11)
“For this day, in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”
This magnificent gift acclaims the Baby lying in a crude feeding trough in a simple cattle shed to be truly what He is, Christ the Lord, the Savior of the souls of all repentant people. Their acclamation stands in stark contrast to the acclamation of that great multitude of heavenly beings … angels they were … who acclaimed with the Star of the Morning … Lucifer … that they wanted to be like God! (Isaiah 14:12-14) No! Not that great multitude hovering in brilliant light over the shepherds and sheep on the hills near Bethlehem. How willingly – how admirably – they declared for the whole world to know, that the Baby lying in a crude feeding trough in a simple cattle shed was, is, and forever shall be, the Savior. Truly, theirs was the gift of acclamation.
C. The Adoration of the Shepherds. (Luke 2:16-17)
“And they came hurriedly and discovered Mary and Joseph and the Baby lying in the feeding trough; and having seen this, they made known that which had been told them concerning this child.”
No secret adoration here! They “made known” what they saw and what had been told them concerning the Baby lying in a crude feeding trough in a simple cattle shed. No secret disciples here! The old King James Version adds “they made known abroad” their message. While not in the original Greek text, the implication of the word “abroad” is obviously factual. Without it would we never could have gained the knowledge of their gift of adoration.
D. The Awards of the Magi. (Matthew 2:11)
“And after entering into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and falling down, they worshipped Him and opening their treasures they gave gifts to Him, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
After enduring the rigors of ancient travel, coming a great distance because they believed the Scriptures, these gallant men “opened their treasures.” Out of those personal storehouses of treasure they presented to the Young Child three very symbolic gifts. Some scholars suggest that there may have been many more gifts. No knows anything more than the Sacred Record states. What we do know is that they gave to Him the gift given to kings … gold! (1 Kings 10:2 – The Queen of Sheba presented much gold to King Solomon.) They gave to Him the gift that traditionally was used in anointing for the office of priest … frankincense! (Exodus 30:34-37 - God’s instructions through Moses concerning the anointing oil for the Tabernacle of Testimony.) They gave to Him the gift of purification that was so frequently used for preparatory purification and for anointing for burial … myrrh! (Esther 2:12 – as Esther was prepared to enter the presence of the King, and in Luke 23:56 depicting the preparation of the body of Jesus for burial.)
While there are many other applicational interpretations that could be mustered to help us gain a broader understanding of the meaning of those special gifts from the “wise men from the East,” … of the priestly office they were … these three stand out! With gold they declared Him to be the King! With frankincense they designated Him to be the interceding Priest! And with myrrh they prophetically depicted His sacrifice that He might be our Savior! The pure and holy Lamb of God.
There, then, is the Splendor of Christmas!
1. The Splendor of Simplicity! A King Who made a Palace out of a crude feeding trough in a simple cattle shed! Glory to the Newborn King!
2. The Splendor of Singing! A Creator who infused this world with a new song … the song of the redeemed! Joy to the World! The LORD has come!
3. The Splendor of Serenity! A Ruler who brought the gift of peace to a troubled, confused, self-centered, sinful world! The song Of Peace on Earth; Good Will to Men!
4. The Splendor of Surrender! A Sovereign who is forever worthy of the best that people have to surrender to Him! And now, May we with holy joy, pure, and free from sin’s alloy, all our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King!
*This message was prepared by my mentor, Dr. Bob Morris, preached by me in December 2010.*
