Grace & Truth Chapel
131 Fardale Avenue ~ Mahwah, New Jersey
Phone 201-327-6226 ~ E-mail gtchapel@juno.com

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"Unto You a Savior Is Born" (posted December 3, 2005)

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"
   - Luke 2:13-14

It was but a little bit of the world that heaven had opened upon. The great world lay in the hands of Caesar. We will leave the big world for a moment, and come to the fields of Bethlehem. We see the glory coming out of the opened heaven, and not one angel, but a host of them. When the poor shepherds tremble at the sight, we hear that word on the lips of heaven, "Fear not."

Again, and again, and again, heaven echoes its own words in speaking to trembling sinners. Do not pass them by as commonplace, necessary words, but drink them in. What title had the poor shepherds to them, that you and I have not? They were poor sinners. Faith entitled them to it.

The angel said, "Unto you is born a Savior." Not a judge nor a lawgiver. The grace of God, as the Apostle Paul tells us, brings salvation (Titus 2:11). The angels talked of salvation.

"And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." Though very easy to us, it cost Christ everything. It brought the Son from the eternal bosom to be made flesh; and the beginning of the story of His sorrows is here: the poor weak infant, lying in a manger. The moment He touched the flesh, the story of what His days were to be began to tell itself out.

Suppose I showed you a person---it might only be his back---and said, "He did you a kindness once." You could not but look after him with interest. The Lord Jesus has done you a kindness, in the three hours of darkness [on the cross], and if by faith you entertain the thought, you cannot but be interested in Him. It is a simple, believing mind we want, to bring our minds into contact with the person of Jesus.

The moment the glad tidings are announced, the hosts raise their anthem. Now the word of the Apostle Paul begins to be accomplished: "God was manifested in the flesh, seen by angels" (1 Timothy 3:16). The angels are deeply interested. In the Old Testament, we get the cherubic figures hanging over the ark, to express their desire to look into the things of Christ. [Note: Read about this sacred Jewish furniture in Exodus 25:20; compare 1 Peter 1:12.] That is the Old Testament form of the New Testament truth. The moment He is manifested, they begin to take up their attitude. The angels come to watch the path of the Son of Man. They are interested, and they have less interest in it than you have [for it was humanity, not angels, who needed a Savior (added note)].

Anonymous (1866)



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