None of this is new, but what we have is a clearer presentation of biblical events being put into a more meaningful and fuller context so that we might see the operative patterns of our Lord in scriptural events. Fascinating stuff
Dec 26, 2015
Dec 22, 2015
The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus the Christ - By Charles Spurgeon
By Charles Spurgeon
A Sermon (No. 57)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 23rd, 1855, by the
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
HIS
is the season of the year when, whether we wish it or not, we are
compelled to think of the birth of Christ. I hold it to be one of the
greatest absurdities under heaven to think that there is any religion in
keeping Christmas-day. There are no probabilities whatever that our
Saviour Jesus Christ was born on that day, and the observance of it is
purely of Popish origin; doubtless those who are Catholics have a right
to hallow it, but I do not see how consistent Protestants can account it
in the least sacred. However, I wish there were ten or a dozen
Christmas-days in the year; for there is work enough in the world, and a
little more rest would not hurt labouring people. Christmas-day is
really a boon to us; particularly as it enables us to assemble round the
family hearth and meet our friends once more. Still, although we do not
fall exactly in the track of other people, I see no harm in thinking of
the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus. We do not wish to be
classed with those
"Who with more care keep holiday
The wrong, than others the right way."
The old Puritans made a parade of work on Christmas-day, just to show that they protested against the observance of it. But we believe they entered that protest so completely, that we are willing, as their descendants, to take the good accidentally conferred by the day, and leave its superstitions to the superstitious.
To proceed at once to what we have to say to you: we notice, first, who it was that sent Christ forth. God the Father here speaks, and says, "Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel." Secondly, where did he come to at the time of his incarnation? Thirdly, what did he come for? "To be ruler in Israel." Fourthly, had he ever come before? Yes, he had. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
I.
First, then, WHO SENT JESUS CHRIST? The answer is returned to us by the
words of the text. "Out of thee" saith Jehovah, speaking by the mouth
of Micah, "Out of thee shall he come forth unto me." It is a sweet
thought that Jesus Christ, did not come forth without his Father's
permission, authority, consent, and assistance. He was sent of the
Father, that he might be the Saviour of men. We are, alas! too apt to
forget that while there are distinctions as to the persons in the
Trinity, there are no distinctions of honor; and we do very frequently
ascribe the honor of our salvation, or at least the depths of its mercy
and the extremity of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than we do to
the Father. This is a very great mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not
his Father send him? If he was made a child did not the Holy Ghost beget
him? If he spake wondrously, did not his Father pour grace into his
lips, that he might be an able minister of the new covenant? If his
Father did forsake him when he drank the bitter cup of gall, did he not
love him still? and did he not, by-and by, after three days, raise him
from the dead, and at last receive him up on high, leading captivity
captive? Ah! beloved, he who knoweth the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost as he should know them, never setteth one before another; he
is not more thankful to one than the other; he sees them at Bethlehem,
at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of
salvation. "He shall come forth unto me." O Christian, hast thou put thy
confidence in the man Christ Jesus? Hast thou placed thy reliance
solely on him? And art thou united with him? Then believe that thou art
united unto the God of heaven; since to the man Christ Jesus thou art
brother and holdest closest fellowship, thou art linked thereby with God
the Eternal, and "the Ancient of days" is thy Father and thy friend.
"He shall come forth unto me". Did you never see the depth of
love there was in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped his
Son for the great enterprise of mercy?
There
had been a sad day in Heaven once before, when Satan fell, and dragged
with him a third of the stars of heaven, and when the Son of God
launching from his great right hand the Omnipotent thunders, dashed the
rebellious crew to the pit of perdition; but if we could conceive a
grief in heaven, that must have been a sadder day, when the Son of the
Most High left his Father's bosom, where he had lain from before all
worlds. "Go," saith the Father, "and thy Father's blessing on thy head!"
Then comes the unrobing. How do angels crowd around to see the Son of
God take off his robes He laid aside his crown; he said, "My father, I
am Lord over all, blessed for ever, but I will lay my crown aside, and
be as mortal men are." He strips himself of his bright vest of glory;
"Father," he says, "I will wear a robe of clay, just such as men wear."
Then he takes off all those jewels wherewith he was glorified; he lays
aside his starry mantles and robes of light, to dress himself in the
simple garments of the peasant of Galilee. What a solemn disrobing that
must have been! And next, can you picture the dismissal! The angels
attend the Saviour through the streets, until they approach the doors:
when an angel cries, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted
up ye everlasting doors, and let the king of glory through!" Oh!
methinks the angels must have wept when they lost the company of
Jesus—when the Sun of Heaven bereaved them of all its light. But they
went after him. They descended with him; and when his spirit entered
into flesh and he became a babe, he was attended by that mighty host of
angels, who after they had been with him to Bethlehem's manger, and seen
him safely, laid on his mother's breast, in their journey upwards
appeared to the shepherds and told them that he was born king of the
Jews. The Father sent him! Contemplate that subject. Let your soul get hold of it, and in every period of his life think that he suffered what the Father
willed; that every step of his life was marked with the approval of the
great I AM. Let every thought that you have of Jesus be also connected
with the eternal, ever-blessed God; for "he," saith Jehovah, "shall come
forth unto me." Who sent him, then? The answer is, his Father.
II.
Now, secondly, WHERE DID HE COME TO? A word or two concerning
Bethlehem. It seemed meet and right that our Saviour should be born in
Bethlehem and that because of Bethlehem's history, Bethlehem's name, and
Bethlehem's position—little in Judah.
1. First, it seemed necessary that Christ should be born in Bethlehem, because of Bethlehem's history.
Dear to every Israelite was the little village of Bethlehem. Jerusalem
might outshine it in splendour; for there stood the temple, the glory of
the whole earth, and "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth was Mount Zion;" yet around Bethlehem there clustered a number of
incidents which always made it a pleasant resting-place to every Jewish
mind; and even the Christian cannot help loving Bethlehem. The first
mention, I think, that we have of Bethlehem is a sorrowful one. There
Rachel died. If you turn to the 35th of Genesis you will find it said in
the 16th verse—"And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a
little way to come to Ephrath; and Rachel travailed, and she had hard
labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the
midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it
came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she
called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel
died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And
Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, that is the pillar of Rachel's grave
unto this day." A singular incident this—almost prophetic. Might not
Mary have called her own son Jesus, her Ben-oni; for he was to be the
child of Sorrow? Simeon said to her—"Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
But while she might have called him Ben-oni, what did God his Father
call him?
Benjamin, the son of my right hand. Ben-oni was he as a man; Benjamin as to his Godhead. This little incident seems to be almost a prophecy that Ben-oni—Benjamin, the Lord Jesus, should be born in Bethlehem. But another woman makes this place celebrated. That woman's name was Naomi. There lived at Bethlehem in after days, when, perhaps, the stone that Jacob's fondness had raised had been covered with moss and its inscription obliterated, another woman named Naomi. She too was a daughter of joy, and yet a daughter of bitterness. Naomi was a woman whom the Lord had loved and blessed, but she had to go to a strange land; and she said, "Call me not Naomi (pleasant) but let my name be called Mara (bitter) for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." Yet was she not alone amid all her losses, for there cleaved unto her Ruth the Moabitess, whose Gentile blood should unite with the pure untainted stream of the Jew, and should thus bring forth the Lord our Saviour, the great king both of Jews and Gentiles. That very beautiful book of Ruth had all its scenery laid in Bethlehem. It was at Bethlehem that Ruth went forth to glean in the fields of Boaz; it was there that Boaz looked upon her, and she bowed herself before her lord; it was there her marriage was celebrated; and in the streets of Bethlehem did Boaz and Ruth receive a blessing which made them fruitful so that Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. That last fact gilds Bethlehem with glory—the fact that David was born there—the mighty hero who smote the Philistine giant, who led the discontented of his land away from the tyranny of their monarch, and who afterwards, by a full consent of a willing people, was crowned king of Israel and Judah. Bethlehem was a royal city, because the kings were there brought forth. Little as Bethlehem was, it was much to be esteemed; because it was like certain principalities which we have in Europe, which are celebrated for nothing but for bringing forth the consorts of the royal families of England. It was right, then, from history, that Bethlehem should be the birth-place of Christ.
Read the rest of this article at - http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0057.htm
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 23rd, 1855, by the
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."—Micah 5:2.
HIS
is the season of the year when, whether we wish it or not, we are
compelled to think of the birth of Christ. I hold it to be one of the
greatest absurdities under heaven to think that there is any religion in
keeping Christmas-day. There are no probabilities whatever that our
Saviour Jesus Christ was born on that day, and the observance of it is
purely of Popish origin; doubtless those who are Catholics have a right
to hallow it, but I do not see how consistent Protestants can account it
in the least sacred. However, I wish there were ten or a dozen
Christmas-days in the year; for there is work enough in the world, and a
little more rest would not hurt labouring people. Christmas-day is
really a boon to us; particularly as it enables us to assemble round the
family hearth and meet our friends once more. Still, although we do not
fall exactly in the track of other people, I see no harm in thinking of
the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus. We do not wish to be
classed with thoseThe wrong, than others the right way."
The old Puritans made a parade of work on Christmas-day, just to show that they protested against the observance of it. But we believe they entered that protest so completely, that we are willing, as their descendants, to take the good accidentally conferred by the day, and leave its superstitions to the superstitious.
To proceed at once to what we have to say to you: we notice, first, who it was that sent Christ forth. God the Father here speaks, and says, "Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel." Secondly, where did he come to at the time of his incarnation? Thirdly, what did he come for? "To be ruler in Israel." Fourthly, had he ever come before? Yes, he had. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."I.
First, then, WHO SENT JESUS CHRIST? The answer is returned to us by the
words of the text. "Out of thee" saith Jehovah, speaking by the mouth
of Micah, "Out of thee shall he come forth unto me." It is a sweet
thought that Jesus Christ, did not come forth without his Father's
permission, authority, consent, and assistance. He was sent of the
Father, that he might be the Saviour of men. We are, alas! too apt to
forget that while there are distinctions as to the persons in the
Trinity, there are no distinctions of honor; and we do very frequently
ascribe the honor of our salvation, or at least the depths of its mercy
and the extremity of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than we do to
the Father. This is a very great mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not
his Father send him? If he was made a child did not the Holy Ghost beget
him? If he spake wondrously, did not his Father pour grace into his
lips, that he might be an able minister of the new covenant? If his
Father did forsake him when he drank the bitter cup of gall, did he not
love him still? and did he not, by-and by, after three days, raise him
from the dead, and at last receive him up on high, leading captivity
captive? Ah! beloved, he who knoweth the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost as he should know them, never setteth one before another; he
is not more thankful to one than the other; he sees them at Bethlehem,
at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of
salvation. "He shall come forth unto me." O Christian, hast thou put thy
confidence in the man Christ Jesus? Hast thou placed thy reliance
solely on him? And art thou united with him? Then believe that thou art
united unto the God of heaven; since to the man Christ Jesus thou art
brother and holdest closest fellowship, thou art linked thereby with God
the Eternal, and "the Ancient of days" is thy Father and thy friend.
"He shall come forth unto me". Did you never see the depth of
love there was in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped his
Son for the great enterprise of mercy? 
II.
Now, secondly, WHERE DID HE COME TO? A word or two concerning
Bethlehem. It seemed meet and right that our Saviour should be born in
Bethlehem and that because of Bethlehem's history, Bethlehem's name, and
Bethlehem's position—little in Judah.1. First, it seemed necessary that Christ should be born in Bethlehem, because of Bethlehem's history.
Dear to every Israelite was the little village of Bethlehem. Jerusalem
might outshine it in splendour; for there stood the temple, the glory of
the whole earth, and "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth was Mount Zion;" yet around Bethlehem there clustered a number of
incidents which always made it a pleasant resting-place to every Jewish
mind; and even the Christian cannot help loving Bethlehem. The first
mention, I think, that we have of Bethlehem is a sorrowful one. There
Rachel died. If you turn to the 35th of Genesis you will find it said in
the 16th verse—"And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a
little way to come to Ephrath; and Rachel travailed, and she had hard
labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the
midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it
came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she
called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel
died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And
Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, that is the pillar of Rachel's grave
unto this day." A singular incident this—almost prophetic. Might not
Mary have called her own son Jesus, her Ben-oni; for he was to be the
child of Sorrow? Simeon said to her—"Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
But while she might have called him Ben-oni, what did God his Father
call him? Benjamin, the son of my right hand. Ben-oni was he as a man; Benjamin as to his Godhead. This little incident seems to be almost a prophecy that Ben-oni—Benjamin, the Lord Jesus, should be born in Bethlehem. But another woman makes this place celebrated. That woman's name was Naomi. There lived at Bethlehem in after days, when, perhaps, the stone that Jacob's fondness had raised had been covered with moss and its inscription obliterated, another woman named Naomi. She too was a daughter of joy, and yet a daughter of bitterness. Naomi was a woman whom the Lord had loved and blessed, but she had to go to a strange land; and she said, "Call me not Naomi (pleasant) but let my name be called Mara (bitter) for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." Yet was she not alone amid all her losses, for there cleaved unto her Ruth the Moabitess, whose Gentile blood should unite with the pure untainted stream of the Jew, and should thus bring forth the Lord our Saviour, the great king both of Jews and Gentiles. That very beautiful book of Ruth had all its scenery laid in Bethlehem. It was at Bethlehem that Ruth went forth to glean in the fields of Boaz; it was there that Boaz looked upon her, and she bowed herself before her lord; it was there her marriage was celebrated; and in the streets of Bethlehem did Boaz and Ruth receive a blessing which made them fruitful so that Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. That last fact gilds Bethlehem with glory—the fact that David was born there—the mighty hero who smote the Philistine giant, who led the discontented of his land away from the tyranny of their monarch, and who afterwards, by a full consent of a willing people, was crowned king of Israel and Judah. Bethlehem was a royal city, because the kings were there brought forth. Little as Bethlehem was, it was much to be esteemed; because it was like certain principalities which we have in Europe, which are celebrated for nothing but for bringing forth the consorts of the royal families of England. It was right, then, from history, that Bethlehem should be the birth-place of Christ.
Read the rest of this article at - http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0057.htm
O Holy Night - by Mahalia Jackson
The Story Behind the Great Christmas Song
Reprinted from "Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas" with permission of Zondervan. The strange and fascinating story of "O Holy Night" began in France, yet eventually made its way around the world. This seemingly simple song, inspired by a request from a clergyman, would not only become one of the most beloved anthems of all time, it would mark a technological revolution that would forever change the way people were introduced to music.
In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was the commissionaire of wines in a small French town. Known more for his poetry than his church attendance, it probably shocked Placide when his parish priest asked the commissionaire to pen a poem for Christmas mass. Nevertheless, the poet was honored to share his talents with the church.
In a dusty coach traveling down a bumpy road to France's capital city, Placide Cappeau considered the priest's request. Using the gospel of Luke as his guide, Cappeau imagined witnessing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Thoughts of being present on the blessed night inspired him. By the time he arrived in Paris, "Cantique de Noel" had been completed.
Moved by his own work, Cappeau decided that his "Cantique de Noel" was not just a poem, but a song in need of a master musician's hand. Not musically inclined himself, the poet turned to one of his friends, Adolphe Charles Adams, for help.
The son of a well-known classical musician, Adolphe had studied in the Paris conservatoire. His talent and fame brought requests to write works for orchestras and ballets all over the world. Yet the lyrics that his friend Cappeau gave him must have challenged the composer in a fashion unlike anything he received from London, Berlin, or St. Petersburg.
As a man of Jewish ancestry, for Adolphe the words of "Cantique de Noel" represented a day he didn't celebrate and a man he did not view as the son of God. Nevertheless, Adams quickly went to work, attempting to marry an original score to Cappeau's beautiful words. Adams' finished work pleased both poet and priest. The song was performed just three weeks later at a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Initially, "Cantique de Noel" was wholeheartedly accepted by the church in France and the song quickly found its way into various Catholic Christmas services. But when Placide Cappeau walked away from the church and became a part of the socialist movement, and church leaders discovered that Adolphe Adams was a Jew, the song--which had quickly grown to be one of the most beloved Christmas songs in France--was suddenly and uniformly denounced by the church. The heads of the French Catholic church of the time deemed "Cantique de Noel" as unfit for church services because of its lack of musical taste and "total absence of the spirit of religion." Yet even as the church tried to bury the Christmas song, the French people continued to sing it, and a decade later a reclusive American writer brought it to a whole new audience halfway around the world.
Not only did this American writer--John
Sullivan Dwight--feel that this wonderful Christmas songs needed to be
introduced to America, he saw something else in the song that moved him
beyond the story of the birth of Christ. An ardent abolitionist, Dwight
strongly identified with the lines of the third verse: "Truly he taught
us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains
shall he break, for the slave is our brother; and in his name all
oppression shall cease." The text supported Dwight's own view of slavery
in the South. Published in his magazine, Dwight's English translation
of "O Holy Night" quickly found found favor in America, especially in
the North during the Civil War.
Back in France, even though the song had been banned from the church for almost two decades, many commoners still sang "Cantique de Noel" at home. Legend has it that on Christmas Eve 1871, in the midst of fierce fighting between the armies of Germany and France, during the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench. Both sides stared at the seemingly crazed man. Boldly standing with no weapon in his hand or at his side, he lifted his eyes to the heavens and sang, "Minuit, Chretiens, c'est l'heure solennelle ou L'Homme Dieu descendit jusqu'a nous," the beginning of "Cantique de Noel."
Back in France, even though the song had been banned from the church for almost two decades, many commoners still sang "Cantique de Noel" at home. Legend has it that on Christmas Eve 1871, in the midst of fierce fighting between the armies of Germany and France, during the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench. Both sides stared at the seemingly crazed man. Boldly standing with no weapon in his hand or at his side, he lifted his eyes to the heavens and sang, "Minuit, Chretiens, c'est l'heure solennelle ou L'Homme Dieu descendit jusqu'a nous," the beginning of "Cantique de Noel."
After completing all three verses, a
German infantryman climbed out his hiding place and answered with, "Vom
Himmel noch, da komm' ich her. Ich bring' euch gute neue Mar, Der guten
Mar bring' ich so viel, Davon ich sing'n und sagen will," the beginning
of Martin Luther's robust "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come."
The story goes that the fighting stopped for the next twenty-four hours while the men on both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of Christmas day. Perhaps this story had a part in the French church once again embracing "Cantique de Noel" in holiday services.
***
Adams had been dead for many years and Cappeau and Dwight were old men when on Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden--a 33-year-old university professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison--did something long thought impossible. Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airwaves: "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed," he began in a clear, strong voice, hoping he was reaching across the distances he supposed he would.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/The-Nativity-Story/The-Amazing-Story-Of-O-Holy-Night.aspx?p=2#HKQg6jV94LfdYUve.99
The story goes that the fighting stopped for the next twenty-four hours while the men on both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of Christmas day. Perhaps this story had a part in the French church once again embracing "Cantique de Noel" in holiday services.
***
Adams had been dead for many years and Cappeau and Dwight were old men when on Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden--a 33-year-old university professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison--did something long thought impossible. Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airwaves: "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed," he began in a clear, strong voice, hoping he was reaching across the distances he supposed he would.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/The-Nativity-Story/The-Amazing-Story-Of-O-Holy-Night.aspx?p=2#HKQg6jV94LfdYUve.99
Dec 20, 2015
26 Popular Traditional Christmas Carols w/ Festive Art by Thomas Kinkade
If you would like to relax to some of the more traditional hymns of Christmas, try this out....
26 Popular Traditional Christmas Carols w/ Festive Art by Thomas Kinkade-
26 Popular Traditional Christmas Carols w/ Festive Art by Thomas Kinkade-