New Page 1

An Attempt To Listen To God

Meditations on The Incarnation

Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins. . . Matthew 1:21

There is no time of the year when people are more God conscious than that of Christmas. However, at Christmas when hymns of the incarnation fill the stores and malls, there is a spirit of relaxed tension as shopping is done, and normally a spirit of good will pervades most of the world over.

For those who are the Lord's, it should ideally bring with it the wonder of God becoming flesh, the incarnate becoming man, the transcendent becoming subservient, and the omnipresent becoming localized. John will emphasize this truth but will do it in different contexts and emphasis.

Our first observation is that Christ was the only human being who ever came into this world! Every other human being, though unborn, were in our ancestors in this world.

In his emphasizing of this certainty John will tell us:
	1)	The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 Jn. 4:14)
	2)	He whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world (Jn. 10:36), is set against the background of the accusation of the Lord blaspheming because of His declaration of who He was.
	3)	He came out from God (Jn. 16:27), the confirming of that which the disciples believed.
	4)	He came forth from the Father (Jn. 16:28), emphasizing the profound relationship that the Lord had with the Father.
	5)	The Son of God is come (1 Jn. 3:20), in order to give us understanding that we might know Him that is true.
	6)	In sending Him, God sent His only begotten (1 Jn. 4:9), in order that we might live through Him.
	7)	God. . . Sent His Son (1 Jn. 4:10), to be the propitiation for our sins.

While any one of these has a glory of its own, the one which distinctly relates to Christmas is Christ came to be the Saviour of the world. This lovely title is only found twice in the scriptures. It is the uncompromising and unsolicited statement of the men of Samaria, for they speaking to the woman said: “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (Jn. 4:42). Then John in his first epistle says the same expression: “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son [to be] the Saviour of the world” (1 Jn. 4:14)

When our Lord was born:
	1)	The angel said: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Lk. 2:11)
	2)	Paul preaching said: “Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus." (Acts 13:23)
	3)	When communicating to Timothy, Paul by the Holy Spirit will write: “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:10)

As we trace the New Testament we find emphasized this truth that Christ is the Saviour, not just of the Jews; not just a political Saviour rescuing us from human enslavers; not just the Saviour from human slavery and degradation. Glorious truth, He is the Saviour for the entire world. Infinite sufficiency is there in Him. None can ever say that He had not the ability to provide salvation for them, irrespective of how fallen they may be.

This Saviour, for all who will trust Him, has the ability to extradite whosoever from the bondage of their present enslavement of sin; the security of assuring them of release from the future judgment of sin; and the guaranteed declaration of saving from the eternal presence and prospect of ever sinning again.

This universal Saviour does not only deal with the sins of the present generation, but those of a past dispensation, for it is an eternal salvation reaching across time for the whosoever.

What a comfort this is to the missionary on the foreign field or homeland who sees little results of his labour. His time and effort are not wasted in giving men the opportunity to know the Saviour of the world.

What a comfort for those who stay at home, to know that they can lift to God peoples in every corner of the globe, and know that irrespective if they are citizens of the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, America, or Australia, He is the Saviour of the world.

What an encouragement to the seeking sinner, a glorious promise of eternal prospects, irrespective of:
	1)	how dark dyed they are in sin
	2)	how long they have been held in sins domination
	3)	how little they know of the scriptures
	4)	anything in their lives,
He is the Saviour of the world.

As we this Christmas consider the blessings of family, Christian company and health, let us not forget the greatest gift of all:

The Father sent the Son. . . to be the Saviour of the world.

May God grant us good understanding as He, by His Holy Spirit, deigns to guide us into all truth.
John 16:13