Zwemer-Glory of the Manger
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE GLORY OF THE MANGER • Studies on the Incarnation • SAMUEL MARINUS ZWEMER, D.D. By AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY Twenty-oneWest Forty-sixthStreet NewYork,N.Y. the A.,,,.n,f,m, rq1roduced i,u pCi'111i,�sirm o/ !iirs, Hlm,h/f;;l,l 119tbtcation QI;!Jou art tileI.Ing of �lor!?: Ill) C!i:!Jrlllit. fEIJouart t!,eebeduting li>on:of t!,e.1f11t!,er. llll!Jen 11!:!Jou tookellit upon QI:!Jee to beliber man: ti!,ou bibllit !Jumble ii!J!?llitlfto be born of a Virgin. 1111!,tn QI:!Jou bllbllit obertome t!,e lli!,arpndlli of beat!,: QI:!)ou bibllit open tile I.lngbom of Copyright, 1940 :tr,eabtn to all belitberlli. by QI;!Jou llifttellit at t!Je ri!l'.!Jt !Janb of �ob: in tile AMERICAN TRACT SOCIE1Y glorp of t!Je.11 at!)er. llllehellebe t!Jat QI:!Jou s!,alt tome: to be our J'ubgt. lllle t!Jerefore pra!?t!l:!Jee, !Jelp t!l:ll!? serbantlli: w!,omU:!,ou !Jut rebeemell lnlt!J QI;!Jp precioulli hloob. �kt t!Jemto be numbereb lnit!JQ:!Jp li>aintlli: in glorp ebedalliting. Printed in the United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher'sPreface Foreword ......................... _-. 9 I. The Glory of the EternalPurpose . • . .. 15 II. The Fullness of Time . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 III. TheStumbling-Block of the Manger . • . 41 IV. Mary the Mother of Jesus . .. .. .. .. 61 V. Joseph the Carpenter . ... ... .. .. .. ... ... 73 VI. His Glorious Names . .. .. .. 87 VII. TheStar of Bethlehem ... ... .... .. ... 105 VIII. TheSong of the Angels .... .. .. .... .... 119 IX. Songs on Earth . .. .. 131 X. The Flight into Egypt ... .. .. .... .. .. 145 XI. TheWord was Made Flesh . .. .. .. 157 XII. The Word was God ................... 169 XIII. Why Christ Came to Bethlehem.......... 181 XIV. The Humiliation and the Exaltation . .. .. 195 XV. The Second Advent . .. ... .. .. .. ... 209 XVI. The Glory of the Manger .... .. .... .... 221 HE officers ofPUBLISHER'S the AMERICANTRACT PREFACE SOCIETY have become Tthoroughly convinced that there is an urgent, wide-spread and imperative need of scholarly, up-to-date;popular treatises of the essential evangelical doctrines. They are equally convinced that there are many conservative Christian leaders with the intellectual acumen and literary ability amply qualified to pre pare such treatises with convincing persuasiveness and dynamic efficiency. The Society therefore recently announced a Prize Book Con test requesting manuscripts, subject to certain conditions, on the fundamental principles of the Christian faith and offering prizes amounting to seventeen hundred and fiftydollars. The results of the contest have absolutely verified and justified the Society's contention for one hundred and sixteen excellent manuscripts were submitted by widely known and distin guished writers. The officers of the Society are not only highly gratified by the response received, but now feel fully justified in their determination to make the Society the repository of the choicest, most scholarly and popular books on gospel truth. Fortunately this decision has been made at a time when the world's need of an unadulterated and a dynamic gospel is more in evidence than for many centuries. Thirteen specially selected manuscripts are now being pub lished, The gospel of Christ is the only force which can save the world. The Scripture quotations taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, are used by permission of The International Council of Religious Education. FOREWORD IN his sumptuous edition of "The Bible in Art" Oifton Harby makes the striking observation that during the middle ages "when the Church played so large a part in the destiny of nations, art was religious because the people were religious, and this goes far to explain why all the museums of Europe are crowded with Madonnas and Crucifixions." The artists felt the pulse not only of their own time in these two great themes -the Incarnation and the Atonement. For these two miracles are the foci of the vast ellipse of New Testa ment thought and Old Testament prophecy. The Glory of the Cross and the Glory of the Manger are the two-fold revelation of Him who is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His Being. Some ten years ago, at Cairo, Egypt, I wrote a little book containing studies on the Passion of our Lord. It found many readers, and translations also appeared in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Swedish. The Glory of the Cross here finds a companion volume of medita tions onsome aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation -its historic setting, its implications and its lessons. Thefirst three chapters are introductory, and deal with the cosmic character of the Incarnation and the evi dences for the story of the Nativity. Then follow seven chapters on the story itself. The next five are more or less doctrinal and the final chapter sums up 9 10 11 FOREWORD FOREWORD the message and glory of Christmas. And what a And yet these are only two among the myriad voices story it is! of an ever-increasingand swelling chorus. For wellnigh Our hymnology enshrines it for all the churches and two thousand years all ages, races and conditions of Christmas carols are heard in all lands in many menhave been carried away captive by that Holy child. tongues. In 1922, I heard "Silent Night, Holy Night" They have laid their faith, their love, their devotion, sung by a large woman's choir of Battak converts at their learning, their lives as an offering before the Pearaja, Sumatra. Once fierce cannibals, the Chris Manger-Throne. For theysaw there the Word who was tian believers there now exceed a half million. When Ali God, and the Light of the World. There the brush of in London a few years ago, a book on comparative the artist, the imagination of the poet, the mind of religion by an Afghan student, Sirdar Ikbal Shah, the theologian and the emotions of the saint have arrested my attention. His chapter on Christianity ( and found their inspiration, so that the glory of the Manger the writer is still nominally a Mohammedan) has this has become the glory of Christian art, architecture, astounding opening paragraph: music, poetry and literature. To gather into one com "The birth of Christ is the greatest event in the pass the glory of the Advent as expressed in all these annals of time. When the dawn of the world broke ways one would have to strip the art-galleries of the and the morning stars sang together, man came forth life, world of their most costly treasures, ransack the litera from God; designed for dominion he became a slave; ture of all nations, and rob the hymnologies of all born for he fell into the abyss of death; offspring the churches of their choicest tributes to the Babe of of infinite goodness he stained his spirit with sin. After Bethlehem. We have gathered only fragments. long millenniums the world lay prostrate under the The Incarnation was the greatest miracle of human shadow of universal ruin. Religion had become a history. And it is true. God who fills the universe was burden, but God had not forgotten; in His heart were born a Babe. Christ at Bethlehem brought new life the purposes of love, and at last He appears among and power into the world. He took hold of the seed men in the Person of the Eternal Son. The coming of of Abraham to redeem it. The Incarnation is a reality, Christ as a Babe in Bethlehem set the Heavenly hosts wonderful, glorious and beautiful; but also a mystery to singing, because at last the poor had the good news 1 so great and so ho!y that angels veil their faces in of Eternal life preached unto them: 'Glory to God in its contemplation. "The Word was made flesh and the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.' " dwelt among us, ( and we beheld His glory, the glory tWho Lights ofcould Asia, betterLondon, state 1924, thepage glory68. of the Manger? as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." 12 FOREWORO We hope that the following brief chapters will afford the reader a deeper insight into the significance of these words of John, the beloved disciple, so that each of us may give glory to JesusSAMUEL Christ M. our ZWEMER. Lord. New York City. THE GLORY OF THE ETERNAL PURPOSE "I CANNOT tell why He whom angels worship Should set His Jove upon the sons of men, Or why as Shepherd He should seek the wanderers And bring them back, I know not how or when. But this I know, that He was bornof Mary, CHAPTER I When Bethlehem's stable was his only home, And that at Nazareth He Jived and laboured, And so the Saviour, Saviour of the world is come. THE GLORY OF THE ETERNAL PURPOSE THE birth of Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem was "I cannot tell how patiently He suffered not a fortuitous event. It did not just happen. Paul When with His peace He graced this place of tears, the Apostle speaks of "the eternalpurpose which God Or how upon the Cross His heart was broken, had in Christ Jesus." He writes in all his epistles of The crown of pain to three and thirty years. a pre-existing Christ, "who is before all things and by But this I know, He heals the broken-hearted, whom all things consist." A Christ who is the first And stays their sin and calms their lurking fear, born of every creature, the image of the invisible God, And lifts the burden from the heavy-laden, and in whom from endless ages are hid all the treas And so the Saviour, Saviour of the world is here.