(Isa. 9; Matt. 2)
It is a very significant fact, that the test of every one and everything is Christ; doctrines do not test in the same way as the Person to whom, no doubt, all the doctrines of scripture relate.
The great question now, as in the days when the Lord Jesus was here, is: “What think ye of Christ?” Thus it is that here where we have the record of His advent into the world, all classes are manifested in their true character in relation to Him. In Matthew He is presented as Son of Abraham, Son of David, Messiah the King; hence it is in this connection all through this gospel we ever find Him, and the presentation of the truths found here are ever set forth in this connection. There was a spot on earth—the place of privilege and blessing—a favored place, the city of the great King. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Sion.”
Now it was to that spot every eye was turned, wherever expectation was alive in any true heart, it was from thence its hope sprung; hence it is that we find these wise men coming from the far east to Jerusalem, with the language of affection and earnestness saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Thus were their hearts moved by His birth, it is the King of Israel, They come to seek all about Him who has a claim upon them, they leave their own and distant country, guided by His star, if only they can reach Him; this is the first class or company whom His advent into this world brings, as it were, to the front. It is a lovely picture this for faith to look upon. Oh, how Christ can engross heart and mind! Does He command ours? How much would we go through if only we might reach Him? Then observe their attitude on arriving at the place where He was—“they fell down and worshiped him”—
“Jesus is worthy to receive
Honor and power divine,”
is in reality the language of their willing hearts; how blessed to see faith at its goal enjoying the prize! Is it not lovely to see how His Person, having won their affections, commanded their adoration and opened their treasures! They had nothing too costly to withhold from Him, precious as were their gifts—“gold, and frankincense, and myrrh”—He was far more precious still. Oh, what a sight for faith, child though He was here, an infant of days as to His humanity, yet He was their all! He had but just come, yet it was Himself who had come and Himself in person was there before them.
It is lovely to trace in the scriptures how His Person ever addressed the faith and affection of which He was the object; here it was in the first moments of His birth; later on, as we know, in the close of His days on earth and in the face of the hostility and hatred which beset Him, there was found a Mary, who would expend on Him what the Holy Ghost was pleased to call “very costly,” and as she placed it on His body, perfumed the house with its odor. Oh, how at the beginning and at the end Christ was all to faith, whether in the Magi or in a Mary, it found in Him its satisfying portion, and the hatred and violence which marked both the scenes to which we have called attention, could not hinder it in its devotion and affection to Him. Is it so, may I ask, affectionately, with us?
I would not leave this beautiful scene without a word on another subject—truly the center of all we have had before us. Let me ask you to think who is this wonderful Child, whose advent seems to touch and test all hearts? Who but Emmanuel, God with us! He was none less than God manifest in flesh; the mighty God was there. Oh, what grace and love, that He who was “in the beginning with God,” was God, should thus come down to become Man! Most affecting it is to dwell in thought on circumstances in which He is here found as having become man: a little child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger—lowliness, poverty, and rejection are all found in His birth: well may we sing—
“Rich in glory, Thou didst stoop,
Thence is all Thy people’s hope;
Thou wast poor, that we might be
Rich in glory, Lord, with Thee.”
Again, it is striking to note how from the first moment of His advent He was a sufferer; in different ways and at different times He was such. Oh, how it does appeal to and attract the heart! It is a suffering and sorrowing Christ which does this; in His humiliation He wins, in His glory He satisfies; His humiliation and His glory are the two great powers which work upon our hearts. Then see how Israel suffers too in connection with Him. “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.” Oh, what an expression of suffering and death, “they are not”! What a sense of desolation these words carry with them!
Thus we have looked at, in this first class, the faith and affection which found its all in Himself, and expended it all on Him, and we have also looked at who He was, the Object of such faith and love.
We must now look at the second class we find here, whom His Person and presence bring out. We find then a striking contrast to the Magi in the king (Herod) and all Jerusalem with him; Herod is a sad character, full of pride, vanity, and worldly lust; besides he is a foreign king, who is here seen usurping the allegiance of Messiah’s people, while He the true King, owned by the Gentiles, as represented by those wise men, is cast out and refused, His own people being entirely indifferent to Him. Oh, what a sight is here presented in the distress and trouble which His advent brought upon Herod and all Jerusalem! I need hardly dwell upon the moral state here presented. May I ask you how far you suppose things and people now are changed? Is there any more heart now than then for Christ? Alas! the answer is but too distinctly stamped upon the vast scene of profession around, where there is no more room for Jesus now than on the morning of His birth.
But suffer me to bring this question nearer to our own doors, and to ask how it is with us in relation to Him? Another has so truly said, that what marked the man who then had possession of the throne of Jerusalem was “victorious love of the world.” Now how far are we free from a like influence? Is it not this we have to watch against on every side? Oh, the inroads and encroachments it has made in our midst! We are looking at a moment when Christ was “an exile in Egypt, and then a Nazarene in the earth”; what is He now, may I ask? And what are we in relation to Him and as His disciples in this world that thus hated and rejected Him, and that hates and rejects Him still? Oh, be assured this is the question of questions, now as then Christ determines everything. How much there is in that name Emmanuel, and what power there is in it to set aside present things: these are surely some of the thoughts the Holy Ghost would press on our souls as we dwell upon this precious page in His history upon earth.
But there is another class represented here, to which I would earnestly call your attention for a little. These scribes are a miserable company; they were conversant with the prophetic scriptures which told of Messiah’s birth, when appealed to, they reply at once; but having said this we have said all: information they had, but no more; they could tell of His coming, who was Jehovah’s Shepherd-King, to come out of Bethlehem, the house of bread but their hearts had no interest whatever in Himself.
Oh, what a picture of a heart unmoved were they, no cravings, and longings, and yearnings were theirs, which nothing and no one but Jesus could meet and satisfy; no desire to see or hear this wondrous stranger-child had they; if they wished for a reputation for clearness as to the prophetic word, it was theirs; if they desired to make capital out of their knowledge of the sacred writings, none could dispute their claims; but no more than this could be said of them, “like lifeless finger-boards they point along a road in which they neither lead nor follow”; the place of the birth of Jesus, and the character of Him who was coming, they can announce, and then settle down into an indifference in which Christ is unnoticed and unknown. Alas these scribes of other days are but the prototypes and precursors of those of a like class in this day—hearts where there is neither welcome nor room for Christ, any more than in the inn at Bethlehem.
Oh, how all this speaks to our hearts this day! I press it earnestly upon every conscience and heart; let us each take it to ourselves as to how we stand in respect to Christ, What is He to us? What is He worth? These and suchlike as to Himself are the questions of the moment.
There is one word of very deep and precious blessedness in the first chapter of this gospel, and having looked at it a little we shall close our meditations for the present. The word to which I refer is “Emmanuel,” which being interpreted is, “God with us” (Matt. 1:2323Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:23)). What an announcement for any who had heart for it is in such words; and what an unfolding of the heart of God, too! Oh, the living grace that would indeed come down and tabernacle among men, so that they should know in very truth, “God with us”; and not only this, but God among men in the circumstances we have already had before us, and meeting with such a reception at their hands, coming to His own and His own receiving Him not. Oh, what grace and goodness! Then again, think of the power of that name, Emmanuel, think of its attractive power, think of its displacing power, has it such with us? We who know it now in all the endearment which the name of Jesus brings with it to our poor hearts? If indeed we have heard His blessed voice, is He not able and worthy to make room for Himself, whoever and whatever else would have to stand aside? May the Lord, by His Spirit, so endear Christ to each one, that nothing else will be of any value comparatively in our eyes, that our testimony in word and act to Him, the true wisdom may be thus expressed.
“It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.”