THE shepherds were keeping their watch by night, and the firmament, in its majestic brightness, glowed with countless stars, when suddenly, from the courts of glory, poured down the melody of praise; and angelic hosts, with rapturous joy, announced the advent of the Royal Babe, Emmanuel, God with us. Yes; Jesus, the long promised Saviour and Messiah had come; the Word made flesh was manifest, for it was none other than the Christ of God, the loved one of the Father's heart, who had stooped from heavenly glory into the manger of Bethlehem.
The star in the east went before the wise men, and stood still over the very spot where the young child was; and the Magi, pouring gold, frankincense and myrrh at His feet, worshipped the One in whom "dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Such were the golden words that suddenly fell on the shepherds' ears, as He, Who was the Good Shepherd, entered a world ruined by sin, to lay down His life for the sheep.
Three and thirty years had rolled away; and the lowly Nazarene, who came into the world by way of the manger, had gone out of it by way of the cross—the willing victim on God's altar, having accomplished a full redemption, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Ere He left this scene, however, He had left these warning words behind Him, "Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.”
His first advent to the earth had been announced suddenly; His return to it, unannounced, would be sudden too! Having died, and risen again, and gone in and out among His own for forty days, He was taken up to heaven, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Yet forgot He not His promise that they should receive power from on high; and, true to His word, "when the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were all with one accord in one place, suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting;" and, as those cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
The Spirit of the living God had-now come from an ascended and glorified Christ to make good in every believer's heart, not only the wonders of redeeming grace, but the infinite glories of the Redeemer Himself. That self-same Spirit had ever, and often, wrought before in various ways; but now His special object was two-fold, the one was to form and indwell the church of God, and the other was to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Mightily did He work that day in eternal blessing to three thousand precious souls, and later on at Philippi, in the bright conversion of the sin-bound jailor.
Suddenly, at the midnight hour, came the earthquake that aroused that sleeping sinner from his carnal ease and slumber; and, drawing his sword, he would fain have killed himself, till the Spirit's voice was heard, speaking through the apostle's lips,. "Do thyself no harm, for we are all here." Suddenly, and deeply convicted by that same Spirit, the agonized cry came from the lips of the awakened jailor, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house," was the swift reply; and faith, drinking in the golden meaning of those precious words, brought peace and joy that same hour of the night, not only to the jailor, but to all that were in his house.
Now, as then, however, believers and unbelievers go on together in a day of grace, till suddenly, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God." Then, suddenly, "the dead in Christ shalt rise first; and we [believers], who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
The family of God being all gone, the way is prepared for the clay of the Lord, which will surely come as a thief in the night. Alas! alas! how deeply solemn is the thought, the world will then be suddenly taken by surprise, as it was when the flood came, and swept them all away. While men in their blind folly are crying "peace and safety,' then, "sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.”
Ah! dear fellow-believer, as those four solemn words, "they shall not escape," ring in our ears, shall not we at least, be in earnest for the immediate salvation of those we love? As for you, poor unsaved reader, see to it at once that you get right with God, lest these awful words be true of you, "He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
S. T.