J. Paterson Smyth

Lesson I

How the Christ-Child Came

St. Luke II. 1-17.

T HE teacher should dwell on the age-long preparation for the coming of Christ and emphasise and explain the few prophecies here quoted. Try to leave the impression of God's great design waiting through ages for its fulfilment.

This is the Fifth Course of our Lessons, The Bible for School and Home.

We have come now to the most solemn and wonderful and important part of all our teaching of the Bible. This is the climax. Everything before was but leading up to this, the most tremendous thing in all history. The Son of God actually coming down from that great kindly world beyond the stars which had been watching sorrowfully the sins and struggles of men—actually coming down himself to live with us, to die for us, to reveal to us the tenderness of the love of God. "I am troubled about them," He said. "I cannot bear to let them perish. They will not listen to the prophets and teachers. I must go down myself. When once they know how much God cares, that must touch their hearts."

This is the most interesting and wonderful story in the world. But to keep up its interest and its wonder, two things are necessary. (1) We must exert our imaginations to picture vividly the scenes, and try to live in them, as it were, so as to escape the deadness which comes from knowing the story already. But also (2) we must take care in our vivid picturing not to become too familiar, not to think of "the Boy Jesus" as lightly as we should think of a boy in the next street. Must remind ourselves of His being God, and of solemn meaning of the Miraculous Birth—God becoming manifest in the flesh.

These hints and promises coming down through the ages created in the Jews a strong expectation that some day a great Deliverer should come. They did not understand clearly. They were confused. And since they were not very good people, many of them rather expected that it should be some human king or leader who should fight great battles for them and make them victorious over all their enemies. This made trouble when Jesus came to earth and disappointed them by not leading them out to earthly triumph. But the best and holiest had higher thoughts though they, too, did not quite understand.

The Old Testament has many hints of His coming through types and ceremonies and prophecies, etc. We have only time to glance at a few.

First comes that prophecy to the early world (Genesis iii. 15). The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head and the serpent shall bruise his heel. What would that mean? Who was the serpent? And how did men kill a serpent? By bruising his head, i.e., the Coming One should crush the devil and destroy his power but He should suffer in doing it. The serpent shall bruise His heel.

Now look a long way forward. God chose out one nation to teach religion to the world. And God chose a great good man, Abraham, to be the religious head of the young nation. What did He promise? "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis xii. 3; xxii. 18). Don't you think that would mean that One of his race should be a great blessing to the world?

Now we pass over most of the Old Testament types and prophecies—we have not time for them—and just look at some of the hints given by the great prophet Isaiah (Isaiah ix. 6, 7; xxxii. 1 and especially ch. liii). With such hints and prophecies through the Old Testament you can understand why the Jews expected some Great One to come—the Messiah they called Him. (Teacher should read and put special emphasis on Isaiah liii. If there is not time he might merely read the other two.)

So for centuries the world went on and still He did not come. But the world was waiting. And God was preparing all the time, watching the world, getting all things ready. At last "fulness of time come" (Galatians iv. 4), when our story to-day begins. All the separate little nations welded into one great Roman empire, with its one language; with its splendid roads reaching everywhere from Rome; with the people getting worse and more in need of the Christ. Everything ready for founding of His Kingdom. And people seemed to feel that the King must be coming. Everywhere amongst the Jews an excited expectancy. When John the Baptist came "all men mused in their hearts if he were the Christ or not."  "Tell us, art thou Elijah who should prepare the way?"  "Art thou the Christ?" And John asks of Jesus, "Art thou He that should come?" Evidently there was an attitude of tense expectation (see St. Luke iii. 15).

And Joseph the carpenter loved her dearly. I think he was older than she was, and he was very tender to her, and liked to watch her passing, and liked to think of the little home he was making for her. And it must have been pleasant to her to meet him, and to hear him talk of all his brave hopes and plans for their future. I think, too, they cared so much for religion, that they often talked of God's promise of the Messiah. And I can imagine the girl going home after her talks, and kneeling down at her bedside to pray for God's blessing on her lover's life and her own. Little she dreamed how wonderful would be the answer.

Then came a day that she could never forget.

One day—perhaps at prayer—suddenly a wonderful visitor. Who? (Luke i. 26). What did he announce? Think of the awe, and astonishment, and trembling joy? She to be the mother of the Messiah that all the nation hoped for. Fancy her excitement! So the angel departed and she remained awestruck, wondering, thinking, hoping—pondering in her heart. And so the months passed on.

So they draw near to Bethlehem through a land alive with historic memories. In the pastures beside them Ruth long ago gleaned in the fields of Boaz. In the hollow to the right outside the gate brave men had died to bring David a drink from the Well of Bethlehem. A little off the road is a memorial sacred to all Jews, where the light of Jacob's life went out when "Rachel died by me in the land of Caanan and I buried her by the roadside on the way to Ephrath (which is Bethlehem)."

But they had greater thoughts in their minds. And also Mary is getting very tired and there is anxiety about lodgings. For the travellers for the census have crowded the town and they hear that there is no room even in the inn. They were glad to take refuge at last in one of the natural caves in the hillside where cattle were bedded. And there, with no kindly woman's hand to aid her, came the pains of childbirth on that lonely woman and "she brought forth her son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes"—there was no one else to do it—and laid him in the manger for His first infant sleep.

Did ever baby enter this world in lowlier guise? And do we not all love Him the more for it? Somehow it would spoil the picture if He had been born in a palace with princesses to wait on Him and high priests in attendance. That poor little baby whom nobody noticed comes to us in His helplessness with such clinging appeal as if trusting himself utterly to us, as if bidding for our affection, wanting us to be fond of Him. So touchingly, appealingly, did the Christ-child come.

Simply, ordinarily as the coming of the dawn, happened this tremendous thing in the history of the universe, the coming of the Lord of Glory into human life. On the earthly side just a stable, a manger, the cattle in the stalls, a woman wrapping her baby in swaddling clothes. Nothing of wonder in it. Nothing of awe. Until the world from which He came flashes in upon the scene where high over the stable outside in the starlight was the heavenly host stirred to its depths at the coming of the Christ-child.

So we read that lovely story familiar to us all from infancy—how "shepherds were abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night," how the heavenly music swelled and died over the pasture fields of Bethlehem with its glad tidings of great joy which should be to all people—how the Angels as they listened could not restrain their delight, breaking forth into the eternal anthem of their world above, Glory to God in the Highest!

Let us read over again that little story as we close (Luke ii. 8‑14) and try to think why the angels were so glad for us, and why we should be glad for ourselves that Jesus came on that first Christmas night long ago.

Describe the earthly  scene on that first Christmas.

Describe the heavenly  side.

Do you think the angels knew of it before that night?