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For Those Seeking The Truth
& Dynamic Living Christ is Victor |
November/December 2007
Volume 20, Number 6
Fear Not, For Behold, I Bring You Good
Tidings of Great Joy
“And the angel said unto
them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the
city of
Fear is the predominant feeling which one meets with everywhere. Fear of tomorrow has become the dominant feature of men’s lives today.
Economists may forecast! Once-thriving nations are deep in recession and the number of the unemployed is climbing everywhere. There is real suffering as well as much 'imagined' suffering. There is real want as well as curtailment of some luxuries to some which they simply feel they cannot accept.
The newspaper has little good news. It is a miserable catalogue of calamities, dismal breakdowns, short-fallen crops, failure of harvest and endless political chaos. If a man lays down his newspaper these days without reading about some of the new catastrophes on the horizon, it would be a most welcome thing.
We claim to live in civilized days, but the barbarism of today, the hatred between nations, the long list of massacres, hostages taken, summary executions without adequate trial - all speak of a savage, uncivilized behaviour of which few ages have been guilty on such a large scale. Man's inhumanity to man should make us weep or sob. There are millions today who cannot even travel outside their own countries because walls and barricades have been put out, depriving them of that freedom to choose which God has given them.
In the midst of this chaos comes to us these good tidings of the Saviour's coming into this sinful world. The angel announces the glorious tidings to the shepherds in the middle of the night. “Fear not; I bring you good tidings of great joy ...” (Luke 2:10). Yes, Christ brings us great joy.
I recall how heavy my heart was and how miserable I was in my uncleanness and sin. That night when the Lord Jesus met me and rolled away the heavy burden of sin from my heart, what a thrill it was! It seemed like as if I was floating on air. I could not help but sing from sheer happiness. From that day to this, there is a deep undercurrent of joy which gives me new strength from day to day in the midst of my incessant travels, sleepless nights and ever-increasing labours.
The Saviour says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” Nehemiah 8:10. The Lord wants to lift the dark cloud of our sorrows and fill our hearts with joy.
It is amazing that even amongst those who claim to be good Christians one hears endless complaints, unfair criticism and even evil speaking. Instead of good news you can get an earful of bad news if you sit ten or fifteen minutes amongst them. I want to tell you that you have missed the point of Christian deliverance altogether. Why that gloomy outlook? Why those negative fears? Has not the Deliverer come? Or, is He in the grave like other prophets? No, Our Saviour is an undying, risen Saviour. He lives now making intercession on our behalf.
In many people an active trust in God which the Bible calls 'faith' is so badly lacking. They sit with a shroud around them with the live-expectation that the skies are going to collapse around them.
Dear reader, you need the Christmas message. You are darkening your horizons, weakening your body and destroying your usefulness by letting lovelessness, impurity and negative fear overwhelm you. The Saviour has come to lift you, to love you, to cause you to rise above the clouds of fear and guilt.
Let the “joy of the Lord” be our strength!
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Reality Check
“And the angel said unto
them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the
city of
Birds in the Snow
An atheist was invited by his wife to attend church with her. He frankly told her that he did not believe the Bible teaching that God became a man. “It doesn't make sense to me,” he said.
Soon after his family drove away to church, snow began to fall and a few minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound, then other thudding sounds, against his living-room window. When he went to the front door, he found a flock of cold birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had tried to find shelter from the snow, and were trying to fly through his window.
He decided he must help the poor little creatures - and then he wondered how he could help them. Then he thought of the barn, where it was warm, so he tramped through the snow to the barn, opened the door and turned the light on. But the birds didn't come in. “Food will bring them in,” he thought. So he went back into the house, got some crumbs and sprinkled them on the snow to make a trail to the barn. But to his dismay the birds ignored the crumbs and continued to flop around in the snow. He then tried shooting them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction - except into the warm, lighted barn.
“They find me a strange and terrifying creature,” he said to himself. “And I cannot think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety…”
At that moment the church bells began to peal out a Christmas carol. After listening for a few moments, he sank to his knees in the snow and whispered a prayer, “Now I do understand. Now I see why YOU had to come as YOU did.”
In Old Testament times God appeared to people in various ways - to Abraham through heavenly messengers, to Moses out of the burning bush. They were afraid because of God's awesomeness. But centuries later the angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds and announced, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
Yes. God became a man so that we would not be afraid to draw near to God. Christ's birth brought the infinite God within reach of finite man. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Incomparable Christ
Jesus came from the bosom of the Father to the bosom of a woman. He put on humanity that we might put on divinity. He became the Son of Man that we might become sons of God. He came from Heaven, where the rivers never freeze, winds never blow, frosts never chill the air, flowers never fade. They never phone for a doctor, for no one is ever sick. No undertakers and no graveyards, for no one ever dies!
He was born contrary to the laws of nature, lived in poverty, was reared in obscurity; only once crossed the boundary of the land, in childhood. He had no wealth nor influence and had neither training nor education. His relatives were inconspicuous and uninf1uential.
In infancy He startled a king! In boyhood He puzzled the doctors. In manhood He ruled the course of Nature. He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His services. He never wrote a book, yet not all the libraries in the world could hold the books that could be written about Him. He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than can be written by all song-writers combined.
He never founded a school or a college, yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as He had. He never practised medicine, yet He healed more broken hearts than all the broken bodies doctors have healed.
He never marshalled an army or drafted a soldier or fired a gun; yet no leader ever had more volunteers who have, under His orders, made rebels put down arms or surrender without a shot being fired.
He is the Star of Astronomy; the Rock of Geology; the Lion and the Lamb of Zoology. He is the Harmonizer of all discords, and the Healer of all diseases. Great men have come and gone, yet He lives on. Herod could not kill Him; Satan could not seduce Him; death could not destroy Him; the grave could not hold Him.
He laid aside His purple robe for a peasant’s gown. He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor. How poor? Ask Mary! Ask the wise men! He slept in another’s manger. He cruised the lake in another’s boat. He rode on another man’s donkey. He was buried in another man’s tomb. All failed, but He never. The Ever Perfect One – He is the Chief “among ten thousand”. He is “altogether lovely”.
God Better Than
His Word
In a large and
populous village in one of the hundreds, or wapentakes,
of
During the time of harvest, while employed in gathering the fruits of the earth, he accidentally slipped from the top of a barley mow, and sprained one or both of his ankles; in consequence of which he was confined to his room and bed for some weeks. It is unnecessary to state, that, in the meantime, his family must have felt the loss of his weekly labor and income.
His wife, on one occasion, went upstairs into his room weeping. “What is the matter?” said Jonathan, “what is distressing thee?” “Why, the children are crying for something to eat, and I have nothing to give them,” was the affecting reply. “Hast thou faith in God?” asked Jonathan. “Dost thou believe in His providence, and in His Word? Has He not said, “Bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure?” Isaiah 33:16. “Kneel down,” he continued, “at the bedside and pray to God. Tell Him how thy children are circumstanced; that they have no bread; that thou hast nothing wherewith to buy them any; and I will also pray. Who can tell what God may do? He heareth prayer.”
Jonathan and his wife prayed earnestly together; they pleaded the promises of God, and waited the result. Soon after, a person came to the door with a loaf of bread. She came from a house in the immediate neighborhood of Jonathan, the occupier of which was one of several branches of a family who were proprietors of very extensive iron works, carried on in the village where Jonathan lived.
No sooner did the good woman receive the loaf of bread, than she ran to Jonathan to tell him how God had answered their prayer. “Now,” said Jonathan, “before anything else be done, kneel down at the bedside, and return thanks to God for having heard our prayer.” She did so: they praised His name together; and then ate their food with gladness and singleness of heart.
Not many hours elapsed before another kind interposition of providence presented itself. A second visitor brought them a joint of meat. When this was told Jonathan, he replied to his wife, “Ay! See! God is even better than His word! He promised bread, and He sends flesh in addition. Kneel down, and thank Him again.”
There are no loose threads in the providence of God, no stitches are
dropped, no events are left to chance. The great clock
of the universe keeps good time, and the whole machinery of
The Glory of Christmas
“And (Mary) entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost” Luke 1:40&41.
Mary began to realise how fortunate she was. Her entrance into Elisabeth's home caused Elisabeth to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Those who live in the Spirit react to spiritual things in an unmistakable way. Mary was a woman who was following the truth that she knew, and she never expected to become great in this world. Mary grew in the ways of the Lord and the Lord noticed it.
God looks out for those that obey the Word of God because He can only make use of such. When finally it came down to the hard fact of obeying the Word of God, Mary pleased God absolutely. We must never obey the Word just to become famous in this world. We must obey the Word because it is a blessing in itself.
Christmas is the story of young people who lived and walked in the will of God. Young people who walk in the will of God make history. Elisabeth and Zacharias were old people who walked in all the commandments of God blamelessly. They were perfect in their old age. Mary and Elisabeth were relatives and there seemed to be a high standard of faith among these relatives. John was to baptize Jesus. John had to come from such parentage. The perfection that Elisabeth and Zacharias achieved in their old age, Mary and Joseph attained in their youth. God looks for young people who obey Him at all costs. God can rely only on such people.
Manasseh was born at the time of King Hezekiah's backsliding. Manasseh ruined the nation to such an extent that no one could restore it to its original state. But the above-mentioned families did reach a very high level of faith. How prophetic were Joseph's dreams and Mary's words!
In Christian history, it is only when faith reached a high level that great things took place. Faith in youth is always rewarded. By gathering together for prayer we are helping one another to rise in faith.
Sin and death came through the first woman. Through another woman came the Son of God, bringing in life and peace. Jesus grew under Mary's care. She taught Him the Word of God. Elisabeth also taught her son the Word of God to which she was perfectly obedient. Joseph and Zacharias supported the faith of these women. There was great harmony in these homes. When we read of these families we enter into a new realm.
Mary remained in Elisabeth's home for three months. A woman filled with the Holy Spirit cannot stay in a home unless the spiritual atmosphere in it is perfectly conducive. Such was Elisabeth's home. Mary and Elisabeth did their duty to their sons. John was a martyr for truth and righteousness. He grew in the wilderness. God so arranged that John's parents did not live to see his death. Mary lived to see the death and resurrection of her Son. She was one of those that received the Holy Spirit afresh on the Day of Pentecost to shake the world.
Christmas comes to us year after year to remind us of the faithfulness of God and purposefulness of God in fulfilling His high plans through weak men. May God help us to know that even we, weak people, can live for His glory!
-Late Mr. N. Daniel
This
newsletter is produced six times per year by the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship
International. It is printed and distributed in the
This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and
prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several
countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his
or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be
self-supporting missionaries.
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