Beholding His Glory ~ Pastor Bill Slabaugh

In the TV program, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Charlie Brown asks in frustration, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”  Linus responded, “Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.” And Linus took the stage and recited Luke 2:8-14. This is what Christmas is all about.

In the early days of WWII, Winston Churchill told the people of Britain that they were in their “darkest hour.”  Now we the people of America are in a “dark winter.” When we come to Zacharias’ song of praise in the first chapter of Luke, we see the end of a long extended darkness. We see the promise in which “the Sunrise from on high will visit us" (Luke 1:78)

Concerning the birth of John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for the coming of Jesus into the world, the Gospel of Luke records,

         “Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave                 birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord             had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing              with her.” (Luke 1:57-58)

There had been promises and prophecies. Now there was an actual baby and Luke is careful to tell us that this is a sign of God’s great mercy. God displayed His great mercy toward Elizabeth. It is a wonderful example of how God bestows His tender mercy on us as well.

We most often think of giving God thanks and glorifying Him for His mercy and what He has done for us. But how often do we think of giving Him thanks and glorifying Him because He is a God of judgment? According to the Virgin Mary’s Song of Praise in Luke chapter 1, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world at Christmas is not only about extending mercy and grace and lifting up the humble. But it also about scattering into the wind those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts and bringing down rulers from their thrones.

At that first Thanksgiving celebration in the Plymouth Colony, half of the chairs were empty. More than half of the pilgrims had died the previous winter and half of those where children. The Thanksgiving Holiday is borne out of extremely difficult times in history. History tells us  about  a time of  severe religious persecution, of insurmountable adversity, and extreme physical deprivation. That’s our history. That’s early American History. But it is in history and in the God’s Word that we find the biblical reason for the Thanksgiving Holiday; why God would have us celebrate the holiday and what its true purpose is.

Detrick Bonhoeffer said of Mary’s song of praise in the first chapter of Luke, “God is not ashamed of human lowliness but goes right into the middle of it, chooses someone as instrument, and performs the miracles right there where they are least expected. God draws near to the lowly, loving the lost, the unnoticed, the unremarkable, the excluded, the powerless, and the broken. What people say is lost, God says is found; what people say is ‘condemned,’ God says is ‘saved.’ Where people say No! God says Yes!’”

Mary, the young mother of Jesus, is a good example of how God confirms His Word to us. It was going to be hard for Mary but God, with whom nothing is impossible, is going to confirm it. Along the way, He is going to give confirmation and assurance in Mary’s humble obedience. Along with the greatest task that takes the most determined obedience comes the greatest joy and the greatest assurance and confirmation that this is of God and that He will perform it. 

Martin Luther remarked, “[The angel] might have gone to Jerusalem and picked out Caiaphas’ daughter who was fair, rich, clad in gold embroidered raiment and attended by a retinue of maids in waiting. But God preferred a lowly maid from a mean town.”

When we come to the announcement of the angel to Mary that she would conceive and bear the Son of God, we must accept the essential spiritual fact that the Lord comes to needy people. The Lord comes to those who realize that without Him they cannot make it. The Lord comes to those who acknowledge their weaknesses and their spiritual lack. The Good News is not for the proud and self-sufficient because they are unable to receive it.

All of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior have experienced doubt. We believe, but we get our eyes off the Lord and onto the trial that looms before us.  It’s like putting a penny close to your eye. It blocks out the brilliance of the sun. If you let problems and trials consume your vision, they block the glorious power of the Almighty God and we forsake certain blessings.