HE CAME... FOR ME!

Rev. CN Peckham TO GOD, Christmas meant an enormous sacrifice - He gave His Son! All heaven must have wondered at the in-comprehensible and unfathomable depths of a love which would go to such lengths. The Lord of glory took the form of a helpless Baby. God did not need to do this. He is complete in Himself. He does not need the fellowship of created beings, but His love was so consuming that He could do nothing else but save corrupt humanity. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” TO CHRIST, Christ-mas meant intense humiliation, for He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” After being worshipped down the ages He is contracted to the confines of a human body and is rejected, even at His birth, by the very people whom He created and for whom He was soon to die. Yet, in the intense pain of the sacrifice and humiliation, there was vibrant joy. Joy because God’s great plan of Redemption was being put into ope-ration. The shadow and types of the Old Testament were yielding to the Sub-stance and Reality of Christ Himself. Man was about to be redeemed. Said the angel to the shep-herds, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Joy in heaven, joy to earth, joy that the long-awaited salvation of man was being accomplished. Thus to the hosts of heaven, Christmas means irrepressible joy. TO THE WORLD, Christmas means Redemption, “for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.” Bethlehem has no meaning without Calvary. He was born to die! The enormous weight and ghastly concentration of the sin of the world would, after a few brief years, rest upon Him on the Cross. The awful separation from His Father awaited Him, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” would soon be wrenched from His dying lips. But this would result in redemption. A Saviour is born. A Saviour from sin. It was sin which He took upon the Cross. It was sin with which God was dealing at Calvary. This then is the purpose of Christ’s coming - to save men from sin! TO THE INDIVI-DUAL, Christmas brings a solemn challenge. Has His coming been effective for me? The purpose for which He died was to save me from sin. Am I saved from sin? Have I seen Him as the One Who took all the evil of my soul and bore the punishment of death for me? Have I gratefully, humbly, accepted Him as my Saviour? What a change will be wrought in my soul when I dare to trust Him to forgive and to save me! Why, the joy which the angels heralded to the shepherds will be mine. Forgiven! What a word! Joy will well up in my soul and will ring through the courts of heaven as well. God offers His great salvation to you at this Christmas season, to you as you read these very words. WILL YOU NOT TODAY RECEIVE THIS SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD AS YOUR SAVIOUR TOO?