The Angels' Song!
Spurgeon, "Christ's Incarnation, the Foundation of Christianity"
"Glory to God in the Highest!"
The instructive lesson to be learned from this opening note of the angels' song is, that Salvation Is God's Highest Glory.
God is glorified in every DEWDROP that twinkles in the morning sunshine. He is magnified in every FLOWER that blossoms in the woods, although it is born to blush unseen of man, and may seem to waste its sweetness on the forest air. God is glorified in every BIRD that warbles on the trees, and in every LAMB that skips in the meadows. Do not the FISHES in the sea praise Him? From the tiny minnow to the huge leviathan, do not all creatures that swim in the waters laud and magnify His great Name? Do not all created things' extol Him? Is there anything beneath the sky, except man, that does not glorify God? Do not the STARS exalt Him, when they write His Name in golden letters upon the azure of heaven? Do not the LIGHTNINGS adore Him when they flash His brightness in arrows of light piercing the midnight darkness? Do not the THUNDERPEALS extol Him when they roll like drums in the march of the God of armies? Do not ALL THINGS that He has made, from the least even to the greatest, exalt Him?
But sing, sing, O universe, until you have exhausted yourself, yet you can not chant an anthem so sweet as the Song of Incarnation'!
Though 'Creation' may be a majestic organ of praise, it cannot reach the compass of this Golden Canticle- Incarnation!
There is more melody in Jesus in the manger than in the whole sublime oratorio of the Creation.
There is more grandeur in the song that heralds the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem than there is in worlds on worlds rolling in silent grandeur around the throne of the Most High.
Pause, reader, for a minute, and consider this great truth. See how every one of the Divine attributes is here magnified.
Lo, what WISDOM is here! The Eternal becomes man in order that God may be just, and yet be the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus. What POWER also is here, for where is power so great as when it conceals itself? What power, that God should unrobe Himself for a while, and become man! Behold, too, what LOVE is thus revealed to us when Jesus becomes a man; and what FAITHFULNESS! How many promises and prophecies are this day fulfilled! How many solemn obligations are this hour discharged! No greater proof of KINDNESS between the Creator and His subjects can possibly be afforded than when the Creator gives His only begotten and well beloved Son to die in the place and stead of guilty sinners!
You who doubt the love of God to guilty men, look away to that glorious circle of angels; see the blaze of glory lighting up the midnight sky; listen to their wondrous song, and let your doubts die in that sweet music, and be buried in a shroud of harmony.
The angels' song assures us that God is willing to pardon; He does pass by iniquity, transgression, and sin.
"Glory to God in the highest!"
Oh, what bliss there is in the Incarnation of Christ as we remember that therein God's omnipotence comes down to man's feebleness, and infinite majesty stoops to man's infirmity! |