# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1880_S62
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

46 The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Babe of Bethlehem. _

In Luke 2, 1—14. we read the sweet story
which fills our hearts with joy in the merry
Christmas time. It tells us of a lowly birth,
the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem. When
Joseph and the virgin Mary came to Bethlehem
to have their names put into the tax-lists ac-
cording to the decree of the Emperor Augustus,
there was no room for them in the inn, and so
they took refuge in a stable for the night.
And in that stable Mary, a poor and unpro-
vided stranger, brought forth the first-born son,
and wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid
him in a manger. What a lowly birth! There
is no splendor of a king’s palace, no brightness
of flashing gems and jewels and gold. There
is nothing but poverty and want. And yet the
birth of that Babe of Bethlehem has for ages
filled the hearts of millions with joy, and still
makes every Christmas Day a day of gladness
and rejoicing. For who is that Babe of Beth-
lehem? Let the angel tell you.

In that same night there were shepherds in
the field, keeping watch over their flock. And,
lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about them;
and they were sore afraid. But ‘‘fear not,”
was the sweet message of the angel, ‘‘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 David a Sa-
viour, which is Christ the Lord. And this
sha be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a
manger.” And, instantly, the sky was thronged
with a multitude of angels who made the night-
air ring with their song of praise: ‘‘Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
will toward men.”

O wonderful birth! That Babe of Bethlehem
is ‘* Christ the Lord,’’ the Lord of heaven and
earth. He who created the universe and set
the stars on high became a helpless babe with-
out a star of glory on his brow. God’s own
Son took upon Him our human nature and be-
came like unto us only without sin, having
been conceived miraculously by the power of
the Holy Ghost. And this God-man is our
Saviour. By-sin our human race had fallen
under the curse and wrath of a just and holy
God. Like a high wall our sins separated us
from God and from all the joys of heaven. We
could not break down that wall. No mere
human being and no angel could satisfy the in-
finite justice of God and bear the punishment
of man’s sin. Our Saviour must be God; for
God’s own power was necessary to break down
that wall of sin and to bear the great punish-
ment of a sinful world. Our Saviour must
also be a true man; for man had sinned and
therefore man had to be punished, and, again,
he had to’ be a true man in order to suffer and
to die. And, behold, God in His wisdom and
love gave us such a Saviour. ‘‘God so loved
the world that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not

perish but have everlasting life” (John 3, 16.).
The Babe of Bethlehem is our Saviour—God
and man in one Person. He was made under
the law and took the place of all sinners and
bore the punishment of all our sins, and there-
fore our redemption is offered to us in the
Gospel as a finished fact. Well may we re-
joice at the birth of this Saviour; for with-
out this Saviour there is no salvation for us.
That Babe of Bethlehem is our Prince of Peace
—take it away, and we are plunged into a gulf
of woe! That Babe of Bethlehem is our Sal-
vation—take it away, and we are at once ex-
posed to all the wrath of a just and holy God!
That Babe of Bethlehem is our Sun of Right-
eousness—take it away, and we are left in the
midnight darkness of despair! That Babe of
Bethlehem is our Treasure—take it away, and
we are beggars for ever! Rejoice then, dear
reader, “for unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour!’ These good tidings
of great joy are ‘‘to all people.”

The chief of sinners can rejoice on the merry
Christmas Day; for by faith in that Babe of
Bethlehem, which is offered to him in the good
Gospel-tidings, he can find forgiveness of all
his sins and life everlasting.

The sorrowing and down-cast can rejoice on
the merry Christmas Day; for the Babe of
Bethlehem is come ‘‘ to comfort all that mourn;
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61, 2. 3.).

The learned and the unlearned can rejoice on
the merry Christmas Day; for in that Babe of
Bethlehem ‘‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge”’ (Coloss. 2, 3.).

The rich and the poor can rejoice on the
merry Christmas Day; for in that Babe of
Bethlehem we all have the eternal riches of
heaven. “Ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich’’ (2 Cor. 8, 9.).

May all our readers welcome to their hearts
the Babe of Bethlehem as their only Saviour,
and thus enjoy a happy Christmas!

———2 + 00+
True Christmas Joy.

If the ends of Christ’s birth be answered in
our own experience, we haye abundant cause
for joy. But then it will not be the vain,
frothy, carnal joy of the world. The manner:
in which some pretend to celebrate the birth of
Christ at the season called Christmas, is a dis-
grace to a Christian. They contradict, as much
as possible, the design of His coming. He
came ‘‘to destroy the works of the devil;”?
they try to keep them up. What have cards,:
worldly dancing, gluttony, and drunkenness,
to do with the birth of Jesus? He came to
save men from their sins, not to keep them in,
their sins. © let young people guard against
the temptation of such’ a season; for’ there is
more sin committed at Christmas in a few days,

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than in many weeks at other times. Such a
carnal joy brings ruin to the souls of men.

Let us rather go to Bethlehem: let us, like

Mary, ‘ponder these things in our hearts,’’
No sooner did the shepherds hear of the Sa-
viour’s birth, than they ran to see Him. Let
us also say, ‘‘We would see Jesus.’” And where
shall we see Him but in His word which is
preached in the Church of God? If we go
there to see Him, we shall find that the Church
of God is still a Bethlehem, ‘‘a house of bread.’’
God will feed our souls with ‘‘ the bread which
came down from heaven, and which endureth
to eternal Jife.’’ Then we will experience true
Christmas joy, and the Christmas season will
be a season of true gladness and happiness to
our souls.—Selected.

——— ++ oa >

For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer’’.

Faith in the Bible.

We print the following letter as a Christmas

greeting to the PIONEER:

Dear PIONEER:—You are a welcome visitor

to our family, and it is with delight and com-
fort that we read your precious Gospel-truths.
You certainly have assumed the right name by
calling yourself ‘‘The Zatheran Pioneer,’ for
you strictly adhere to the precious doctrines of
the Ev. Luth. Church.
and delight that we read the articles of ‘‘F. B.’’
Indeed, his article in the Nov. number under
the heading: ‘‘Believe the Bible,’ is alone
worth more than the cost of the Pronrer for
a whole year. The truth that ‘‘our sins were
forgiven over 1800 years ago, when Christ
suffered and died for them,’’ is full of unspeak-
able comfort, for it teaches us that God is re-
conciled unto the world long ago, that the
atonement of the Son of God for the sins of
the whole world is complete and perfect, and
that there is no other offering or atonement ne-
cessary for sin. Jesus, the Son of God, has
done it all; and done it perfectly, for He was

It is with special joy

“given for our offences and raised for our ju»

tification.” ‘Justification of life has come
upon all.’? Now pardon and salvation has
been offered, and will be offered through the
Gospel unto all poor sinners to the end of time.
If poor sinners will not believe the Gospel,

“the power of God unto salvation,’’ they must

simply do without pardon and salvation. In

and through the Gospel the righteousness of
Christ is revealed and offered to poor sinners,
and faith must take it, or they must do with-
out this treasure. We need not ‘‘ascend into
heaven,” nor need we ‘‘descend into the deep,”’
for the Word is ‘‘nigh’? us, even in our “mouth,”

and in our ‘“‘heart”?: ‘that is the word of faith

(the Gospel), which we preach: ‘That if thou

‘|shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,

and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
See Rom. 10, 6—9. 8. B.
—+ +00
«‘Eyery song about Jesus, every church-bell
that rings, echoes the music of Bethlehem.”