The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 89

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EvaNGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNnopicaL CoNFERENCE OF Nort AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFTF, Epiror.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXI.

ST. LOUIS, MO., DECEMBER, 1909. No. 12.

The Lord Has Come.

Lo, God, our God, has come!

‘To us a Child is born,

To us a Son is given;

Bless, bless the blessed morn,

O happy, lowly, lofty birth,

Now God, our God, has come to earth.

Rejoice! Our God has come

In love and lowliness.

The Son of God has come

The sons of men to bless.

God with us now descends to dwell,
God in our flesh, Immanuel.

Praise ye the Word made flesh!

True God, true man is He.

Praise ye the Christ of God!

To Him all glory be.

Praise ye the Lamb that once was slain;

Praise ye the King that comes to reign!
Bonar.

Joy to the World.

The lesson of Christmas is joy. The first Christ-
mas was ushered in by the angel’s tidings of great
joy and by the song of joy sung by the heavenly
host on the plains of Bethlehem.

But the joy that Christmas teaches is not mere
earthly joy, much less sinful joy. It is joy in the
Lord. “Joy to the world! the Lord is come!” The
coming of the Lord as the Savior to take away the
sins of the world is the source of all true Christmas
joy. Therefore the angel, when bringing the good
tidings of great joy, said: “For unto you is born
this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is
Christ, the Lord.” And the song of the heavenly
host in the holy Christmas night was a song of joy-

ful praise to God for sending into the world a
Savior, by whose birth God is glorified, peace is
brought to earth and good will toward men.

True, the Child born at Bethlehem in the holy
Christmas night does not appear as one from whom
joy could come. He is born in great poverty and
lowliness. But who is that Child? He is “true
man, born of the Virgin Mary.” Yes. But He is
more than that. Te is at the same time “true God,
begotten of the Father from eternity.” He it is of
whom it is written: “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was
not anything made that was made. And the Word
was made flesh,” John 1. In that Child the Word
was made flesh, that is, God’s eternal Son became
man, taking upon Himself our human nature and
becoming like unto us, only without sin. The angel
that made known His birth called Him “Christ,
the Lord.” The Child for whom there was no room
in the inn, and who was wrapped in swaddling
clothes and Jaid in a manger, was the Lord of
heaven and earth, the Maker of all things. “With-
out controversy, great is the mystery of godliness,
God was manifest in the flesh,’ 1 Tim. 4, 16.

And what was the purpose of this wonderful
birth? The apostle says: “When the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of
a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that
were under the Law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons.” By sin man became subject to
everlasting punishment, for it is written: “The
soul that sinneth it shall die.” There was no escape
for man from this just punishment. No creature
in heaven and on earth could rescue him from ever-