December 9 1996

ARTICLE TOOLS

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The Christmas Child
"Little one, who straight hast come
Down the heavenly stair,
Tell us all about your home,

And the father there."
"He is such a one as I,
Like as like can be.
Do his will, and, by and by,
Home and him you'll see."

-George MacDonald
in Discovering the Character of God

The Christmas message
Emmanuel. God with us. He who resided in Heaven, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, willingly descended into our world. He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows, and died for our sins. He didn't come to frighten us, but to show us the way to warmth and safety.

-Charles Swindoll
in The Finishing Touch

Lord of all
The character of the Creator cannot be less than the highest He has created, and the highest is that babe born to Mary on that first Christmas morning.

-A. Ian Burnett
in Lord of All Life

From crib to cross
Separate Christmas Day from Good Friday, and Christmas is doomed—doomed to decay into a merely sentimental or superstitious or sensuous "eat-drink-and-be-merry" festivity of December. Bethlehem and Golgotha, the Manger and the Cross, the birth and the death, must always be seen together, if the real Christmas is to survive with all its profound inspirations; for "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; and to give His life a ransom for many."

-J. Sidlow Baxter
in Awake, My Heart

No offense at Christmas Society never actually wanted the Incarnation. "Emmanuel, God-with-Us" does not sell computer games or cologne. Society wanted the cute stuff—rustic stable, adoring shepherds, fluffy sheep, cows, donkey, holy family, infant Jesus, gift-bearing kings, stars, angels, St. Nicholas, reindeer, fir trees, holly, and presents. The pagan stuff they ...