Christmas Day Devotion 2016

Christmas Day Devotion
Devotions of F.E. Pasche, 1929
(Multiple Devotions Edited and Modified by Pastor Craig Stanford)
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news
of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there
has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:10-11
What man needed was a Savior, a Deliverer mightier than the forces that held him
bound, and such a one God had promised man. Adam and Eve, driven from
Paradise were consoled by the promise of the Seed of the Woman, the Savior,
Who would crush the head of the Serpent and bruise His own heal. Seth, Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the faithful of old looked forward to that
Deliverer and were sustained by the hope that the Savior would come soon.
Succeeding saints and prophets took up the pleading strain: “Oh, that the Salvation
of Israel were come out of Zion!” and sang and prophesied of His advent. Finally,
when the fulness of time was come, He arrived; and in what manner? “God was
manifest in the flesh.” “The Word was made flesh.” “Unto us a Child is born.” The
Savior of the world was born.
God has become our Brother; He appeared among us in our own likeness, in the
form of man, like us in all respects with the exception of sin. Why did the Son of
God become man? That in our stead He might fulfill the commandments of God
and atone for all our transgressions by painful suffering and bitter death. The Babe
of Bethlehem is our Savior, our Redeemer. Could we receive gladder tidings than
these? Could there be a greater evidence of God’s love to man? This was indeed
the accepted time and the day of salvation promised by the prophets. When the
long-hoped-for Messiah appeared in the flesh and performed the great work of
redemption, by which the whole fallen human race was reconciled with God,
behold, then the day of salvation had come; then God showed that He is kind to
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sinful man, that in Christ Jesus the Lord, He truly loves the world, the world of
sinners.
The angel of the Lord addressed the shepherds thus: “I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people; for today in the city of David there has
been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
As whose Savior, then, did the Son of God come? O joyful message, as the Savior
of all people! “Although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:5-9) “He Himself is the propitiation for
our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (I John
2:2)
The Gospel enters the world with the broad, universal look of daylight. “The
Dayspring from on high hath visited us.” The sun rises every morning, shining
for all and singling out none. There is a universality of kindness about it. The
poorest man and the richest, all classes and all things, have the same access to its
undivided radiance. So the Christ-story is as wide and open to all as is this earth.
It singles out none, it excludes none, it wishes to blaze and bless a whole guilty
world spiritually just as the sun does bodily. Its contents are glad tidings of God’s
grace and love, “which shall be to all people,” “to give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” O
joyful message “to all people!” – that is, to all that ever lived on the face of the
earth and to the last man that shall be born before the coming of the Day of
Judgment.
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You, too, are included. You have a claim upon this Savior. Though your sins be as
many as the sands on the seashore and as black as night, this Savior of all people
gives His hands also to you and bids you rejoice in His full forgiveness and
salvation. You have as much right to this Savior as the greatest saint, though your
past deeds were ever so foul; for this Savior is He who came to seek and to save
that which was lost. He is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.
Come, then, and say, It is true and certain, Thou art mine also, my Brother, my
God, my Savior, for Thou hast come as the Savior of all.
In the Bible we are told of the great love of God. Mention is made of it on every
page. (1 John 4:9-10) “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God
has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through
Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” “God is Love,” says St. John, and then he
adds that God showed His love towards us by sending His Son into the world. And
our Savior says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten
Son.” These words are immeasurable, infinite. The love of God in Jesus has in all
ages been the key-note of all true preaching in the Church of God; it is the very
sum and substance of the Bible. So great is the love of God that it embraces the
whole world, the world of sinners. Yea, God commendeth His love towards us in
that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. When the Father delivered up
His Son into the shameful death of the cross for us, what thoughts could He have
had towards us but thoughts of infinite love?
This salvation, which the Son of God purchased for us through His bloody death,
is given to us freely, as it is written: “All have sinned and come short of the glory
of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.” Surely God, who sacrificed His own Son and offers heaven and all
salvation to us freely, making no condition and asking no price, has thoughts of
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immeasurable love towards us. Our dear Redeemer Jesus sacrificed His life for us;
and as St. John says: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends.” (Romans 5:6-8) “For while we were still helpless, at the
right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous
man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.”
This is what the Son of God did for us all. He laid down His life for us. Oh, how
great, then, is the love of God towards us! He says by the mouth of the prophet
Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have
drawn you with lovingkindness.” These words reveal to us the innermost thoughts
of God, whose love towards us is immeasurable–everlasting.
Christ is our Lord, unto whom all power is given in heaven and in earth. As Lord
over all He now sits at the right hand of God and rules with divine power and
majesty in His kingdom, and especially does He govern and protect His Church, of
which He is the Head. By grace, through the Word and Sacrament Ministry, and
in faith we are His own and citizens in His kingdom, blessed children of God.
Rejoice this Christmas Day. The Word has become flesh, and dwells among us,
and we behold His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of
grace and truth. Rejoice this happy morn you saints of God. Your sins are forgiven
you. Your Savior is born!
Amen