Favored Christmas quotes

Some favored statements about the significance of this Christmas day —

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man,
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him?
Give Him my heart.
[Christina Rosetti]

"If the story were a fable or even an event that merely had happened 2,000 years ago (or even 100 years ago) and then ended, it would have had no hold upon us. What does it really matter that somebody died long ago in a far-off land? I have my problems. You have your problems. So what? But if the One who came then still comes, if He comes to the individual through His Spirit to bring the results of the salvation accomplished 2000 years ago to where you and I stand and act now, then this story lives and enables us to live also." [James Montgomery Boice, The Christ of Christmas.]

"The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, came into nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing nature up to Him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left." [C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock.]

"The holiday itself is nothing, and observing it is not a question of right or wrong.…Everyday — including Christmas — is a celebration for us who know and love Him. How we observe Christmas is the central issue." [John MacArthur, God With Us.]

"The hands that had made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle.…And God who had been only a circumference was seen as a center." [G. K. Chesterton.]

"He became what we are that He might make us what He is." [Athanasius.]

"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]

Sunday Leftovers (12/16/07)

Unwittingly, Caiaphas prophesied about the great work of Christ on the cross — the substitutionary atonement, not only for Israel, but for all who would trust in Christ. R. C. Sproul notes well the import of Christ's substitutionary work —

Christ's supreme achievement on the cross is that He placed the wrath of God, which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ. So if somebody argues against placation or the idea of Christ satisfying the wrath of God, be alert, because the gospel is at stake. This is about the essence of salvation — that as people who are covered by the atonement, we are redeemed from the supreme danger to which any person is exposed. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God Who's wrathful. But there is no wrath for those whose sins have been paid. That is what salvation is all about. [The Truth of the Cross.]

This is the great truth not only of Easter, but of Christmas and the Advent — which is why so many of the great Christmas hymns culminate in exulting in the cross. Consider, for example,

• "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel…"
• "Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free…born Thy people to deliver…"
• "…with mocking scorn and with crown of scorn, they bore Thee to Calvary…"
• "Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth…"
• "[He] hath made heaven and earth of naught, and with His blood, mankind hath bought…"

The message of Christmas is not simply the Advent, but that the Advent has culminated in the cross and resurrection. "O come, let us adore Him."