Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

sky."leluiah, the Lord God omnipotent reign-(Revelation 19:6).eth!"angels,"pleased"origin"us"angels'5. To whom did the Midianites sellJoseph?6. In what place did Laban live?Genesis 29:4Here is a puzzle in Bible numbers.Multiplythe number of chapters inGenesis by the number of the sons ofIsaac (Gen. 25:24-26); add the age ofIsaac when he married Rebekah (Gen. 25:20) ; divide by the number of years offamine in Egypt (Gen. 41:30); add thenumber of years that Jacob lived inEgypt (Gen. 47:28); multiply by thenumber of sons of Noah; subtract thenumber of "forbidden" trees in the gardenof Eden. The result is the age of Josephat his death.For your Note bookWrite down six ways in which Josephwas a type of Christ.SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONDecember 19, 1954by Rev. Joseph A. Hill(Lessons based an International Sunday SchoolLessons : the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by tbe InternationalCouncil of Kelieiou? Education.'GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHESTLesson Material: Psalm 148; Matthew1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20.Printed Text: Psalm 148:1-3, 11-13;Matthew 1:18-25Memory Verse: Psalm 96:6 "O come,let us worship and bow down: let uskneel before the Lord our Maker.""Hallelujah! praise the Lord" is thehighest expression of the Church's worship. God is the center of the Church'slife, and the glory of God is the purposeof the Church's religion. The theme of alltrue praise is gloria in excelsisglory[to God] in the highest. So many of thehymns sung in the churches are pitchedin the low key of human interest andsentiment, whereas the Psalms excel inthe loftiest conception of praise, Soli deogloriaglory to God alone! Praise is agift of God's grace, part of "the inheritance of the saints in light." The gloriesdoes not arise out of the natural heartof man; it is impossible without faith tosing to the glory of God, or even to understand this Hallelujah:"From heav'n O praise the LordYe heights, His glory raise.All angels, praise accord;Let all His host give praise.Praise Him on high,Sun, moon and star,Ye heav'ns afarAnd cloudyThe true response to this ancient gloriais the anthem which the angels sang overthe fields of Ephrata to honor the arrivalof the Son of God on earth: "Glory toGod in the highest, And on earth peaceamong men in whom he is well(Luke 2:14). Thus, redemption is theground of all true praise, and the gloriousHallelujah must be the believer's constant response to God's redeeming gracein Jesus Christ. The prophetic gloria ofthe psalmist has its highest fulfilmentin the birth of the Son of God in Bethlehem, and its highest expression in thelife of the the song of redemption which he sings is in some respectsmore glorious than the doxologyangels.of thePsalm 148 is a call to all creation, inheaven and earth, to join in a concert ofpraise, exalting the name of Jehovah because of the honor which He has bestowed on His people. God had gatheredHis people together in Jerusalem againafter delivering them from the exile inBabylon. This deliverance is a type orsample of the deliverance wrought byJesus Christ. "The church appears here asthe.choir-leader of the universe. It knowsthat its experiences have a central anduniversal significance for the whole lifeofcreation"(F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 1949, Wm. B.Eerdmans Publishing Co., Vol. Ill, p.405).Paul tells us that because of sin "thewhole creation groaneth and travailethin pain together," and that all creationearnestlyawaits the dawn of eternalglory (Romans 8:19-22). All non-humancreatures (except the angels) werebrought under the curse of sin, and sodeath and decay are apparent all aroundus in natural things. Redemption, accordingly, embraces all creation, especially God's people, but also natural things.Hence all creation is called upon toglorify God in praise of His redeemingpower. Angels and stars,sea monsters andoceans, fire and hail, snow and vaporand winds, mountains and hills,fruittrees and cedars, wild beasts and cattle,creeping things and winged birds, kingsand .princes and judges, young men andmaidens and old menand beings must singpraise of the gloryall created thingstogether to theof His grace: "HalSince redemption provides the groundand possibility of all praise to God, thehighest praise is sung when the Redeemeris born into the world. Even before thechoral annunciation of the angels to theshepherds, we hear the lyrical utteranceof Mary who praised God for her Saviour, yet unborn: "My soul doth magnifythe Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced inGod my Saviour . . (Luke 1:46-55).There is no possibility of God-glorifying praise apart from the truth of Christ'sincarnation. The incarnation is implicitlydenied by those who deny the virgin birthof Jesus. Of course, the virgin birth isa monstrosity if Jesus was not the divineSon of God. Prof. James Orr says, "Fora naturalistic Christ you do not need asupernatural(Charles Scribner'sSons, 1912, The Virgin Birth of Christ).For an ordinary human Jesus you needonly an ordinary human birth, but ifJesus is "the Word made flesh," a mirac^ulous birth is the only thing that willaccount for His advent into the world.The Bible teaching that Jesus Christwas conceived by the .power of the HolySpirit in the womb of the Virgin Maryis denied by all who regard Jesus merelyas a human being. The record of the gospel (Matthew 1:18-25) is regarded as amyth. But if the Bible has allowed amyth to enter at this point, then theauthority of the Bible as a whole is gone.If the Bible cannot be relied upon torelate the true facts concerning the birthof Christ, then it cannot be relied upon torelate the truth concerning His ministry,death and resurrection.To the writers of the gospels, the "momentous event, around which everythingelse turns and to which everything elsepoints, is the fact that Jesus was bornof the virgin Mary in the town of Bethlehem"(Ned B. Stonehouse, The Witnessof Luke to Christ, 1953, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 48). But if noexplanation of such an unique event wereoffered, it would be unintelligible. Sothere is a divine revelation accompanying the virgin birth, which serves to expound its true significance. Matthew especially sees the virgin birth as the fulfilment of the divine revelation of theOld Testament: "Now all this was done,that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,Behold, a virgin shall be with child, andshall bring forth a son, and they shallcall his name Emmanuel, which beinginterpreted, is, God with (Matthew1:22-23). This declaration, however, ispart of the announcement made by theangel of the Lord to Joseph before thearrival of the child Jesus. The angel'sdeclaration concerning the coming eventis also a divine revelation, of equal valueand authority with that spoken by theprophet Isaiah (7:14), which expoundedthe significance of the advent of Jesus.The angel's annunciation was a contemporary prophetic message pointing tothe "immanent manifestation of the divine presenceand power through thebirth of the son of Mary" (Stonehouse,ibid.'). This contemporary announcementis itself a preaching of the gospel, a publication of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ(compare Luke 1:19; 2:10).Because God has wrought redemptionfor His people in the person of JesusChrist, we who have found in Him aSaviour may sing glorious praise toHim in response to the Hallelujah: "Glory to God in the highest." 347December 1, 1954