Lovelier than the world can show: For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.
Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring; Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing: Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow: For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.^
4. How simply the appearance of the single angel and the glory of the Lord is told ! The evangelist thinks it the most natural thing in the world that heaven should send out its inhabitant on such an errand, and that the symbol of the Divine
^ Henry Burton. ' Christina G. Rossetti, Verses, 54.
ST. LUKE II. lo, II 29
presence should fill the night with sudden splendour, which paled the bright Syrian stars. So it was, if that birth were what he tells us it was — the coming into human life of the manifest Deity. If we think of what he is telling, his quiet tone is profoundly impressive. The Incarnation is the great central miracle, the object of devout wonder to "principalities ... in heavenly places." And not only do angels come to herald and to adore, but " the glory of the Lord," that visible brightness which was the token of God's presence between the cherubim and had been hid in the secret of the sanctuary while it shone, but which had for centuries been absent from the Temple, now blazes with unde- structive light on the open hillside, and encircles them and the friendly angel by their side. What did that mean but that the birth of Jesus was the highest revelation of God, henceforth not to be shut within the sanctuary, but to be the companion of common lives, and to make all sacred by its presence? The glory of God shines where Christ is, and where it shines is the temple.
And now the day draws nigh when Christ was born; The day that showed how like to God Himself Man had been made, since God could be revealed By one that was a man with men, and still Was one with God the Father; that men might By drawing nigh to Him draw nigh to God, Who had come near to them in tenderness.^
II.
The Preface to the Message.
1. Reassurance.
" Be not afraid." This was the first bidding sent from heaven to men when Jesus Christ was born. It was no new message of reassurance ; again and again in a like need a like encouragement had been vouchsafed : to Abraham, to Isaac, to Gideon, to Daniel, to Zacharias, the same tranquillizing, helpful words had come from the considerateness and gentleness that are on high. But to the shepherds of Bethlehem they came with a new power and
J G. MacDonald, " Within and Without " {Poetical Works, i. 52).
30 GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY
significance. For now they had their final warrant upon earth ; those attributes of God, those truths of the Divine Nature upon which the bidding rested, had their perfect expression now in a plain fact of human history. The birth of Jesus Christ was the answer, the solvent for such fears as rushed upon the shepherds when " the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them." They feared, as the mystery and stillness of the night were broken by that strange invasion, what might follow it. " And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid ; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." Within that glory was the love of God; and all that it might disclose must come from Him who so loved the world that He had sent His Son to be born, to suffer, and to die for men. There must, indeed, be awe in coming near to God, in realizing how near He comes to us: but it is like the awe with which even earthly goodness, greatness, wisdom at their highest touch us ; it is not like our terror of that which is arbitrary and unaccountable. God dwells in depths of burning light, such as the eyes of sinful men can never bear : but the light itself, with all it holds, streams forth from love, and is instinct, informed, aglow with love.
^ These words which the angel spoke were but anticipations of the words with which Jesus Himself has made us familiar. They were His favourite words. He might have borrowed them from the angel, or more likely given them to the angel in advance. We hear from His own lips continually — " Fear not." He meets us at every turn of life with that cheery invocation. He passed through His ministry day by day repeating it. It was the watchword of His journey and warfare. The disciples heard it every time they were troubled, cast down, and afraid. When they fell at His feet trembling, He lifted them up with the words " Fear not ! " When their ship was sinking in the storm, they heard the cry " Fear not ! " When they shivered at the thought of all the foes and dangers which awaited them, there came reassurance with the voice, " Fear not, little flock." When He was leaving them, one of His last words was : " Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."