Prepare ye the way of the Lord (Jehovah) make straight in the desert an high-way for our GoD.d But we need not multiply words on this subject, since the voice of inspiration universally proclaims him to have been, " God manifest in the flesh," " God over all, blessed for evere."
2. That the knowledge of Christ is of universal importance —
[It was through all " the cities of Judah," and with her " voice lifted up with strength," that the daughter of Zion was to celebrate the Messiah's advent. And whence the need of such zeal and labour, but on account of the universal import- ance of those glad tidings ? Indeed there is no other thing which men so much need to be acquainted with as the work and offices of Christ. No attainments can save them, if they be ignorant of Christ ; nor can any past sins condemn them, if they be truly acquainted with this divine Saviour. " This," as our Lord himself tells us, " is life eternal, to know God as the only true God, and Jesus Christ f," as our Mediator and Advo- cate with the Father. So excellent is this knowledge, that St. Paul " counted all things but loss and dung in comparison of itg." It is the one mean of obtaining reconciliation with God, peace of conscience, and deliverance from the power of sinh. O that all were aware how deeply they are interested in receiving these glad tidings ! We should proclaim them with infinitely greater pleasure, if we had not so much reason to complain, that "they are counted as a strange thing1."]
Taking for granted these fundamental and indis- putable truths, we shall,
II. Endeavour to execute the commission —
The text does not limit us to any particular point of view in which we are to behold our God ; we shall therefore direct your attention to him,
1. As descending from heaven —
[Lo ! he comes from his bright abodes : but in what form does he appear ? Does he descend in solemn pomp, attended with myriads of the heavenly host ? Does he visit the palaces of the great, and assume our nature in its most dignified ap- pearance ? No : He is born of an obscure virgin, and has no better place for his reception than a stable. Go, look into his mean abode ; see him wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger ; look, I say, and behold your God ! What
d ver. 3. e 1 Tim. iii. 1G. Rom. ix. 5. f John xvii. 3.
s Phil. iii. S. h 1 John i. 7. * Hos. viii. 12.
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marvellous condescension! how does it almost exceed belief! yet, incredible as it appears, we must again say, Behold your God !]
2. As sojourning on earth —
[Surely, no sooner could his incarnation be known, than all the world, like the eastern Magi, must flock to worship himk. So one might reasonably hope; but what is that "weeping and lamentation" that we hear ? The young child's life is sought. The children from two years old and under are massacred through the whole district, that no possibility may be left for his escape : and He is saved only by the special interposition of his heavenly Father1. See his parents fleeing with him by night to a distant, a heathen, land, not daring to return to their native country till the death of their blood-thirsty per- secutor ! But this was only the beginning of sorrows. View him afterwards when he assumed his proper office as the Pro- phet of his church : no sooner did he open his commission, than the short-lived applause afforded him was turned into the most cruel indignation ; and if he had not by an exertion of his own almighty power effected his escape, his very first sermon had proved his lastm. But to pass over to the period of his death. Whom is it that we see prostrate on the ground, and bathed in a bloody sweat ? Who is it that those cruel soldiers are mocking, buffeting, scourging ? Who is it that is nailed to yonder cross, and that we see expiring under such an accumulated weight of shame and misery ? To all this we answer, Behold your God !]