CHAPTER I.
JESUS IN CREATION AND PROPHECY.
WHEN we open the Holy Bible, the very first sentence unfolds to us the creation of worlds by the Word and power of Jehovah: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
In the New Testament Jesus is presented as the "Creator of all things." The inspired writer opens the subject in these words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made."
Paul, in one of his epistles, speaks of this same Jesus as the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature: "for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist."
Again, John, in his vision of the future glory of the Church, saw the Eternal Throne, and Jesus the Mighty Conqueror seated upon it; and heard
voices chanting in angelic strains, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."
And four-and-twenty elders, clothed in white robes, with crowns of gold, fell prostrate before him, and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever, saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
When Adam had ruined himself and his posterity by eating the forbidden fruit, Jehovah, in his infinite love, gave him the promise of a Messiah, in the words addressed to the serpent: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
As we trace along the stream of time, we see this faint promise oft renewed, brightening with every repetition.
When Jehovah had destroyed the world by a flood, on account of its wickedness, preserving only the family of Noah to repeople it, and had scattered the builders of Babel, confounding their language, he said to faithful Abram: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
Bethlehem—Birthplace of Jesus.
Jacob, on his way to Padan-Aram, slept, and saw in the night-visions, a ladder, with its foot upon the
earth, and its top reaching to heaven, and lo! angels were ascending and descending upon it. And he heard the voice of the Lord from the top of the ladder, saying unto him: "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
Thus from time to time was the promise of a coming Saviour renewed, until, on the plains of Bethlehem, a glorious light burst upon the watching shepherds, and an angel appeared, saying; "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
And when the angels had departed, the shepherds said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen.
Eight days after, at the circumcision of the child, he was called Jesus, which signifies Saviour, a name given before he was born: "for" said the angel, "He shall save his people from their sins."