Bargains.
He who buys the truth makes a good bargain. Zedekiah dealt in falsehood and lost his throne. Esau sold his birthright for a basin of soup. Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord for the price of a slave. Take heed to the thing that is right, for that alone shall bring peace at the last.
December 25th.—A Christmas Lesson.
To read—Hebrews i. 1-9. Golden Text—St. Luke ii. 11.
This letter written to the Hebrews, i.e. Christians of Jewish birth who clung to the priesthood and services of the Temple as well as to Christianity. St. Paul shows how far the Christian system was superior to and superseded the Jewish. The types and ceremonies of the Law fulfilled in Christ, whose birthday is kept at Christmas.
I. God's Revelation (1-2). Past. God revealed or unveiled Himself of old. This revelation inferior in three ways, viz. (1) It was given gradually, in portions, a part at a time. (2) Given in divers manners, under many figures and types. (3) Given by prophets, only human.
Present. Final revelation of God's truth—once for all given to the saints (Jude 3). Given by His Son—the Word of God (St. John i. 1, 2); heir of all things—God's agent in creation of the universe.
II. God's Son (3-9). Great in Himself. Has Divine glory—the outshining of the Father's glory. He is God's image, the counterpart of the Father. To see Christ is to see God (St. John xiv. 9).
Great in His work. (1) Upholder of the universe as well as its Creator. (2) Saviour. Came not only as prophet to reveal God's will, but to purge man's sin. This He did by Himself with His own blood (ix. 12, 14).
Greater than angels. In His person, His work. His exaltation to glory; testified by Scripture, e.g. Psalm ii. 3 tells of Christ's eternal Sonship—also referred to by St. Paul as fulfilled in His resurrection (Acts xiii. 33).