Christ Came Down!

Luke 2:1-7

" Long ago a child came down
To a little sleepy town,
And upon that Christmas morn
Christ the heavenly King was born.

Over His bed a mother fair
Watched her child with tender care;
And through all the night so long,
Mary sang a cradle song.

Tis a story old yet new,
And every bit of it is true,
And I'm glad that Christ came down
To that sleepy little town."
--Carolyn Freeman

Galatians 4:4: " But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son..."

The overruling providence of God appears in this simple fact.
God orders all things in Heaven and earth.
He turns the hearts of earthly kings according to His will.
He ruled the decree of Caesar Augustus concerning the taxing.
He directed the enforcement of the decree in such a way that Mary must be at Bethlehem
when " the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. "
Little did the haughty Roman emperor and his officer Cyrenius think that they were instruments
in the hand of the God of Israel.
Little did they know that they were carrying out the eternal purposes of the King of Kings.

The heart of every believer should take comfort in the recollection of God's providential government of the world.
A Christian should never be greatly moved or disturbed by the conduct of the rulers of the earth.
We should see with the eyes of faith a Hand overruling all that they might do to the praise of God.

Our Lord arrived on the scene of human history when preparations, conducted through the
previous ages, was complete.
It was four hundred years since the last prophet had spoken.
And during the interval the nation had been particularly active in arranging, comparing, discussing,
and weighing the great treasures of the past.
Therefore, there was an "expectation of Israel" for which all good men were waiting.
God had spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets of that which had been planned before the world began.

The hour had come and men were watching...
"While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around,
And glory shone around."

That moment had come. " God sent forth His Son."

"There's a song in the air! There's a star in the sky!
There's a mother's deep prayer and a baby's low cry!
And the star rains its fire while the beautiful sing,
For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a King!"

" O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in -
Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel! "

Jesus, who had glory with God before the world was, was born among cattle in a lantern-lit barn in Bethlehem
"because there was no room for them in the inn."

• Born at a time in history when religion was clasping fingers with idolatry.
• Born at a time when the Jewish race was " sleeping in robes of beautiful purple" ;
  when Athens was " drunk with the wine of skepticism" ; when India was dreaming of Buddha;
  Persia was wearing upon her brow a funeral wreath.
• Born at a time when the Coliseum typified the cruelty of the Roman Empire.