Davos is one of the largest ski resorts in Switzerland. It is also the venue for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum which seems to be panicking with the frightening possibility that the world economy is on the verge of careering down a slippery slope to a dreadful catastrophe that will adversely affect the entire population of the planet.  The leader of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang was heard to comment, “I’ve never been as scared as now about the whole world, what is happening in Europe”.  Economist Nouriel Roubiul stated, “It’s a world of chaos that can lead to potential conflicts”.  The rulers and intellectual elite of the nations are embroiled in disagreements and stumped for solutions. Fear of a dark future grips the assembly. Global finances are in disarray. Heads of countries cannot find unanimity as to how to deal with threats from such potential aggressors as Iran and North Korea. Davos addresses only a few of the world’s mounting problems. Every nation seems to be sitting astride situations that could suddenly implode. Conflicts between nations and within nations seem insoluble. We are left seriously wondering whether current politicians and officials are the folk of necessary calibre to cope with our multiple crises. The catalogue of man-made calamities and natural tragedies enlarges by the week. Domestic life, civic life, international affairs, are rife with division and strife. You can understand why Australian actor Peter Finch, in the cinematic role of a news reader, finally boiled over and blew up with the shriek, “I’m not putting up with this any more!”. And that was decades ago. The situation is far worse since then. Today, frank reports behind closed doors are causing men’s hearts to fail them with fear. The world is a mammoth powder keg with a million fuses. Any sudden event or hasty action could ignite any one or many of them in an instant. Human life and welfare on earth are precarious. Our world is unsafe because of sinful and savage human hearts that war against God and each other.
 Whole continents, countries, and communities are in open conflict with God as they rebel against him, war against his word, and revoke his laws. With arrogance and aberrant wills “lawmakers” facilitate lawlessness by annulment of the moral code of our Christian heritage and condoning and encouraging delinquent behaviour in every area of private and civic life. Corruption screams from the high places and personal lives endeavour to conceal the practice of private sins that degrade our humanity and diminish or destroy others. Behind many neighbourhood doors there are many loveless and unhappy homes dominated by hurtful relationships or harmful habits. The rage within each human heart is contributing its part to a colossal, cataclysmic storm that will overwhelm us all unless God raises his pacifying hand against it through the influences of his grace.

 Davos represents the great ones of the world grappling with the struggles,  problems, and conflicts of the world with the best wits and wisdom that mankind can summon. It is man relying on man and leaning on his own resources and ingenuity. Perhaps in the providential goodness of God such international and political  exercises in diplomacy and discussion will be able to alleviate current  and looming troubles temporarily, but the errant will and selfish desires of human beings will always perpetuate the cruelty and chaos that every age of man has had to endure. The study of history is a heartbreaking occupation, a record of human misery and misconduct. Purely human optimism is unfounded.                                 

   In spite of all the doleful prospects ahead of us, and the experts are not holding back (unless its more bad news than we can take), the season of Epiphany is a season of bright hope. It encourages us to concentrate on a kingdom, not of this world, where justice, righteousness, love, and joy will prevail. King David of Jerusalem was a chosen but exceedingly flawed symbol of this perfect reign that the prophesied Lord Jesus would himself fulfil. Until now the human race has registered  its vote: we will not have this man to rule over us. But he has come as God’s promise to an ailing world and by God’s power he will reign.

 Most probably it was David who, from his own circumstances related to divine revelation, was able to forecast in the second psalm the installation of the ideal king that he prefigured. In Psalm 2 David outlines a fallen world’s refusal to pay homage to the Lord’s Anointed. Self reliance and man’s preferred policy clashes with the holy will of God which is seen to be restrictive of personal or national ambition. Pride and avarice motivate people and potentates, political and profit -seeking. Power, envy, and greed fuel their careers of influence and exploitation. They throw off the fetters of compassion and responsibility forgetting that all offices of authority are opportunities for service of God and their fellows. They can become despotic and neurotic abusing their people at whim or using them for personal convenience, advancement, gratification, and enrichment. Violation of human dignity and unwarranted violence are infringements of God’s great second commandment – the love of neighbour. Failure to defer to him in all things and honour his Name is to revolt against his sovereignty and waive his commands. Genuine love and reverence for God is scarcely discernible on the world scene. Therefore our woes and misfortunes are self-wrought.

 In his benevolence towards us God has pledged a regime change for mankind to be administered by the Royal Prince of heaven. He has been appointed and equipped by the One enthroned. The entire earth is his inheritance and he will come to put things right in his domain. Evil will not be tolerated and recalcitrant evil -doers will be overcome and expelled. The tables will be turned and the haughty, hardened scoffers of God will find themselves scoffed at by God and hear his laughter ringing in their ears. It is to be a resounding victory for the Lord of righteousness and good.

 Scripture appeals to the great ones of the earth to learn humility and dependence before God. An amnesty is always broadcast to the nations and they are persuaded to turn to the Lord as their counsellor and refuge. Judgement until the final assessment is always conditional. Predictions of future events and especially the last times are always hazardous and usually impertinent. But we are warned that every trend is a portent of the end and the culmination of our tenancy on earth. Some time the day to end all days will dawn and everyone will be called to account. Every knee will bow and the sons of the kingdom will pay sincere obeisance to their Lord. They have waited and watched for him. They have anguished over the crimes and ills of the men of the world. They will have commended the kingdom to come and pointed to the Saviour who will institute it in due course. They will have pined for men to kiss the Son and be the recipients of his welcoming kiss for them. They will have thrilled to the pronouncement of the Epiphany-tide blessing: Christ the Son of God gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom. Amen.  Therefore, you kings be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling (Ps 2:10-11).

 Pious thoughts and platitudes are fine when we are fine and everything seems to be favourable. It is an irony that words of comfort only seem to be effective when we are in a state of comfort, the present is peaceful, and the future propitious. But in the moment of adversity our complacency is quickly dispelled and sentiments of consolation and encouragement lose their power. Distress makes us impervious to comfort, and our confidence withers away. We become engulfed in misery and despair. Prayer that is fervent on a good day disappears on a bad day, praise falls silent, and we descend into a state of spiritual lassitude. At our point of most urgent need, when the ministry of uplifting words is necessary, we are incapable of receiving them beneficially. In crises we tend to turn away from the means of grace. People absent themselves from the ordinances of God when they are most vulnerable, and wonder why their condition declines.

 Our weakness and times of dejection need to be brought before the Lord with utmost and humble candour and we must cast ourselves upon him in patient waiting for the reinvigoration of our spirits that only he can bring. The basic facts about our creatureliness are weakness and dependence, and in our habitual hubris we need constant reminders of these things. We are never so safe as when we have renounced all supports but the grace of God. This may not be our feeling concerning our situation, and it is hard to be buoyant in the absence of accompanying signs of God’s favour towards us, but faith is meant to run counter to the evidence presented to sight and sense. Luther is not the only one to notice that so often the experience of the believer seems to contradict the promises of God’s word. Sometimes we are left without a shred of comfort until we are driven to stand on the bare word of God alone and rebuild our confidence from there. But nobody contends that this process is easy, instant, and pleasant. The book of Job is the document that speaks to us in the condition of hopelessness and bewilderment. There are times when we cannot make rational sense of things and we must be content to drift with God until he provides deliverance. We may go down and down until he halts our fall and lifts us up. We are being evacuated of all creaturely reliance and resources. The experience is hellish. Charles Spurgeon commented, “There are dungeons underneath the Castle of Despair as dreary as the abodes of the lost, and some of us have been in them”.

 These are periods of inward trial that no other human being can adequately address, and circumstances in which they should not dare, for one moment, to advise. Silent friendship and support, and sympathetic prayerfulness are the wisest course. Nothing is more fatuous and wounding than trite words in times of trouble. The seemingly strong and wise have no idea as to human frailty under the pressure of severe adversity. Job’s comforters had no notion as to their callousness and presumptuousness until the final outcome to his ordeal and their eventual rebuke.  

 When grief, fear, and anxiety are overwhelming we are tempted to think that some of the optimistic statements of Scripture are superficially cheery and that they do not take full account of the gravity of our difficulties, the depth of our anguish, and our inability to drag ourselves up from a prone position. Guilt and criticism are added to our burden. When the psalmist avers that God is a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1) our spirits rise to dispute the point and ask why there is such a strong sense of abandonment. Fortunately, we know that the Psalter expresses the same sentiments and poses similar questions, and we can deduce that the assurances given in the inspired hymnal are neither cheap nor glib. These words of comfort are not fair-weather phrases but solid convictions forged in the crucible of hard times and painful testing. The promises of God are meant for the times when we are defeated and flesh has given up. When we feel secure we do not even turn to them. We sense that we are able to cope. When things begin to fall apart we suspect that the basis of our confidence is not as firm as we supposed: “When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’ . . . . But when you hid your face I was dismayed” (Psalm 30:6-7).

 Our dismay in affliction arises from a wrong assessment of the divine presence and as to why He commits himself to us. We assume that guarantees of his faithfulness and care will be experienced emotionally or be apparent in external evidences that we have the power to interpret accurately. When discomfort comes upon us or circumstances disrupt our inner tranquillity we begin to grope for God and conclude that he has deserted us. But the presence of God with his people is not grounded upon anything so flimsy as the fluctuation of our feelings or our comprehension of life’s events. His presence is in the pledge of his word that we are required to believe on the basis of his reliability, a word that he will not renege upon because of his prior decision to undertake for us come what may. It is a resolve of grace unaffected by our variableness or “the changes and chances of this mortal life”. Fierce inward trials leave us with no alternative but to cling to the Lord alone with no other warrant apart from the trustworthiness of his character and the vows he has graciously made with no other obligation apart from that due to his honour and the love he has freely lavished upon those he has taken to his heart. We cannot believe that his intentions are irreversible and that they endure in spite of our personal frames of mind or fortunes within this world. To adopt an unconditional attitude of trust in God is impossible for human nature and exceedingly difficult even for those who are regenerate. We are easily upset and must be modest before God and men at all times. We must fear our own propensities and fallibility at all times and especially in seasons of spiritual prosperity. We often ground our own sense of well-being and security on false foundations. True faith is very small and delicate in each one of us. When God chooses to refine and strengthen our faith it is not usually through processes that are gratifying, though who can deny that confirmations of his love are also enjoyable and exhilarating.  

 Ultimately our confidence is to be placed in God himself, not his gifts, tokens, and signs, but his word, which is the expression of his nature. I dare say none of us can rise to the mighty trust that was engendered in Job through his sore trials, and may God spare us from them. May God protect us from more than we can bear, and sustain us through the sufferings that we do bear. But may he also increase within us an unshakeable certainty that it is indisputably true, whatever sight and sense may testify, that he is ever present with his people in their trouble, and that in due time he will deliver and relieve them. When afflictions and sorrows visit may he grant us the presence of mind and calmness of heart to know and believe that, as various versions render it, he is present, ever present. He is near, very near. May we be convinced that his might preserves us, and through his grace at work within us may crushed hope be reconstructed.

 “God is our hope and strength : a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 (Coverdale).

The autobiographies and biographies of the great ones of the earth often seem to finish with an anticlimax. Their lives are full of interest, activity, and accomplishment but they usually draw to a close with a whimper. Living authors often conclude on a wistful note, summing up their lives with an air of disappointment, or wondering what it was all about and for. Life and its strivings and successes seems to pass by like a puff of wind. In pursuit of aims our minds are afire and we are filled with vigour. In retirement we review our omissions and regrets. Those without God draw upon meagre consolation and proffer the lamest reasons for having lived. The mind is tinged with sadness as you close the accounts of their personal histories. Deceased subjects of the biographer’s interest are often idealized but the reader marvels that for all their talents and achievements they are no more, and were helpless in fending off the hour of their death, whether it was peaceful or tragic. They cannot revel in their fame or enjoy the accolades bestowed upon them by later generations. The shadow of their mortality descends upon them at the last. Our longing is that all should die the death of the godly but our knowledge is that many refuse. All the hints of Divine beneficence experienced in the lives of unbelievers were spurned and they leave no signs of an eternal hope ever existing within their hearts.

 Those who have sought and gained Christ know that they are unable to calculate the blessings that lie in waiting for them (the hope that you have stored up in heaven: Colossians 1:5). There is a wealth of good things reserved for those who by faith and fortitude are advancing towards the kingdom. “God will show us the path of life; in his presence there is fullness of joy: and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore (Psalm 16:11).

 It is in the character of God for his generosity to mount up increasingly until it is beyond all measure. Favours here are pointers to the future. This fallen world does not provide the conditions for the full display of God’s benevolence and we do not have the holy capacity to receive them. They can only be bestowed when the recipients are perfected by grace to accept and appreciate them in righteous gratitude and application to God’s glory. Gifts require discernment as to their value and wisdom in their utilization. Earthly creatures do not possess these qualities yet, nor until they receive their inheritance in the heavenly Father’s presence.  Then they shall arrive at a proper estimate of the value of the riches spread before them and at what cost they are available. The best is kept until last and the course of our preparation to know its worth is complete. It is no insult to swine to aver that they do not recognize the preciousness of pearls. That ability is simply not in their nature, and it is not in the nature of fallen and imperfect men to perceive the true worth of heavenly gifts. Our tastes have to be educated and attuned. This is why many of our most earnest desires remain unfulfilled in this life. As Augustine opines, yearnings make the heart deep, and we can slowly learn that our longings and frustrations are the tools God uses to make the wells of our hearts more capacious so that he can pour his goodness, bliss, and gladness into them. Indeed, in heaven our hearts will continually swell with the outpourings of divine affection and peace.

 It is truly disquieting to see that many of the “best” and most honoured of mankind admit to no attraction to God or any desire to enjoy or admire him. They profess to enjoy beauty wherever it is manifest, and they indulge in noble quests through realms of thought. But their imperviousness to God sounds a sombre and hopeless note. Intelligent folk struggle in their minds to fight off an inevitable sense of futility. Minds crowded with preoccupations, and lives cluttered with distractions, eventually face a void. They engage in speculation or fantasy to carry themselves away from God, and they often indulge in the absurd, satire, cynicism, or some addiction to cope with the pain of not acknowledging him or knowing him.  They wound their souls here and their hearts will be pierced with agony at the coming of the Son of Man who bore their nature to heal such. The arms outstretched on the cross, bidding all to come to him, will ultimately point to the great and final separation of those on the right from those on the left. The nail prints in those hands will be signs of joy to the saved and signs of doom to the lost, whose convictions of sin never drove them to the Redeemer.

 The sweetest invitation possible is addressed to all persons. “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him”(Psalm 34:8). The spiritually inclined and the unspiritual stand on the same footing before God and hear the same inducements whatever their disposition. Believers will have their expectations met, and atheists should take up the challenge to experiment and either prove or disprove their theory. Their stance also is a matter of faith – faith in the comprehensiveness of their perceptions and intellectual grasp of reality, a gamble against the possibility that God may be “hiding” until they humbly seek him with the humility of a child. We all have blind spots and often revise our view of things. When a taste of God is granted it creates a craving for him that nothing else can satisfy. It banishes the void and fills the present and the future with his presence, provision, and purpose.  His providence overarches our lives and all that is or shall be. If men deprive themselves of a taste of the Lord, and deny their appetite a sample of him, their deprivation is self-wrought. They did not bring themselves to the table and eventually their spiritual starvation cannot be reversed. They will lose a relish for the celestial banquet from which they exclude themselves.

 Our readings for this Sunday (2 Kings 4:1-17 & John 2: 1-11) provide examples of the lavish and extravagant generosity of God. In the first an impoverished widow is in need of a supply of oil. Elisha the prophet instructs her to gather all her jars and those of her neighbours to collect a bonanza from God. “Don’t ask for just a few”, exults the man of God merrily, and the woman receives more than enough to be free of debt and future need. In the account of the wedding at Cana a not well-to -do family receives a miraculous abundance of wine from the Saviour to relieve them from poverty and embarrassment in a tricky situation that obligated them to satisfy their guests with sufficient wine according to their heart’s (or palate’s) desire. It is pronounced by the master of ceremonies, “You have saved the best till now”. That is God’s way – to keep his blessings flowing and to surprise us with his amazing bounty at the end. The taste will turn into a tide of refreshment.

Life in today’s world is characterised by superficiality, haste and acquisition. The highest aspiration is to create a good impression of ourselves for general consumption. The preoccupations and pace of life scarcely afford the time and effort to reflect upon the purpose of our being in relation to God our creator, and eternity, our destiny. It is a mad dash from the cradle to the grave fulfilling all the requisites for a successful earthly life and dying before we can enjoy the fruits of our efforts and anxiety. When this brief life is concluded we may come to the conclusion that all our energies have been misspent, that we failed to grasp the real blessings of existence in this world, and that we are utterly unprepared for the next. Modern life is like a speed track. We all like to ride in the car that outdoes all others, and we are hoping for some applause at the end of the race. Like the Grand Prix driver we pursue our ambitions in a large degree of solitude deprived of deep relationships and everything around us is reduced to a blur. The chequered flag comes up all too soon and everything is over before we have had a chance to size up reality and our true place in it. The people in our lives were never really known, appreciated, loved, and cared for in a profound way. Our own personal selves were purely functional and means to a material end; we never actually discovered them, understood them, and connected them to God. It never occurred to us that this world was a preparation for a richer spiritual world where the assets of this world are of no value. We did not actually consider that this life is a once for all approach to the life to come, and that there is absolutely no possibility of a re-run. The human race, under the pressures of consumerism, competition, and the amassing  of exorbitant corporate profits, has become a society of soulless performers, and pawns in a meaningless game for power and possessions where the power and possessions are virtually relinquished by those who gain them before careful stock of them can be taken. Blaise Pascal rightly observed that there is no true satisfaction in human life apart from the excitement of the pursuit of whatever it is we hope for, but once attained our restless selves tear off in another direction in the quest for other goals.
 The God-given faculty that makes us truly human, and potentially angelic, is the ability to contemplate. Calvin describes us as spectators in the theatre of divine glory and we were created to reflect, ruminate, and think upon Him, “glorifying and enjoying Him forever”, in the appreciation of His person and deeds. Meditation is the soul of the Christian life, which is meant to be deeply inward before it issues in external evidences and acts. True religion is heart religion – heart deep – observed the Puritans, and they weren’t original but simply emulating the psalmists who exhort us to brood upon the works and being of the Lord. It is in our thinking, wondering, and extolling the Lord that we most fulfil the purpose and promise of our humanity and arrive at the love, trust, and devotion that please Him. It is not mere information and the acquisition of knowledge, but meditation, that makes the Christian man and energises the life of praise and service.

 If the contemporary Christian aspires to be “action man” with an inventory of achievements to measure and gain pleasure from, earlier Christians, just as productive, would remind us that meditation takes precedence and yields the lasting spiritual results, because meditation forms the godly personality and avoids the perils of mere performance and pragmatism that so dog the contemporary church. Authenticity matters far more than appearances and quantifiable statistics.     The ways of God are normally slow and sure, and the practice of meditation is one of the means that contributes to substance, stability, and maturity in the spiritual life. Contemplation drives the seed of divine truth deep into the soil of the heart as prayer is offered for wisdom and holiness.

 There is within Protestantism and Anglicanism a rich and fertile tradition of meditation to be discerned in so many astute guides of the spiritual life. It can be traced back to Puritans like Richard Baxter, and Anglicans such as George Herbert and John Donne, but ultimately it is eminently Biblical and anchored in the Psalter especially. Its great exponent soon after the Reformation was the Anglican Puritan Bishop of Exeter, Joseph Hall, satirical poet before conversion, preacher and theologian subsequently, and Church of England delegate to the Synod of Dort where the doctrines of grace were ably defended in the years 1618 –19. Hall’s desire was to cultivate within himself and promote within others a deep and sincere Scriptural piety and a devotion to the Lord that placed the heart above the brain, for knowledge of the things of God must be coupled with the affections (be affective). He derived guidelines from reformist influences within the pre-16th century church, but principally he followed the musings of the psalmists in devoting reflection to the three so-called books, respectively, of creation, the soul, and God as he has made himself known. Sometimes the inspired poets observe the natural world and notice the ways and wisdom of God on display there that evoke admiration and impart useful lessons. On other occasions the psalmists look into their lives reflecting on experiences and examining their state before God – their spiritual sorrows and joys and the Lord’s dealings with them. And often the writers of Israel’s hymns meditate upon the Lord, His nature, word, and works, preaching to themselves and encouraging themselves from the faithfulness of God and the favours they have received or been promised. The world, the soul, the Bible, rightly viewed and understood, have the power to draw us to God in humility, worship, and deeper confidence. All three originate in Him, instruct us, and unite us to God our Maker and Saviour.

 Unlike some Roman Catholic advocates of meditation (but who can excel Augustine or Bernard?), Hall sits loose to method. It is the looking and lingering that matters, the feasting of the eyes of the understanding upon God and His accomplishments. It is simply a matter of being with the Lord, staying with the Lord, and waiting for Him to show Himself and the wonders of His truth. The powers of the soul are in action, the affections are excited, and the works of God are in focus, and the fruit of it all is a godly soliloquy, a little sermon addressed to the self for encouragement and reassurance.

 The object in meditation is not to gain mastery over truth, but to be mastered by it in the sense of being overawed by the Lord: “I desire not to comprehend, O Lord; teach me to do nothing but wonder”.  For Hall meditation was not a complicated exercise only for the spiritual elite, but “a bending of the mind upon some spiritual object . . . until our thoughts come to an issue”, that is, exclusive attention excluding distraction. More than anything else it was Hall’s delight “to walk forth into the pleasant fields of the Scriptures”. As he exhorts us to meditate upon the Book of the Scriptures he wisely advises: “Before we put our hand to this sacred volume, it will be requisite to elevate our hearts to that God whose it is, for both his leave and his blessing. It is not therefore for us presumptuously to break in upon God, and to think by our natural abilities to wrest open the precious caskets of the Almighty, and to fetch out all his hidden treasure thence at pleasure: but we must come tremblingly before him, and, in all humility, crave his gracious admission”.

Christmastide is the Annual Festival in celebration of the coming of the most distinguished visitor imaginable ever to set foot on our planet. If aliens from outer space should exist, or if beings from superior civilizations should ever make contact, none of them could even begin to rival the excellence of the One whose arrival among us is marked on December 25th. The guest we consider is the One who came from the highest heavens beyond the domain of angels, the One who descended from the loftiest point above all creation, the zone of the throne, the zenith of the celestial Zion, where God alone dwells in singular splendour and unparalleled glory.
 A unique sojourner or visitant beyond the realm of time and space, uncreated, eternal, the author of all things, exalted, sovereign, supreme – the Lord God himself -  stooped in great humility to step into our world. God himself came to earth itself, for the sake of ourselves. Breathtaking! Stupendous! Incomprehensible! Too marvellous to be remotely true, and yet he came in his Son – the One who is Son, divine by nature.

 Hebrews unfolds the event succinctly in a description of the dignity and deeds of the Visitor who so humbly came among us. The One in whom we live, move, and have our being, came as man. The exalted Being became a human being. The One who generated and governs all that exists came to this mere speck in the universe to we antlike entities as our Maker, Mediator, and Monarch. We live in an age of over familiarity. It is not long before any personage of rank or honour is regarded with contempt. We become chummy or churlish toward those above us. Disrespect marks our attitude to others in society. We are casual rather than comely in our common deportment, and we have largely lost any sense of occasion. The current crop of kings of comedy and cynical commentators have drenched our minds in mockery of all that is good and life has become a game of mutual ridicule all for the sake of a smirk and rude laughter. Our culture cheapens all that it sees and touches. It is scarcely conceivable that our generation could catch a glimpse of the grandeur and magnificence of the One who set royal raiment aside to robe himself in our flesh. We are oblivious to his heavenly origin and honour. Even saints cultivated by years of spiritual discipline and experience baulk at the unequalled nobility of Jesus Christ. In speech and behaviour humanity is forgetful of his pre-eminence and Presence. While heaven adores earth ignores.

 Joseph Hall used irony to good effect as a satirist before his ordination to the Church of England ministry. It was his weapon against the folly and vices of his day. He knew the dangers of impure lampoonery and how a generation can be besotted by it. As a bishop he turned the minds of the people towards a reverent appreciation of Christ as God, “Dwelling in inaccessible light, attended with millions of angels of light, and glorified spirits of his saints in a light unspeakable and glorious . . . . I fear many of us Christians are much defective in our holy devotions . . . . but the confirmed eyes of an illuminated Christian can behold God in this notion of his celestial splendour . . . . an infinite resplendence” (Sermon 31).

 This is the One who came to our dark world as an infant to endure its mockery and murderous hatred  (The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5 i.e. extinguish it in hatred). We can never revere Christ excessively, indeed we can never esteem him sufficiently.

 Hebrews compiles a profile of the Son that is impressive beyond measure. In essence he is divine; the radiance of God’s glory; the exact representation of his being. He is the Maker of our home environment and the vastness of the universe that surrounds us. He laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of his hands. How astonishing that those foundations were beneath his feet and that he peered into the stars above from our vantage point. He assumed our likeness and littleness even as he remains the match or counterpart of the divine majesty. He is the Mediator commissioned to restore a harmonious relationship between an offended Creator and those guilty of offences against him. On earth he makes atonement for our sin, a condition as well as a series of crimes committed, and in heaven he continues to save us as our Advocate and Intercessor with our best interests at heart. By his suffering in our stead and his Spirit in our lives he provides purification and soul cleansing, removing the contamination and condemnation that separates us from the Father. Our guilty record is erased and our nature renewed. Now he is manifestly the Monarch of all. He is the promised Messiah, the One anointed to be king, and he is in process of establishing his kingdom which will last forever. As “first born”, preferred, superior, pre-eminent, he is the heir  entitled to reign as Sovereign Ruler over everything that is, seen and unseen,  and his especial care and governance is for his people. Everything is organized to get them to glory. His omnipotence is exercised towards them and for them by his grace.

 The inspired portrayal of Christ brings us to an encounter with a Figure of great authority and great humility, qualities that are rarely co-existent, and all the more wonderful considering the One in whom they are combined. It is a rebuke to our arrogance and a reassurance to us in our uncertainties.

 It is difficult to grasp that “the loud voice like a trumpet” condescended to cry from a cradle. The first utterances of the great Prophet were a baby’s bellow and the murmurings of a helpless mite. We cannot comprehend the radical meekness of the Saviour. Our stupid hubris cannot cope with the modesty of God. We think that high rank has to be expressed in haughtiness. With God loftiness comes in lowliness. Supremacy reveals itself in servant-hood. As Hall observes, Majesty comes to us in Mercy. That is both baffling and beautiful. Moreover, the Lord of Glory deigned to die on a cross for our deliverance. The king endured execution in the place of those who rebelled against him.

 His condescension, shown in innumerable ways, staggers the mind. His condescension contradicts our concept of exaltedness and almightiness. But his royal throne is a Throne of Grace, and if he must step from it, and stoop towards us in order to do us good, then he will do it. For the Lord Jesus is also consecrated to be our dear Friend at court in heaven. He not only visits his own but invites them to his dwelling. Hebrews is a divine composition on the theme of God’s completion of his covenant promises and endeavours. Hebrews announces the perfection of his purpose which remains steady and sure from past days and through these last days. The Lord Jesus is his full and final revelation. The Lord Jesus is our effective Rescuer and Redeemer. Hebrews sums up the divine intimations and institutions granted to God’s ancient people and says that in his Son the mission of mercy has been concluded. The child of Bethlehem matured as Servant of God and Saviour of men and the Christmas gift of forgiveness of sins endures.