JOY BORN AT BETHLEHEM – Charles Spurgeon

How, by such an insult as that, could they hope to convert the Jew? The Jew saw everywhere idols which his soul abhorred, and he loathed the name of Christ because he associated it with idol worship. I do not wonder that he did! I praise the Jew that he could not give up his own simple theism, and the worship of the true God, for such a base, degrading superstition as that which Rome presented to him! Instead of thinking it a wonder of unbelief that the Jew is not a Christian, I honor him for his faith and his courageous resistance of a fascinating heathenism! If Romanism is Christianity, I am not, neither could I be, a Christian! It were a more manly thing to be a simple Believer in one God, or even an honest doubter upon all religion, than worship such crowds of gods and goddesses as Popery has set up, and to bow, as she does, before rotten bones, and dead men’s winding sheets. Let the true Christian Church think lovingly of the Jew, and with respectful earnestness tell him the true Gospel! Let her sweep away superstition, and set before him the one gracious God in the Trinity of His Divine Unity! And the day shall yet come when the Jews, who were the first Apostles to the Gentiles, the first missionaries to us who were afar off, shall be gathered in again; until that shall be, the fullness of the Church’s Glory can never come. Matchless benefits to the world are bound up with the restoration of Israel; their gathering in shall be as life from the dead. Jesus the Savior is the joy of all nations, but let not the chosen race be denied their peculiar share of whatever Promise Holy Writ has recorded with a special view to them. The woes which their sins brought upon them have fallen thick and heavily; and even so let the richest blessings distil upon them.

The Joy of the Coming of Christ

Although our translation is not literally correct, it nevertheless expresses a great truth, taught plainly in the context, and, therefore, we will advance another step. The coming of Christ is a joy to all people. It is so, for the 14th verse says, “On earth peace,” which is a wide and even unlimited expression. It adds, “Good will towards”—not Jews, but “men”—all men. The word is the generic name of the entire race, and there is no doubt that the coming of Christ does bring joy to all sorts of people. It brings a measure of joy even to those who are not Christians. Christ does not bless them in the highest and true sense, but the influence of His Teaching imparts benefits of an inferior sort, such as they are capable of receiving; for wherever the Gospel is proclaimed, it is no small blessing to all the population.

The Influence of Christ’s Coming

Note this fact: there is no land beneath the sun where there is an open Bible and a preached Gospel, where a tyrant can long hold his place. It matters not who he is, whether pope or king; let the pulpit be used properly for the preaching of Christ Crucified; let the Bible be opened to be read by all men, and no tyrant can long rule in peace. England owes her freedom to the Bible, and France will never possess liberty, lasting and well-established, until she comes to reverence the Gospel which too long she has rejected. There is joy to all mankind where Christ comes; the religion of Jesus makes men think, and to make men think is always dangerous to a despot’s power! The religion of Jesus Christ sets a man free from superstition; when he believes in Jesus, what cares he for Papal excommunications, or whether priests give or withhold their absolution? The man no longer cringes and bows down; he is no more willing, like a beast, to be led by the nose, but, learning to think for himself, and becoming a man, he disdains the childish fears which once held him in slavery. Therefore, where Jesus comes, even if men do not receive Him as the Savior, and so miss the fullest joy, yet they get a measure of benefit.

The Joy of Christ’s Rule

And I pray God that everywhere His Gospel may be so proclaimed, and that so many may be actuated by the spirit of it, that it may be better for all mankind. If men receive Christ there will be no more oppression; the true Christian does to others as he would that they should do to him; and there is no more contention of classes, nor grinding of the faces of the poor. Slavery must go down where Christianity rules, and mark you, if Romanism is once destroyed, and pure Christianity shall govern all nations; war itself must come to an end; for if there is anything which this Book denounces and counts the greatest of all crimes, it is the crime of war. Put up your sword into your sheath, for has not He said, “You shall not kill,” and He meant not that it was a sin to kill one, but a glory to kill a million; He meant that bloodshed on the smallest or largest scale was sinful! Let Christ govern, and men shall break the bow, and cut the spear in sunder, and burn the chariot in the fire! It is joy to all nations that Christ is born, the Prince of Peace, the King who rules in Righteousness.

The Greatest Joy in Knowing Christ

But, Beloved, the greatest joy is to those who know Christ as a Savior! Here the song rises to a higher and more sublime note. Unto us, indeed, a Child is born, if we can say that He is our “Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Let me ask each of you a few personal questions. Are your sins forgiven you for His name’s sake? Is the head of the serpent bruised in your soul? Does the Seed of the woman reign in Sanctifying Power over your nature? Oh, then, you have the joy that is to all the people in the true form of it! And, dear Brothers and Sisters, the further you submit yourself to Christ the Lord, the more completely you know Him, and are like Him, the fuller will your happiness become!

The Joy of the Christ-like Soul

Surface joy is to those who live where the Savior is preached; but the great deeps, the great fathomless deeps of solemn joy which glisten and sparkle with delight are for such as know the Savior, obey the Anointed One, and have communion with the Lord Himself! He is the most joyful man who is the most like Christ; I wish that some Christians were more truly Christians; they are Christians and something else; it were much better if they were altogether Christians. Perhaps you know the legend, or perhaps true history of the awakening of St. Augustine. He dreamed that he died and went to the gates of Heaven, and the keeper of the gates said to him, “Who are you?” And he answered, “Christianus sum,” I am a Christian. But the porter replied, “No, you are not a Christian, you are a Ciceronian, for your thoughts and studies were most of all directed to the works of Cicero and the classics, and you neglected the teaching of Jesus. We judge men here by that which most engrossed their thoughts, and you are judged not to be a Christian but a Ciceronian.” When Augustine awoke, he put aside the classics which he had studied, and the eloquence at which he had aimed, and he said, “I will be a Christian, and a theologian”; and from that time he devoted his thoughts to the Word of God, and his pen and his tongue to the instruction of others in the Truths of God.

The Call to Devotion to Christ

Oh I would not have it said of any of you, “Well, he may be somewhat a Christian, but he is far more a keen money-getting tradesman.” I would not have it said, “Well, he may be a Believer in Christ, but he is a good deal more a politician.” “Perhaps he is a Christian, but he is most at home when he is talking about science, farming, engineering, horses, mining, navigation, or pleasure-taking.” No, no, you will never know the fullness of the joy which Jesus brings to the soul unless, under the Power of the Holy Spirit, you take the Lord your Master to be your All in All, and make Him the fountain of your delight! “He is my Savior, my Christ, and my Lord”; be this your loudest boast, then will you know the joy which the angel’s song predicts for men!

The Sign of Christ’s Birth

But I must pass on. The last thing in the text is the SIGN. The shepherds did not ask for a sign, but one was graciously given. Sometimes it is sinful for us to require, as evidence, what God’s tenderness may nevertheless see fit to give as an aid to Faith. Willful unbelief shall have no sign, but weak Faith shall have compassionate aid. The sign that the joy of the world had come was this—they were to go to the manger to find the Christ in it, and He was to be the Sign. Every circumstance is therefore instructive.

The Sign: The Manger

The Babe was found “wrapped in swaddling cloths.” Now, observe, as you look at this Infant, that there is not the remotest appearance of temporal power here. Mark the two little puny arms of a little babe that must be carried if it goes. Alas, the nations of the earth look for joy in military power; by what means can we make a nation of soldiers? The Prussian method is admirable; we must have thousands upon thousands of armed men, and big cannon, and ironclad vessels to kill and destroy by wholesale! Is it not a nation’s pride to be gigantic in arms?

The True Source of Joy

What pride flushes the patriot’s cheek when he remembers that his nation can murder faster than any other people! Ah, foolish generation, you are groping in the flames of Hell to find your Heaven, raking amid blood and bones for the foul thing which you call glory! A nation’s joy can never lie in the misery of others; killing is not the path to prosperity—huge armaments are a curse to the nation, as well as to its neighbors. The joy of a nation is golden sand over which no stream of blood has ever rippled. It is only found in that river which the streams make glad the City of God.

The Joy of True Power

The weakness of submissive gentleness is true power. Jesus founds His Eternal Empire not on force but on His Love; here, O you people, see your hope! The mild Prince, whose Glory is His self-sacrifice, is our true Benefactor; but look again, and you shall observe no pomp to dazzle you! Is the Child wrapped in purple and fine linen? Ah, no. Sleeps He in a cradle of gold? The manger alone is His shelter. No crown is upon the Babe’s head—neither does a coronet surround the mother’s brow. A simple maiden of Galilee, and a little Child in ordinary swaddling cloths, it is all you see.

The Sign of Simplicity and Truth

Bask not in courtly bower, or sun-bright hall of power, Pass Babel quickly, and seek the Holy Land. From robes of Tyrian dye, Turn with undazzled eye To Bethlehem’s glade, and by the manger stand.

Alas, the nations are dazzled with a vain show; the pomp of empires, the pageants of kings are their delight. How can they admire those gaudy courts in which too often glorious apparel, decorations, and rank stand in the place of virtue, chastity, and the Truth of God? When will the people cease to be children? Must they forever crave for martial music which stimulates violence, and delight in a lavish expenditure which burdens them with taxation? These make not a nation great or joyous.

Conclusion

Bah! How has the bubble burst across yonder narrow sea! A bubble empire has collapsed; 10,000 bayonets and millions of gold proved but a sandy foundation for a Babel throne! Vain are the men who look for joy in pomp; it lies in the Truth of God and Righteousness, in peace and Salvation, of which yonder new-born Prince in the garments of a peasant child is the true symbol! Neither was there wealth to be seen at Bethlehem.

Here in this quiet island, the bulk of men are comfortably seeking to acquire their thousands by commerce and manufactures; we are the sensible people who follow the main chance, and are not to be deluded by ideas of glory; we are making all the money we can, and wondering that other nations waste so much in war. The main prop and pillar of England’s joy is to be found, as some tell us, in the Three per Cents, in the possession of colonies, in the progress of machinery, in steadily increasing our capital. Is not Mammon a smiling deity?

Final Call to Seek True Joy

But here, in the cradle of the world’s hope at Bethlehem, I see far more of poverty than wealth! I perceive no glitter of gold, or spangle of silver! I perceive only a poor Babe, so poor, so very poor, that He is laid in a manger; and His mother is a carpenter’s wife, a woman who wears neither silk nor gem. Not in your gold, O Britons, will ever lie your joy, but in the Gospel enjoyed by all classes; the Gospel freely preached and joyfully received!

Jesus, by raising us to spiritual wealth, Redeems us from the chains of Mammon, and in that liberty gives us joy. And there, too, I see no superstition. I know the artist paints angels in the skies, and surrounds the scene with a mysterious light, of which tradition’s tongue of lies has said that it made midnight as bright as noon! This is merely fiction; there was nothing more there than the stable, the straw the oxen ate, and perhaps the beasts themselves, and the Child in the most plain, simplest manner, wrapped as other children were.

The cherubs were invisible, and of haloes there were none; around this birth of joy was no sign of superstition; that demon dared not intrude its tricks and posturing into the sublime spectacle; it would have been as much out of place as a clown in the Holy of Holies! A simple Gospel, a plain Gospel, as plain as that Babe wrapped in the most common garments, is this day the only hope for men! Be you wise and believe in Jesus, and abhor all the lies of Rome, and inventions of those who imitate her detestable abominations! Nor does the joy of the world lie in philosophy; you could not have made a schoolmen’s puzzle of Bethlehem if you had tried to do so; it was just a Child in the manger, and a Jewish woman looking on, and nursing it, and a carpenter standing by.

The Gospel: Simple and Powerful

There was no metaphysical difficulty there, of which men could say, “A doctor of divinity is needed to explain it, and an assembly of divines must expound it.” It is true the Wise Men came there, but it was only to adore and offer gifts—would that all the wise had been as wise as they! Alas, human subtlety has disputed over the manger, and logic has darkened counsel with its words, but this is one of man’s many inventions; God’s work was sublimely simple; here was, “The Word made flesh,” to dwell among us, a mystery for Faith, but not a football for argument; mysterious, yet the greatest simplicity that was ever spoken to human ears, and seen by mortal eyes!

And such is the Gospel, in the preaching of which our Apostle said, “We use great plainness of speech.” Away, away, away with your learned sermons, and your fine talk, and your pretentious philosophies; these never created a jot of happiness in this world! Fine-spun theories are fair to gaze on, and to bewilder fools, but they are of no use to practical men! They comfort not the sons of toil, nor cheer the daughters of sorrow; the man of common sense who feels the daily rub and tear of this poor world needs richer consolation than your novel theologies, or neologies, can give him.

The Joy in the Simple Gospel

In a simple Christ, and in a simple Faith in that Christ, there is a deep and lasting peace; in a plain, poor man’s Gospel, there is a joy and unspeakable bliss, of which thousands can speak, and speak with confidence, too, for they declare what they know, and testify to what they have seen. I say, then, to you who would know the only true peace and lasting joy, come you to the Babe of Bethlehem—in later days the Man of Sorrows, the Substitutionary Sacrifice for sinners! Come, you little children, you boys and girls, come, for He also was a boy.

“The Holy Child Jesus” is the children’s Savior, and still says, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not. Come here, you maidens, you who are still in the morning of your beauty, and, like Mary, rejoice in God your Savior! The virgin bore Him on her bosom, so come you and bear Him in your hearts, saying, “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.”

And you, you men in the plenitude of your strength, remember how Joseph cared for Him, and watched with reverent solicitude His tender years. Be you to His cause as a father and a helper; sanctify your strength to His service. And you women advanced in years, you matrons and widows, come like Anna, and bless the Lord that you have seen the Salvation of Israel! And you gray heads, who like Simeon are ready to depart, come and take the Savior in your arms, adoring Him as your Savior and your All.

You shepherds, you simple-hearted, you who toil for your daily bread, come and adore the Savior! And stand not back, you wise men, you who know by experience, and who by meditation peer into deep Truth, come, and like the sages of the East, bow low before His Presence, and make it your honor to pay honor to Christ the Lord. For my own part, the Incarnate God is all my hope and trust; I have seen the world’s religion at the fountainhead, and my heart has sickened within me. I come back to preach, by God’s help, yet more earnestly the Gospel, the simple Gospel of the Son of Man! Jesus, Master, I take You to be mine forever! May all in this house, through the rich Grace of God, be led to do the same, and may they all be Yours, great Son of God, in the day of Your appearing, for Your Love’s sake. Amen.

Charles Spurgeon