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2 The Coming of Jesus Christ, What It Meant 9:1-7 Wednesday Night Bible Lecture by Rev. Len G. Broughton, D.D., of Christ Church, London Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H.—Copyright Applied for. | 11r ; OH WMI » WHS toßiwg wflMB Wl CHRIST CHURCH, LONDON. DIVISIONS The Coining of Jesus Christ Meant: I. The Fulfillment of Prophecy. 1. The place of His birth. —Bethlehem. Micah 5:2. 2. The manner of His birth —a virgin. Isa. 7:14. * 3. His name. Isa. 9:6. 4. His life and treatment. —(See the lectures.) 11. The End of the Old Testament Ordi- nances, Ceremonies, and Ritual. 111. The Completion of Redemption. IV. The Revelation of a New Nature of God.—Sinai vs. Calvary. V. The Gift of the New Dynamic for Ser- vice. VI. The Christian Church. VII. A New Hope After Death. i TEXT: “And the Angel said unto them, be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the People.” —luke 2:10. The Lecture. E shall now study briefly, what the coming of Jesus Christ meant to this world, the reason why we have this special subject at this season of the year. We are now facing the Christmas festivi ties. All over Christendom eyes are being focused upon next Wednesday, December 25th, as the W birthday of our Lord. Hence, it is appropriate that we give ourselves at this time to study concerning the meaning of our Lord’s advent. Now, let me say, before we come to the con sideration of this subject, that I have no regard whatever for the sacredness that is usually at tached to the 25th day of December. I have no more regard for that day than any other day of the 365. In the first place, no one knows the date when our Lord was born. It is all guess work. We may think we know, but when we come to prove the day on which He was born, we find that we are lacking in the evidence that will establish that claim. Then, again, if we could tell the actual day when our Lord was born, there is absolutely no Scriptural command for us to observe that day, any more than any other. We are told to keep the first day of the week, which is the day of resurrection. But we are not told to keep the day on which our Lord was born. If it had been intended that we should observe this day, the 25th of December, as the birthday of Jesus, as a special and sacred occasion, we would have been told in the Scriptures in such clear and unmistakable way as that we should not have any doubt about it at all. Now, then, I want to say further, that while it is impossible for us to fix a date, and while there is no command in the Scriptures for us to observe a day, if we could fix it, at the same The Golden Age for January 23, 1913. time, it is perfectly right and proper to do so, inasmuch as it is a custom, and I think, a good custom, that one day in 365 should be set apart as a day to celebrate the coming of Jesus to this world; a day in which to think and medi tate concerning this the one great gift God made to the world. And so we find no difficul ty whatever in our hearts and minds in falling in line with the custom of the Christian world, in this celebration on the 25th of December. If it was not on that day it certainly was on some day. It does not make any difference to us whether this date is right or wrong, we know that Jesus Christ came into the world, and that His coming was the most significant thing that ever transpired in the history of the world. We will study the coming of Jesus Christ briefly from the standpoint of the world at large, and see if we can understand something of what the coming of Jesus meant to the world at large.. First of all, His coming has given to the world the fulfillment of prophecy. The great est prophecy ever made the world was the prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus Christ. From the standpoint of the world, that prophecy, and its fulfillment, in every detail is the greatest thing that the world has ever witnessed. Is that true? Is it true, that the coming of Jesus Christ, as He came, was a ful filment of prophecy? Our answer is, Yes; and a fulfillment moreover, in the minutest detail. In the first place, it was a fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the place of His birth. Micah 5:2. “But thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah, though thou be little .... yet out of thee shall come forth unto me, He that is to be ruler in Israel.” This to me is a most wonderful prophecy. Here, Micah prophesies that Jesus should come from the little despised city of Bethlehem. No body paid any attention to that prophecy. The Jewish people seemed to pass it over entirely, and were not expecting Him to come from Beth lehem. And yet, when He came, He came ex actly as He was prophecied, even from the very town. It also foretold the manner of His birth. Isa. 7:14. “Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel. ’ ’ Is not that a wonderful thing? Stop and think of it! Here, a prophecy is made, entirely out of keeping with anything that had preceded it in the way of teaching—a new prophecy, ab solutely new, and on an absolutely new line. Isaiah prophesies that He shall be born of a virgin mother; and you know how accurately that prophecy was fulfilled, He came exactly that way. Take the next! The prophecy concerning His name. “His name shall be called wonder ful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlast ing father, the Prince of Peace.” His Life and Treatment. When we consider His life and treatment, as recorded in the Gospels, and see how the dif ferent prophets of the Old Testament prophe cied concerning this , we are amazed to find how accurately they have been fulfilled. His entry into Jerusalem. —Zechariah 9:9. Despised and rejected.—lsaiah 53:3. Sold for 30 pieces of silver. —Zechariah 11:12. Potter’s field bought.—Zechariah 11:13. Spit upon and scourged.—lsaiah 50:6: Gall and vinegar to drink. —Psa. 69:21. Taunted with non-deliverance by God. —Psa. 22 -8 Mocked. —Psa. 22:7. Feet and hands pierced.—Psa. 22:16. Opened not His mouth. —Isa. 53:7. Not a bone broken. —Exodus 12:46. Grave with the wicked. —Isa. 53:9. j Bruised of God. —Isa. 53:10. I am here to tell you that nothing has ever helped me more than a study of these prophe cies in this way. Can you imagine how any man could take his Old Testament, and give himself to an hon est study of it, especially the prophetic part of it, and then come over into the New Testament and study the four gospels and the description of Jesus, His birth, His life, His death, and then honestly compare the teaching of the Old with the teaching of the New, and come out of that kind of study a skep tic? I can not! I will go further. I don’t believe it is possible for any honest, fair-minded man or woman to thus study the Old Testament, and the New, and not at least believe in Jesus as the promised One of God, yea, as God of very God. I remember some years ago talking with a man, a very intelligent man, a lawyer, on the question of our Lord’s immaculate conception. That seemed to be the one thing that he hesi tated upon more than anything else. He said, “If I could just believe that one thing, I could believe all the rest that is said about Him. But I can not.” I said to him finally. You are a great stu dent ; you love to study; and you love to study knotty problems; let me ask you to do this. Go back into the Old Testament, begin at the very beginning of it, study it as prophecy, not history, study all the lines of prophecy in the Old Testament; remember that all these prophecies in one way or another point to the coming of Jesus Christ and when you have fin ished the study with that one thing in view, to establish Jesus Christ, then come over into the Gospels, and study them to see whether or not they answer in their description of Jesus — His birth, His life, His death and resurrec tion. See whether or not He answers the de scription you have read of Him in the Old Testament prophecies. I did not see that lawyer any more for more than twelve months, but I knew that he would study it. I met him again in a watering place, and when we were together alone, he said to me, “Do you remem ber a thing you said to me over a year ago?” I replied: “Yes, I do, and I wonder whether you have done it, and what is your final con clusion?” He said, “I tell you one thing. You know me that I am an honest man, and would not do anything I did not enter into wholeheartedly.” I said, “I know you well enough to know that!” “Well,” said he, “I have just joined the Church and am very happy.” “Then you have accepted Jesus Christ in His immaculate conception,” I ask ed. “Yes,” he said, “and in every other con ception, and, moreover, I do not believe that a man can be skeptical about Jesus, who will honestly study the prophecies of the Old Tes tament.” You will see when you begin to study the prophecies of the Old Testament with refer ence to Jesus, that they are of two kinds. One relates to His first advent, and the other to His second advent. Let me go a step further! This is not all that the coming of Jesus meant to the world. The coming of Jesus to this world was a filling up of all the Old Testament rites, ceremonies, ordinances and rituals. You know something of what these meant. How the sacrifices en tered into it all, and how all of it pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ, and to the final sacrifice which He was to make, and did make for sin. Now, His coming fulfilled all these things in the Old Testament regime; they were simply means of worship, calling attention to the coming of the Messiah. (Continued on Page 14.)