Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1894-12-27
THE DESIRE. OF ALL NATIONS

Christmas ID you huoWoA w "
universal desire OF the human race
Everywhere and in all ages men have
desired manifestation OF God III
some visible, tangible form. "Oh that
| knew where / might find Him! Oh
that I might come even to His feet!'
voices the longing OF every burdened
human heart, The universal con
seriousness of sin produces the unlver'
sal desire for n supernatural Deliver
ar from sin. Conscious OF sinfuIness
and of suffering from the malady OF
sin for which there is no human rem
edy. men everywhere and in all times
have instinctively appealed to the
heavens for deliverance, pleading
that God would come to them and
make bare the almighty arm to save
them from the evils they suffer
Christmas meets this want OF hum
anity. Its sublime assertion is that
God was manifest in the fiesh;" that
he came down to earth and took our
nature that He might save us from
sin and from all the evils which flow
from sin,
This hope Of a divine Savior is as
old as the human race. We trace it
to the promise which God made to
the first parents in the very dawn Of
creation: "The seed of the woman
shall bruise the serpenPs head" 1t
was kept alive by repeated pledges
made to Gods chosen people in all
periods of their history prior to the
Advent The expectation of the com
ing of personal Messiah pervades
the writings of the Hebrew historians
and prophets. And even when the
inspired record ceased, when 1.-The
nation was broken up and the people
were scattered, oppressed and perse-
cuted to degree that might well
have utterly distinguished the Messi-
anic hope, yet the literature OF this
very period-such as the Sybylline
Oracles and the Book Of Enoch-dis-
closes an intenser grasp upon the ex
pectation of personal Deliverer, and
fairly CLOVIS and blazes with the fires
of IsraePs hope"
The prophetic books If the Old
Testament contain many passages
which clearly point to tue advent OF
Christ. These were written, for the
most part, after the political decline
of the Jewish people had begun, when
the hope Of the Messiah was the only
consolation the prophets found in the
midst of national calamity. At this
period more distinct conception of
the spiritual mission of Christ ap-
pears. The prophets begin to see
that Israel's hope is not in a Prince
who shall deliver his people by the
sword, but One who shall save His
people from their sins. Now, too,
Ohrlst's atoning work, foreshadowed
from the beginning by the sacrhcial
worship of Israel, is clearly described
by Isaiah: He was wounded for our
transgressions; He WAS bruised for
our iniquities; the chastisement of
our peace was upon Him; and by His
Stripes we are healed" Haggal des-
ignates the time, and Micah the place
of Christ's birth. Zechariah describes
His entry into Jerusalem, aud Hosea,
Amos, Malachi and others, make
equally definite predictions. These
propesies refer to the Christ who has
come, who was born in Bethlehem of
Judea, and who cited them as full
flied in Himself.
But the hope of a Divine Savior
was not confined to the Jews. He
was "the desire of all nations" The
history of Pagan religions, with their
lords many and gods many, the man
fold incarnations Of their deities,
proves that the desire for an incarnate
God was universal. Traditions Of the
fall of the Restorer prevailed among
all the nations of antiquity. The
reigning power Of evil was symbolized
by che serpent, and they taught one
should be born who would bruise itl
head with a deadly wound and de
liver mankind from its power The
Egyptians had vague ideas OF com
ing Conqueror; and in tho sixth cen
fury before Christ the s6ges OF Chine
taught that "the Holy One should
rise in the West" and that THE patl
of perfection could only be trodder
after he had consecrated it with hl
footsteps" Greeian philosophy re