Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-23
Golden Text: For unto you is
born this day in the city OF David,
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord"
Luke 2:7.

UOluen leXJ: Tor uutN YOU Is
born this day in the city OF David.
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord"
Luke 2:7.
Look at that couple coming into
1.-THE crowded little village about dusk.
A mature man is leading a donkey
on which sits a young woman about
to become a mother. She is tired;
the long journey has told on her;
the last hours of it have been
fraught with pain. She looks dis
heartened; they have not BEEN able
to find a place to sleep, every avail
able space has been taken. ANY
where, Joseph" she says. even in
the straw with the cattle, If can
but lie down."
Before the night is over she has
| brought forth her first born, son.
Tenderly she has wrapped him in
the swaddling clothes, and laid him
I in a feed trough-no cradle is at
hand. This birth is but the culmina-
ton of a series of events that would
have broken the heart of any other
woman-the Village gossip, the hui
initiation of her betrothed's suspi-
cions. and now the birth a few
months after her marriage, at the
end Of a tedious journey and in
stable! Joseph would probably not
have taken her on such a journey
! if the circumstances had been diff
ferent, but as they were he could
not bear to have her away from
him. God was using mans plans
to fulfill His own.
Just outside the town in the open
fields there were shepherds watch
ing their flocks by night. Suddenly
a stranger appeared in their midst,
resplendent and glorious. They were
frightened dreadfully - you would
have been. too. But listen: Fear
not, for behold I bring you tidings
of great joy which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this
day in the city of David Savior
which is Christ the Lord. And this
shall be a sign to you: Ye shall find
a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in manger.
Before they could quite believe
their ears and eyes, suddenly the
iangel was joined by a multitude of
the heavenly hosts praising God and
Saying, Glory to God in the high
lest, and on earth, peace, good will
to men," Then they We're gone.
There stood the shepherds; flocks
were forgotten now; but they kept
thinking of the angels WOrds-born.
a Saviour. Christ the Lord; sign;
babe; manger They could stand it
no longer; they determined to go
at once into the city and see for
themselves if what the angel had
said was true. And they came, and
tsaw, and told everywhere that it
was true. The first evangelsts were
these Bethlehem shepherds. Mary,
at least, didn't forget what they had
said.
Sign-Babe
A sign - something that distin-
guishes a thing or person as from
! God. A baby q sign, Surely 1t was
more than the mere fact that ther'
| was a baby born in crowded village
and laid iii a manger. What KIND
| of a baby was this that was a sign
from God?
This baby was the child Of proph-
| ecy. In the garden of Eden when
! sin entered the world, in cursing the
serpent, God spoke a message OF
; hope: The seed of the woman shall
| bruise thy head, and thou shall
bruise his heel" Gen. 315). This
noun is singular and is closely de
! fined 1t is the seed of the woman
not the descendants of the man
| and the woman. "A virgin shall
;conceive and bear a son, and thou
shall call his name Immanuel,' Qsa.
I7I4). The Lord hath created a
new thing in the earth. y woman
shall encompass a man." der. 81:
22). Even the place of His birth was
! foretold: and thou Bethlehem, in
! the land of Judah. art in no wise
least among the princes of Judah;
| for out of thee shall come forth a
governor, that shall rule my people
Israel" (Michah 5:2). And later
when the wisemen visited him, and
brought presents, they fulfilled what
had been spoken of this baby by
the Psalmist, The Kings of Tar
shish and OF the isles shall bring
presents" psalm 72:1015). This
was no ordinary babe; this was the
child Of prophecy. This babe was
ia sign, an evidence that this was
/ from God.
This babe was the only one that
! could fulfill Gods promise to David