Christmas

The Gospel & Joy to the World

Dan Doriani
Dec 12, 2018
One December, a week or two before Christmas, the worship leader announced the hymn "Joy to the World" and a woman nearby groaned, "Oh no, not 'Joy to the World' again." I understand her point; she wanted a new Christmas song, but still, how can we grow tired of joy to the world. Psalm 96 begins "...

'Tis the Season

Nick Batzig
Dec 10, 2018
Sinclair Ferguson has recently released his second advent themed book, Love Came Down . Together with his previously published Child in the Manger , this has quickly become one of my favorite sources for advent meditations. That is not at all surprising, as I have found Sinclair's advent sermons to...

Virgins Don't Conceive, Unless...!

Nick Batzig
Dec 8, 2018
I love the ease with which C.S. Lewis answered objections to the Scriptural record of the the miraculous conception of the virgin Mary. In Miracles: A Preliminary Study , he wrote: "You will hear people say, 'The early Christians believed that Christ was the son of a virgin, but we know that this...

The Apostles' Creed: Born of the Virgin Mary

Steven McCarthy
May 8, 2018
December 25 is indelibly linked in most minds with celebrations of Jesus’ birth. What about March 25 (exactly nine months earlier)? That day has traditionally been associated with “the Annunciation”, the angel Gabriel’s announcement to a young Jewish woman that she would be the mother of her Lord...

Wisdom from Above

Liam Goligher
Jan 20, 2018
The Bible has a single theme: God’s visit to His world. * To believe this is to walk with Christian thinkers of 1900 years. But today, evangelicals see Scripture as discrete texts, lacking a unifying theme. We look at the literal meaning of ‘wisdom,’ largely ignoring its usage in the One Author’s...

The Epiphany of Love

Mark Johnston
Jan 6, 2018
Although for many churches, the celebration of Christ’s Nativity is over for another year, for many others it is yet to come. They will celebrate the Feast of Epiphany on January 6 th and on into the Sunday that follows. In part it will mark the visit of the Magi to worship the infant Jesus; but...

Young Luther's Christmas

Jeffrey Stivason
Dec 23, 2017
On December 22, 1898 the New York Observer wished its readers a “Merry Merry Christmas to All.” Following that wish was a wonderful gift. On every page of the Observer was something to direct the reader’s thoughts to the reason for the season. And on page 818 there is a poem called, “Young Luther’s...

Of Mary's Virginity and Humility

Philip Ryken
Dec 23, 2017
A seasonal quotation from Sermons of St. Bernard on Advent and Christmas : "Who is this Virgin so reverently saluted by the angel? and so lowly as to be espoused to a carpenter? Beautiful commingling of virginity with humility! That soul is in no small degree pleasing to God, in whom humility...

Joseph’s Decision

Liam Goligher
Dec 14, 2017
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream… Joseph will not get much press this Christmas. He’ll be around of course, often as no more...

Rehabilitating Mary

Mark Johnston
Dec 12, 2017
Christmas is fast approaching and images of Mary are everywhere – from cards to Nativity scenes – but she is strangely absent from many, if not most Protestant pulpits. Yes, she may be accorded a passing reference in the Christmas narrative, but she can come across very much as a bit-part, or an ‘...