The Christmas Season And Its Significance

Chronicle (Levin), 20 December 1949, Page 4

The Christmas Season And Its Significance

♦ "As the Christmas season draws near we repeat again the words, 'Glory to -God in the highest; - on e'dith' peadfe'' td* mcri" "bf ""gdodWill.' We ought to pause a moment and note that glory is one of those words which Christians use in common language with great vagueness and haziness of meaning," said Rev. A. Salmond, in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, on Sunday. In Scripture the meaning was, precise and definite, continued the preacher. The glory of a man was the thing wherein his weight or worth consisted. The glory of' a nation was the distinction amcng the world of nations which its riches and prosperity expressed. The gmry of God denoted His revealed being or His nature, and in the Old Testament this was linked to convulsions in the world of nature like storms and earthquakes and thunder by which dwellers in the deserts glimpsed the majesty and power of the God they worshipped. In the glory of God, His radiance, power and righteous character were inextricably linked with the steps God took to draw men to Himself and His saving activity in the world. The glory of God presupposed the activity of God in the world. "The distinctively Christian afflrmation is that God's glory is most clearly seen in the Child born in the manger of Bethlehem. The key to the power and character of the living God is found in what God has done in the events set out in the Gospels. Insofar as the glory of God is the divine splendour, Jesus Christ is that splendour. Insofar as the glory of God is a state of light and radiance - that awaits the Christian as his final destiny, that light and radiance draw their meaning from the presence and person of Jesus Christ. "That," concluded the preacher, "is the breathtaking conviction of Christians. Jesus of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Calvary is the glory of God."