12月25日 他的降生与我们的新生

必有童女怀孕生子，给他起名叫以马内利。就是 神与我们同在的意思。（赛七14）

他在历史中诞生。“因此所要生的圣者，必称为神的儿子。”（路一35）耶稣基督是降生到世界，不是从这世界而出。他不是从历史演进而生，乃是从历史以外而来。耶稣基督不是人类最好的一个；他是完全无法算在人类之内的一位。他不是人变作神，乃是神成了肉身，成了人的形状，是从外而来的。他的生命最崇高最圣洁，却从最卑微的门进来。主的诞生，是降临人间。

他在我里面诞生。“我为你们再受生产之苦，直等到基督成形在你们心里。”(加四19) 主是从外面进到人类历史，同样也从外面进到我里面。我有没有让自己的生命，成为神儿子的伯利恒？我必须从神而生，这与天然的生产完全不同，否则便不能进入神的国度里。“你们必须重生”，这不是命令，而是一项基本的事实。新生的本质，就是我完全降服于神，以致基督成形在我里面，他的本性开始透过我工作。

神在肉身显现－－这是救恩为你我所成就的事实。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，当我们在今早思想以赛亚书第五十三章，愿祢的荣耀将它显明；愿祢使我们变得柔和与温顺，被祢所激励和振奋，并且将我们提升至这种荣耀的事奉，以致我们可以捕捉祢的形象。

December 25 His Birth And Our New Birth

“Behold, a virgin shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Isaiah 7:14 (R.V.)

His Birth in History. “Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35.) Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being, He is a Being Who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the Lowliest door. Our Lord's birth was an advent.

His Birth in Me. “Of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” (Gal. 4:19.) Just as Our Lord came into human history from outside, so He must come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot enter into the realm of the Kingdom of God unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth. “Ye must be born again.” This is not a command, it is a foundation fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that Christ is formed in me. Immediately Christ is formed in me, His nature begins to work through me.

God manifest in the flesh – that is what is made profoundly possible for you and me by the Redemption.