上帝丰盛的荣耀在主耶稣基督里显明
Rev. James Danell作/ MLC出版 /Gideon译
因为父喜欢叫一切的丰盛在他里面居住。既然藉着他在十字架上所流的血成就了和平，便藉着他叫万有，无论是地上的、天上的，都与自己和好了。 歌罗西书 1：19-20
外貌可以欺骗我们。以伯利恒的马槽为例。当我们看它的时候，我们的肉眼只看到了一个刚出生的小婴儿。无助，饥饿，疲劳。他的身上裹着破布。他的父母是乡下人。他的第一批拜访者生活在社会经济等级的最底层。这简直不像是天上的天使向世界宣告的那种诞生。但是外貌容易欺骗我们。
因为当我们通过圣经的话语看伯利恒的马槽时，我们属灵的眼睛凭着信心看到的是完全不同的情景。我们看到的是神的儿子耶稣基督；上帝的受膏者；弥赛亚；上帝最大的荣耀。“因为上帝喜欢叫一切的丰盛在他里面居住，” 他所有的一切。那个在马槽里躺着的是从神而来的上帝；从光而来的真光；从完全的神而来的完全的神。他就是那位创造万物者，万物也是为他而创造。他就是那位将他的整个创造连接在一起的永恒者。
但为什么？为什么在整个世界，那位神圣的，永恒的，无所不能的创造者却躺在了一个小城镇的肮脏的马槽里？答案几乎比道成肉身这个奇迹本身更令人震惊。 “因为上帝喜欢……藉着他使万物都与自己和好。” 因为世界不能到他那里去，也不会到他那里去。 世人都犯了罪，在罪恶的状态下，世界沸腾了，它与上帝为敌，对他只有纯粹的仇恨。 上帝却亲自来到世界中。“为了使万物与他自己和好。”
在基督耶稣身上，上帝来到我们中间使世界与他自己和好，“藉着他在十字架上流出的宝血成就了和平。” 是的，即使在圣诞节我们也无法避免。宝血，耶稣基督的宝血一定要流在十字架上，这样我们可以说：“主啊，让你的仆人平安的去吧，因为我们的眼睛已经看到了你的救恩。”
亲爱的救主，马利亚之子，体验了我们人类的苦难。亲爱的救主，荣耀的君王，征服了我们所有的敌人，终于把我们寻回。我们祈祷，直达光明的天庭，直达无尽的白昼。阿门。
The Fullness of God’s Glory Is Found in Jesus Christ
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20
Looks can be deceiving. Take the manger in Bethlehem for example. When we look into it, all our physical eyes see is a tiny newborn baby. Helpless. Hungry. Tired. He’s dressed in rags. His parents are peasants. His first visitors stand on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. It hardly looks like the kind of birth that should have been announced to the world by angels from heaven. But looks can be deceiving.
For when we look into the manger in Bethlehem through the words of Holy Scripture, what our eyes of Spirit-worked faith see is entirely different. We see the Christ Child. God’s Anointed One. The Messiah. God’s greatest glory. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” All of it. There in that manger lies God from God. Light from light. Very God from very God. This is the One by whom and for whom all things were created. The Eternal One who holds his
entire creation together.
But why? Why in all the world would the divine, eternal, omnipotent Creator be lying in a filthy feedbox in a tiny, two-bit town? The answer is almost more astounding than the miracle of
the incarnation itself. “For God was pleased . . . through him to reconcile to himself all things.” Because the world couldn’t come to him, because it wouldn’t come to him, because in its sinful state, the world seethed with nothing but pure hatred for him, God came to the world. “To reconcile to himself all things.”
In the person of Jesus Christ, God came to reconcile the world to himself “by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Yes, even at Christmas we can’t avoid it. Blood. Jesus’ blood would be shed on a cross so that we can say, “Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
O Savior, child of Mary, who felt our human woes, O Savior, King of glory, who conquered all our foes, bring us at last, we pray, to the bright courts of heaven and to the endless day. Amen.
(CW 360:4)