Welcome to the Prince of Peace podcast. Over 10 episodes we will explore together what it means to know this Prince of Peace and celebrate his gift of salvation this Christmas time. Make sure you subscribe wherever you are listening to this so that you will automatically get the next episode. A video version is available on the YouTube channel for Annalong Presbyterian Church. New episodes will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays up to, and including, Christmas Eve.

So much of our modern Christmas involves travelling. Before Christmas Day we travel to towns and cities for shopping and nights out and then from Christmas Day we travel to visit family and friends, following the pattern of what has become our own traditions. So much of the Christmas story involves travelling. When we think of the location of Christmas we automatically think of Bethlehem, but Nazareth, Jerusalem and Egypt play important parts also. Our carol for this episode is one that centres on Bethlehem. 'O little town of Bethlehem' draws us to the scene of that first Christmas when Jesus was born in the manger in the stable. Have a listen, and perhaps even sing along, to this carol as sung by our congregation.

O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep

And dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by:

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary;

And, gathered all above,

While mortals sleep, the angels keep

Their watch of wondering love.

O morning stars, together

Proclaim the holy birth,

And praises sing to God the King,

And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts,

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him, still

The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in;

Be born in us to-day.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Immanuel.

Bethlehem was a busy place that first Christmas time. Caesar Augustus had ordered that a census be taken of all the people in his Roman empire and everyone had to go back to their ancestral home. For Joseph, that was Bethlehem. We read in Luke 2: 1-5

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

Luke goes to great lengths to place the birth of the Messiah in human history. There are historical documents that assure us this census took place. And so it was to the City of David that Joseph and his new bride went. In many ways the birth of Jesus took place unnoticed by the majority of residents of Bethlehem. The second half of verse 1 of the carol tells us,

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee to-night.

Even though unnoticed, the birth of Jesus brought light into the darkness, just as John said in his gospel as we saw in episode 4. That night brought about a shift in the world and it was one that would take us away from the old covenant that God made with his people at Sinai, to the new covenant of salvation promise that would come through Jesus. But that would be 33 years later. For now, the jostling crowds of Bethlehem are ignorant of the eternal events taking place. Having been so clear and precise in his first verses, Luke is very matter of fact in verses 6 and 7:

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

As Phillips Brooks says in verse 3,

How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given!

So, God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming;

But in this world of sin

Where meek souls will receive Him, still

The dear Christ enters in.

Once again we see God’s initiative. We have been given a gift, a great gift, in Jesus Christ. He is the blessings of heaven. When we receive him as our Saviour, he will enter in and we will be transformed from being held captive by this world of sin and enjoy the greatness of the blessings of heaven. That’s how the carol concludes in verse 4.

Cast out our sin, and enter in;

Be born in us to-day.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Immanuel.

There is another invitation here on our part as we invite Christ to dwell with us and be our Immanuel so that we may know his peace and joy. This dark world offers us heartache and disappointment, but Immanuel offers us his peace. John tells us in his first letter to reject he things of this world. In 1 John 2: 15-17 we read,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Will you know his peace this Christmas and reject the sin of the world? Will you be assured of God’s great love for you and so know his gift, Jesus Christ our Prince of Peace? May it be so for you this Christmas and for all eternity.

Thank you for joining me today in this episode of the Prince of Peace podcast. Join me in episode six as we look at the carol ‘Silent Night’. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube or in your podcast app to get the next episode when it drops. Find out more at www.annalongpc.org or check out our Facebook page and Instagram account. You can also listen to our Prince of Peace playlist on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music. All links are in the show notes.