Isn't it amazing how excited the witnesses of Christmas became, as they saw Him?
Surrounding Christ's birth are groups of believers who overflow with geysers of praise.
Sometimes we need to get close to them and see what they saw, then we will also feel the wonder, and overflow with praise.. In each of these five hymns of praise we find the truths about God which are the Theology of Christmas.
There is the hymn of Elisabeth, of Zacharias, of Mary, of the angels, and finally of Simeon & Anna. So the Christ of Christmas is introduced to us by a series of five Spirit prompted hymns, with Elisabeth's in Luke 1:42 being the first. If you have never noted these in your Bibles, let me point them out as:
The Hymns or
Psalms of Christmas
First we see the scene when Elisabeth, the 6-months-along expectant mother of John the Baptist, breaks into praise at her cousin Mary's arrival. These verses have been called since ancient times by a name derived from the first word of the Latin Vulgate, which is the: "Exclamavit" (Luke 1:42-45).
Luke 1:42-45 (NKJV) Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord."
Then we catch the wonders of the words of Mary, who follows Elisabeth's outpouring of praise with her marvelous "Magnificat" (Luke 1:46-55). In these ten verses Mary points to the Lord 19x, men
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Pastor John Barnett has been devouring the Word of God for over 30 years. John, now the teaching pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan has served congregations in Oklahoma, New England, Georgia and California. He also served on the Faculty of the Master's College...
