双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：12月22日 圣诞祭牲

12月22日

圣诞祭牲

耶稣被交给人，是为我们的过犯；复活，是为叫我们称义。

罗马书4:25

当我们受苦时，我们是否注视我们自己、我们的试炼和我们的难题？我们是否被困在环境之下，而非超越环境之上？或者我们是否会仰望那位经历痛苦远超我们想象的主呢？

马丁路德在《桌边谈话》一书中说：“我们的苦难根本配不上“苦难”这个名称。当我想到我的十字架、患难和试探时，我几乎羞愧得无地自容，因为与我那蒙福的救主耶稣基督的苦难相比，这些算得了什么呢？”

基督的一生中有好几件事揭示了祂作为“受苦的仆人”的弥赛亚的角色。我们无法详尽追溯祂生命中的每一个方面，但可以思想以下这些事实：

以赛亚书53章对救主受难的描述如此细致入微，以至于人们读到时会以为这是一位目击者的记录，而不是一个在事件发生八百年前就写下的预言。

请留意，耶稣的生命从一开始就充满了迫害和危险。祂受天父差遣，带着爱和怜悯的使命而来。天使宣告有关祂的受孕并为祂起名。天使天军在祂降生时唱着荣耀的颂歌。藉着那颗奇特的星，天上预示了祂的降临。祂本身就是有史以来最卓越的孩子——马利亚的圣婴，上帝的圣子。然而，祂一来到这个世界，希律王就下令杀害祂，并竭力要实现这个企图。

还要注意的是，祂极大地降卑自己。永在的父，神的儿子，取了人的样式，成为卑微的婴孩。祂取了我们的人性，具有人所有的软弱、不足和承受痛苦的可能性。祂出生贫寒，一生甘愿忍受凌辱。祂来不是要受人服事，乃是要服事人。

今日祷告：

天父，感谢祢！差遣祢的儿子成为全人类的救主。愿祢的好消息传遍四方，让各处的人知道：圣子已经来到。奉耶稣的名，阿们。

December 22

THE CHRISTMAS SACRIFICE

He[Jesus]was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.Roman 4:25,NIV

Do we look at ourselves,our trials,our problems,when we are suffering?Do we live under the circumstances,instead of above the circumstances?Or do we look at the One who knew more suffering than we are able to conceive?

In Table Talk Martin Luther said,“Our suffering is not worthy of the name of suffering.When I consider my crosses,tribulations,and temptations,I shame myself almost to death,thinking what are they in comparison to the sufferings of my blessed Savior Jesus Christ.”

There are several things about the life of Christ that reveal His role as the“suffering servant”Messiah.We cannot begin to trace every aspect of this search through His life,but consider these truths:

In Isaiah 53 the sufferings of the Savior are so minutely pictured that one might well read it as the record of an eyewitness,rather than the prediction of a man who wrote eight hundred years before the event.

Observe that Jesus’life began in the midst of persecution and peril.He came on a mission of love and mercy,sent by the Father.An angel announced His conception and gave Him His name.The heavenly host sang a glorious anthem at His birth.By the extraordinary star,the very heavens indicated His coming.In Himself He was the most illustrious child ever born-the holy child of Mary,the divine Son of God.Yet no sooner did He enter our world than Herod decreed His death and labored to accomplish it.

Notice,too,that He assumed a role of deep abasement.The Son of the eternal Father,He became the infant of days and was made in the likeness of man.He assumed our human nature with all its infirmities,and weakness,and capacity for suffering.He came as a child of the poorest parents.His entire life was one voluntary humiliation.He came to be a servant and to minister rather than to be ministered unto.

Pray for the Day:

Father,thank You for sending Your Son as Savior of the whole world.Let Your Good News ring out and be proclaimed everywhere—the news that the Son has come!in Jesus’Name,Amen.