NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No.18
CREDO The `Christmas Tree' - A Better Way
There is an interesting portion of Scripture which comes to mind at the end part of the year, which is to be found in the Book of Jeremiah and is often used by zealous Christians to harangue the lowly `Christmas Tree': (Jeremiah 10:1-5)

" Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel.
This is what the LORD says:
Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by them.
For the customs of the people are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it will not totter.
Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm nor can they do any good. "

Clearly `the Word of the LORD' has more in mind than a `Christmas Tree', and when these verses are read through, even superficially, it is clear that He is referring to craftsmen carving and adorning an idol out of a tree trunk, which then needs to be carried. This over- zealous concern over a cultural tradition surely reveals that we can be threatened by such activities, and in majoring on `the ways of the nations' we miss the point of the Word of the LORD speaking through Jeremiah. This leads us into the Word of the LORD and `a Better Way'. Verses 6 and 7 open up what He is saying to His people:

" No-one is like You, O LORD; You are great,
and Your name is mighty in power.
Who should not revere You, O King of the nations? . . . . "

These verses now take our minds straight to `The Song of Moses, the servant of God' and `The Song of the Lamb' in the Book of Revelation: (Revelation 15:3-4)

" Great and marvellous are Your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways,
King of the ages.
Who will not fear You, O Lord,


and bring glory to Your Name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed. "

In these verses we find the final acts of a Righteous and Holy God in bringing about His glorious salvation for all who have trusted in His faithfulness to His Word - now fully revealed in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and Lord of the Church of the Firstborn. As it has been said by others, the nearer you get to the end the closer you come to the beginning - and in Hebraic thought the beginning and the end are indeed one. The part we call, with our Greek thinking, the middle, is the walk of trust in His faithfulness to bring about what has been revealed in His Word. Truly `a Better Way' and is indeed within the context of the Word of the spoken through Jeremiah:

" Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by the signs in the sky. "

As this passage of Scripture is therefore speaking of a salvation - of a mighty deliverance from the bondage and slavery facing `the house of Israel', due to their apostacy, and not a condemnation of the lowly `Christmas Tree' - we need to turn back to the earlier deliverance of the Israelites which caused `The Song of Moses' to be sung at that time and then learn its message afresh.

Exodus 15 finds the Israelites miraculously delivered through the Sea . . . saved out of the bondage and slavery of Egypt with the slave masters destroyed: `Then Moses and the Israelites sang this Song to the LORD'. It is a Song of Praise, one of ten such Songs to be found in Scripture, all centered on the LORD and His deliverance from distress and humiliation for His people, and the response is always the same, a Song of Praise to God:

" Who among the gods is like You, O LORD?
Who is like You -
majestic in holiness
awesome in glory,
working wonders? " Verse 11

As the number `ten' in Scriptural thinking talks of fulness, may we look briefly at the remaining nine Songs of Praise in order to see the fulness that is recorded in the Word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.

Numbers chapter 21 takes us into what we may correctly call `the Wilderness Walk . . . the grumbling in the making of the nation'. The story is familiar and needs no detailed exposition. The Israelites needed to be reminded once again of their deliverance - they needed once again to draw from the Well of Salvation on their journey into their inheritance:

" From there they continued on to Beer,
the well where the LORD said to Moses,
`Gather the people together and I will give them water'. " Verse 16

The word `Beer' has a meaning of `an artificial well', one dug deliberately, not a natural flow of water - a reminder that it was the LORD who delivered them and it the LORD who would water them, protect and lead them. There, at the well called Beer, the LORD gave them water, reminding them again of His faithfulness to His Word, causing the Song of Praise to come from the assembled Israelites: (verse 17)

" Then Israel sang (responded) this song:
`Spring up O Well! Sing unto it'. "

This was not a song to an impersonal, natural well of water. The Israelites sang unto it - it was a personal cry of thanksgiving to the LORD, who was reminding them of His deliverance. And so they journied on in deepening rebellion and apostacy until we come to the point where all (apart from a remnant of the people) had died in their unbelief in the desert. The Book of Deuteronomy sets the scene: (1:1)

" These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel
in the desert east of the Jordan. "

In chapter 32, after the people had listened once more to the words of the LORD, spoken through Moses `all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them' we find the same response, a Song of Praise: (32:1-3-4)

" And Moses recited the words of this Song from the beginning to the end in the hearing of the whole of the assembly of Israel:
` Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth . . . . .
I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, His works are perfect,
all His ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is He '. "

And so to the fourth Song of Praise! In the Book of Judges we find the Israelites now in the land and deep in apostacy once again. The people again needed to draw from the Well of Salvation and be reminded, through the deliverance that would come through Deborah, of the greater Salvation that had been given, which would be brought to completion for the nation of Israel. And once again, once the deliverance was manifested, it caused a Song of Praise to cone forth: (Judges 5:1-3)

" On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
` When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves -
praise the LORD!
Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I will sing to the LORD, I will sing;
I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel'. "

The First Book of Samuel takes us straight to another time of the most awful apostacy in the nation of Israel, and the Song of Praise we are looking for here comes from the mouth of Hannah. This time the deliverance of Israel comes through the personal deliverance of a faithful woman who cried out for a son to the LORD, who responded with the birth of a son named Samuel. He would be needed to anoint the first of the kingly line in the person of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin, and, finally, David of the tribe of Judah, from whom would come the Messiah, the Deliverer of the nation. Hannah's deliverance led to her Song of Praise: (1 Samuel 2:1)

" My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth
boasts over my enemies; for I delight in Your deliverance. "

We need to move on quickly to the sixth Song of Praise, found in the Second Book of Samuel, where we find David rejoicing in his conquest of the Philistines and escape from the jealousy of Saul: (2 Samuel 22:1-3)

" David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He sang:
` The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn (strength) of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my saviour -
from violent men You save me'. "

The kingly line of salvation, from the tribe of Judah, is now clearly established, the faithfulness of God to His Word clearly revealed, and we can move on into the New Testament and pick up the thread of the final revelation of God's deliverance for His beloved people.

Once again a woman was to be the instrument through whom the LORD would reveal His deliverance, and Mary's Song of Praise in the first chapter of Luke joins to the song of Hannah with the joyful news of God's Salvation: (Luke 1:46-48)

" And Mary said:
` My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed'. "

The new-born King would need a herald to announce His coming to His people, and we find the Song of Praise this time coming from the lips of faithful Zechariah (whose very name means `the LORD remembers') as he understands the purpose of the son born to his wife Elizabeth: (Luke 1:67-69)

" His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
` Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has come and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David'. "

It now only requires Simeon, waiting in quiet trust in the Lord's faithfulness, to be a witness to God's Salvation: (Luke 2:28-31)

" Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. he was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took Him in his arms and praised God saying:

` Sovereign Lord, as You have promised,
You now dismiss Your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen Your Salvation,
which You have prepared in the sight of all people,
light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to Your people Israel'. "

And so we come to the end, joined with the beginning to reveal God's faithfulness, which does not require zealous condemnation of the lowly `Christmas Tree' but a Song of Praise from the hearts of people who have seen and entered into His Salvation, found only in Jesus. Revelation 14 records the final Song of Praise within the setting of the Great Tribulation, from which a mighty and glorious deliverance is promised, and we hear this time a most wondrous Song of Praise being sung: (Revelation 14:1-3)

" Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had his Name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like a loud peel of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No-one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. "

Ten glorious Songs of Praise, coming from the hearts and mouths of those who had known or will know God's glorious Salvation for those who believe in His faithfulness to His Word, revealed in Jesus, the Lamb upon the throne. And the Song of Praise in Revelation 15 need not be seen as the eleventh Song, but one which encompasses the other ten - the fulness of the Songs of Praise, sung by so many over the long centuries of this wilderness walk: (v3-4)

" They held harps given them by God and sang the Song of Moses the servant of God and the Song of the Lamb:

`Great and marvellous are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways, King of the ages.
Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before You
for Your righteous acts have been revealed'. "

And so in view of the glory of our Salvation we need not major on condemning the lowly `Christmas Tree'! There is `a Better Way' - a Song of Praise coming from the hearts and mouths of all who rejoice in His Salvation:

"Whose Name if Jesus, because He will save
His people from their sins. "
December 2001

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