Christmas Day Carols and Meditations on the words of prophecy and John 1:14
O Come All Ye
Faithful
Adore Him is the repeated
refrain. We come this Christmas adoring the Christ child. To adore this
child is to place all your loving affection on Him. Cherish Him as precious. Fall
on your knees before the Christ child and pour out your loving affection on
Him. He is precious and dear to us. The Holy Spirit supplies this holy devotion
and focused love; the Spirit who continually spotlights Jesus for us to trust
and believe.
Genesis 3:14–15
(ESV)
14 The Lord God said
to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you
shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Isaiah 7:10–14
(ESV)
10 Again the Lord
spoke to Ahaz, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep
as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and
I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O
house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God
also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Savior of the
Nations Come
Lest we ever
forget it, Jesus’ birth is God’s answer to the curse of sin. Adam and Eve’s sin
brought death into the world and became the pattern for all our sin afterward.
But from the very introduction of sin into the world, God already had promised
a Savior. Genesis 3:15 tells of One who would defeat the power of the serpent,
the devil, who had deceived Adam and Eve into sinning. Many centuries later,
Isaiah told how this Savior of the Nations would come—by a miraculous birth
from a Virgin. God took flesh and human form in baby Jesus.
Christmas is the
marvel of Such a birth. The Lord chose such a birth. Strange: God
Almighty chose a manger, a feedbox for His Son’s crib. Strange: He chose a
lowly maiden and not a high-born queen for His mother. Strange: the world
disowned Him, but God enthroned Him in heaven. Wondrous birth! Wondrous child!
Isaiah 11:1–2
(ESV)
1 There shall come
forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear
fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:5–6
(ESV)
5 “Behold, the days
are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous
Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be
called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Lo, How a Rose
E’er Blooming
To show God’s love
aright…Humanity
needed to rightly see God’s love. Sin so badly distorts our spiritual eyesight,
that no one has 20/20, or even 20/100 vision. We’re spiritually blind. So God
needed to show love His way. Love bearing unfathomable rejection and pain. Love
flowering even in the darkness of sin’s winter, and when hope seemed long past.
Jesus showed God’s love aright. He clears our vision and opens our eyes to the
great magnificence of God’s love for sinners.
Micah 5:2–5 (ESV)
2 But you, O
Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from
you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming
forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give
them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest
of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall
stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the
name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be
great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace.
Genesis 49:9–10
(ESV)
9 Judah is a lion’s
cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a
lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute
comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
O Little Town of
Bethlehem
The hopes and
fears of all the years, Are met in thee tonight. What a marvelous
collision, for long held hopes and fears to meet in the birth of Jesus! The
fear of death—ever-present. The fear of life, and all its uncertainties. The
fear of guilt before a holy and righteous God. The hope of a future beyond
death. The hope of peace in the face of the unknown. The hope of innocence and
favor shining from God’s face. The marvelous collision of these hopes and fears
is resolved in Jesus, born in little Bethlehem.
Luke 2:1–5 (ESV)
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when
Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered,
each to his own town. 4 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, 5 to be
registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
Isaiah 1:2–3 (ESV)
2 Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I
reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The
ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
Once in royal
David’s city
With the poor, and
mean, and lowly—Once
again, Jesus did not choose the high born or elites for His company, but born among
the beasts and shepherds, He was born for all mankind. You are welcome at His
manger.
Luke 2:6–7 (ESV)
6 And while they
were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 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.
Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV)
6 For
to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of
the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne
of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice
and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will do this.
Away in a manger
Bless all the dear
children…Jesus
blessed the little children when He said “to such belongs the kingdom of
heaven” (Matt. 19:14) and taught that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we
must become like children (18:3-4). The children of the world are ever on His
heart and mind! He did not skip childhood and come to earth as an adult but
sanctified all of human life from the womb to His empty tomb.
Luke 2:8–9 (ESV)
8 And in the same
region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of
the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
The first Noel
Noel is the French
word for Christmas, originally from the Latin: “birthday”. The First Noel is
the First Christmas, where shepherds and angels gathered to celebrate the
birthday of our newborn Lord. The poor shepherds were made rich beyond
imagining with the news of the Savior’s birth.
Luke 2:10-13 (ESV)
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear
not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign
for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a
manger.”
Angels we have
heard on high
why this jubilee? A celebration! A
joyful party! The Jubilee was a year of redemption from debts and the return of
freedom in the land of Israel. Slaves were freed, property was returned, debts
were cancelled. A marvelous preview of the Great Jubilee that Jesus brought in,
as the Year of the Lord’s favor, when He came to earth. A real reason to
celebrate with the angel’s song!
Luke 2:14–20 (ESV)
14 “Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels
went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go
over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made
known to us.” 16 And
they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
17 And when they saw
it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And
all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But
Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And
the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and
seen, as it had been told them.
Hark! the herald
angels sing
A hymn packed with
joyful and beautiful theology, the second verse has the line: Veiled in
flesh the God-head see, Hail the incarnate Deity. God-head and Deity are
lofty words for all that makes God who and what He is. His Divine Nature fully
contained in the clothing of human flesh, in the incarnation of Jesus. True
God, true man, One Holy Christ.
John 1:1–14 (ESV)
1 In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All
things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was
made. 4 In him was life,
and the life was the light of men. 5 The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He
came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe
through him. 8 He
was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The
true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He
was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not
know him. 11 He came to his
own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But
to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God, 13 who
were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God. 14 And the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the
only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
What child is this?
Nails, spear shall
pierce him through…these
words of the second verse always stagger and impress on us the awful weight of
what brought Jesus into the world. The cross was never far from the manger, and
it never could be separated from it. His goal and destination always in focus,
even from the gift of the Magi of myrrh, the burial spice that anointed Jesus’
dead body.
Our
meditation this Christmas Day is John 1:14. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. You’ve probably heard it before: this is a major Christmas verse,
with HUGE baggage packed into the one word: dwelt; better translated is tabernacled.
It’s also the featured article in the Christmas issue of the Lutheran Witness. God
dwelt or tabernacled among us. How? In the OT, the way God
tabernacled with His people was…well…in the tabernacle! A tent that was
assembled and disassembled and travelled all through the wilderness for 40
years of camping out on their delayed entrance into the Promised Land. For
generations after, God dwelt with His people in this temporary structure, a
finely built tent, with fine fabrics and poles, and an innermost sanctuary that
only the High Priest was permitted to enter once a year.
This
tabernacle, or tent, was where God’s cloud of glory hung over the Israelites.
It was a visible sign of the heavenly reality, that God was with His people.
But it was largely inaccessible. Sin kept the people out, and God’s holiness
was hot to touch and out of reach. Only by rites and purifications and
offerings, could the priests come near. And the innermost sanctuary, as I said,
was entered but once a year, by only one man, and at the risk of his life if he
was dishonorable.
But
when John tells us that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us,
He’s saying something truly profound. God’s tent is no longer the OT worship
tent, but God resides with His people in the flesh and body of Jesus Christ. No
longer inaccessible. No longer approachable only by the High Priest, but the
Holy God in human flesh, touching the lepers, healing the sick, offering
Himself in priestly sacrifice on the cross, once for all sins. And sin was the
very curse that had originally parted us from God’s regular and continuing
fellowship and presence. Sin is that wedge driven between the holy and good
God, and rebels defying His good will. Sin is the constant antagonism between
us and our fellow man, that begged for God’s redemption and healing. For God to
come near and fix.
And
in Jesus the way to the heavenly throne, pictured in that earthly tent, is made
open to us. His blood sprinkled on us in the washing of baptism, joins us to
His saving work, and brings us to our Father’s heavenly throne. The throne
of grace, where our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus, and we’re
welcomed as forgiven children of God. This is our Christmas treasure and
Christmas gift! God made flesh in Jesus, tabernacling, or residing among us in
human flesh! Here we come and adore Him, here on bended knee we worship with
shepherds and wise men, with Joseph and Mary, and all the saints and angels
around the throne. We worship at the throne of grace where Jesus sits in human
flesh, interceding for us. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The babe, the Son
of Mary! Amen!
Angels from the
realms of glory (read this one before the hymn)
Come and worship is the refrain of
this carol. Always we need that invitation—too often forgotten, too often
ignored, to come and worship the newborn King. God made us to worship Him, not
because God needs flattery but because we find the highest enjoyment and experience
of love when we praise and worship that which is most beautiful, lovely, and
excellent to us. And none is higher or more deserving of praise than Him. Our
enjoyment is completed by coming and worshipping Him!
Communion hymns…
Now sing we, now rejoice!
Come from on high
to me; I cannot rise to Thee. Christmas is all about God’s Son coming
down to us, because we are unable to rise to God. We have no ladder to ascend
to Him, but Christ is the bridge or stairway that leads from heaven to earth,
and He descended to us to bring us up to Him and lift us from the gloom and
death of sin to the life and fellowship of God!
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