A baby born in a manger
the Lord God made flesh, our Savior.
Born to die was he, the man of sorrows
and yet our triumphal King.
The wise men laid all things at his
feet,
the feet that were later nailed for
you and me.
The wood that once cradled the Messiah,
would later become the wood where we
hung
his frail body to bleed on the cross.
Oh, what wonderful salvation he
brought.
Lowly he came, gloriously now he reigns,
our King of kings.
When he comes again, his redeemed home
he will bring.
Not to deal with sin, but to save
those who
eagerly await to sing.
They will proclaim his praise, for the
eternal
Ancient of Days we will see face to
face.
The earth will not be able to contain
His glory,
And it all began when that baby shone
the
light of heaven in his eyes,
bringing us the Christmas story.
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Mary, mother of Jesus has always stood
out to me when I retrace the wonders of our Lord’s first advent. The angel Gabriel
came to her, telling her that God chose her to be the one to carry the Savior.
Her response, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me
according to your word” (Luke 2:38). I can’t imagine the feelings that arose in
her, a young virgin, carrying the Son of God in her womb? Hope began to arise
in her as baby John leaped in Elisabeth’s womb, a foretaste of the joy he would
bring to his people. A BABY rejoiced, leaped within her! We call Mary blessed
as we lift up the holy name of our God.
The season of advent points us to what
many theologians call the “already but not yet”. When I think of Mary giving
birth to Jesus, my mind goes to Romans 8 where this saying is shown. Paul states:
“For the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility,
not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation
itself will be free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of
the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been
groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes
for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
– Romans 8:19-25
The Lord has shown me over the course
of this month that our hearts are supposed to use this time to prepare for his
second coming. His birth points us to the cross, then to the coming of his Kingdom.
In the gospel of John, Jesus is using the analogy of birth to explain the depths
of his death and resurrection. He explains:
“ When a woman is giving birth, she
has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she
no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into
the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your
hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” – John 16:21-22
What a thrill of hope, the weary world
truly does rejoice. Nothing can take away our joy in him! This world increasingly
gets worse day by day, and our hearts cry out with John in Revelation 22:20. “Come,
Lord Jesus!”. This circles back to the JOY Mary felt, cradling the sweet babe
she had just given birth to. As the shepherds approached Mary and Joseph, Mary
took in all that was happening, listening to the shepherds, she “treasured up
all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). May we store up
this hope within our own hearts and take the time to ponder what lengths Jesus
went through on his journey to the cross and what it took for his gospel to
reach our ears. We are eagerly waiting for redemption, the day of peace where
all the earth shall know the Lord.
Rejoice, the Lord has come!
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the
power that enables him to even subject all things to himself”. – Philippians 3:20-21
