The Wood that Once Cradled the Messiah

 

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