Salvation Has Come

Psalm 98 (LXX)
Sing a new song to the Lord
    for He did wondrous things;
His right hand and His holy arm
    saved peoples for Him.
The Lord has made known His salvation;
    He revealed His righteousness in the sight of the Gentiles.
He remembered his mercy to Jacob
    And His truth to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth saw the salvation of our God.

Shout aloud to God, all the earth;
    Sing and greatly rejoice, and sing psalms;
Sing to the Lord on a lyre,
    On a lyre and the voice of a psalm;
With trumpets of metal and the sound of a trumpet of horn,
    Shout aloud before the Lord our King.

Let the sea be shaken and its fullness,
    The world and those who dwell in it.
The rivers shall clap their hands together;
    The mountains shall greatly rejoice;
For He comes to judge the earth;
He shall judge the world in righteousness,
    And the peoples with uprightness.

This psalm is beautiful, telling of God’s mighty hand and powerful working to bring salvation, but one is left wondering of when it speaks.  Is this celebrating the Red Sea crossing? or perhaps Gideon’s victory over Midian? or maybe Sennacherib’s defeat before Hezekiah?  Perchance it may be a general song of victory to be sung whenever the Lord saves His people.  Whatever occasion initially prompted the psalm, it always looked forward to God gaining the victory on behalf of His people.

“Nativity” by Peter Paul Rubens

While feats of provision, strength, and warfare generally garner a joyous response, perhaps none was more grand.  Consider the responses early in Jesus’ life from the heavenly host (Lu 2:13–14), shepherds (Lu 2:17–20), the priest Simeon (Lu 2:28–32), the prophetess Anna (Lu 2:38), and wise men (Mt 2:10–11).  Jews, Gentiles, and the heavenly host joined in praise over the birth of this Child.  Though counter-intuitive, the promised salvation (Mt 1:21; Lu 2:11) initiated when the Son of God emptied Himself, took the form of a bond-servant, and came in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7) would far outweigh any military or political campaign.  This combat would end in utter defeat for sin, death, and the devil; and with every foe vanquished, He will reign with righteousness and His kingdom enjoying perfect peace and rest.

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You have made known to us, O Lord, Your salvation, causing to spring up for us the plant of peace, and we shall no longer wander in error.  You have made known to us, O Lord, that You have not unto the end overlooked Your servants; neither have You, O beneficent One, forgotten entirely the works of Your hands.

For out of Your compassion for our low estate You have shed forth upon us abundantly that goodness of Yours which is inexhaustible, and with Your very nature cognate, having redeemed us by Your only begotten Son, who is unchangeably like to You, and of one substance with You; judging it unworthy of Your majesty and goodness to entrust to a servant the work of saving and benefiting Your servants, or to cause that those who had offended should be reconciled by a minister.  But by means of that light, which is of one substance with You, You have given light to those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, in order that in Your light they might see the light of knowledge; and it has seemed good to You, by means of our Lord and Creator, to fashion us again unto immortality; and You have graciously given unto us a return to Paradise by means of Him who separated us from the joys of Paradise; and by means of Him who has power to forgive sins You have blotted out the handwriting which was against us.

Lastly, by means of Him who is a partaker of Your throne and who cannot be separated from Your divine nature, You have given unto us the gift of reconciliation and access unto You with confidence in order that, by the Lord who recognizes the sovereign authority of none, by the true and omnipotent God, the subscribed sanction, as it were, of so many and such great blessings might constitute the justifying gifts of grace to be certain and indubitable rights to those who have obtained mercy.  And this very thing the prophet before had announced in the words: No ambassador, nor angel, but the Lord Himself saved them; because He loved them, and spared them, and He took them up, and exalted them.… Hence, for the future, a joyous festival is established for us of the race of Adam, because the first Creator of Adam of His own free-will has become the Second Adam.  And the brightness of the Lord our God has come down to sojourn with us, so that we see God face to face, and are saved.

Methodius, Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna 8

Unto You Is Born This Day a Savior

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.
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 Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts will do this.  Isaiah 9:6-7

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:10-12

I Hate Christmas

Okay, I really do not hate Christmas.  I hate what commercialization and cultural expectation has done to the season that begins in late November after both the turkey and the Detroit Lions have been devoured, and then ends a month later when everyone goes home after exchanging gifts, food, and fun.  Stores begin stocking seasonal items immediately following Halloween.  From Black Friday (which now begins Thursday evening) through December 24, we are inundated and overloaded with donation requests, party invitations, and church activities.  December has become the month to do everything for everyone to promote good will amongst others.  Throw in the endless advertising jingles, shopping traffic, and corporate year-end needs for your employer, and we have the makings of a complete meltdown.  We build up this gigantic pre-Christmas time to a huge climax with the idea that the new year can start fresh.

There is a temptation to retrograde into nostalgia of how simple and enjoyable childhood memories are.  That is a foolhardy endeavor, or to cite someone who knew better:

Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
    For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.  (Eccl 7:10)

My childhood Christmases were simple and enjoyable.  I shall treasure them.  (Except maybe for the one time I had a chance to stand in line to see Santa but wouldn’t.  I was terrified of him.)  I remember waiting anxiously in eager anticipation as the days following Thanksgiving went by so slowly, longing for the day.  And therein lies the problem—not the anticipation, mind you, but its object.  What are we waiting for?  Or what should we be waiting for?

Lectionaries have always been designed to follow the life of Jesus through the entire year.  The earliest of these began the Church Year on Christmas with the birth of the Lord Jesus and followed different stages of His life.  At the end of the calendar the focus changes, because we change from Jesus’ life to His coming—His Advent.  You remember Advent, don’t you?  Maybe not.  This time begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas* and ends on Christmas Eve.  This time originally looked forward to Jesus’ promised return when He will judge the living and the dead.  It was a time to remember that we are to be living in light of the final day.  If we had gotten off track, this was a chance to consider once again that the King of kings was coming as He promised.  We once freshly examine the question, “Am I living in the light of His return?”  A tension arose between the Lord coming again and the first coming remembered at Christmas.  By holding that tension in place, we remember the humiliation our Lord took on by coming into this world as a baby, but He will come again arrayed in glory and splendor to rule and reign.  We remember that what was true in history will certainly come to pass as promised.  And while the Church Year was changed to begin with Advent, the focus has not changed: our Lord comes.

Somehow, I do not believe that there is much reflection of Jesus’ return in the checkout lines at the big-box store with the gifts purchased for Christmas morning.  Unbelievers will not; believers may not either.  I realize there is no way to reverse the trend, but we Christians should understand that our Lord returns, as the hymn puts it:

O blessèd hope!  O blissful promise!
Filling our hearts with rapture divine;
O day of days!  Hail Thy appearing!
Thy transcendent glory forever shall shine.

He is coming again, He is coming again,
The very same Jesus, rejected of men;
He is coming again, He is coming again,
With power and great glory, He is coming again!†

*  Technically, Advent begins on the Sunday before St. Andrew’s day, which in the U.S.A. is the Sunday after Thanksgiving Day.
†  Accessed at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/e/heiscoma.htm

Every Good Hymn Is a Sung Confession of the Word of God

Ronald Stephens has written some reflections as he looks toward Christmas at his church.  I really enjoyed what he said at the end of the post, especially this first sentence.

Every good hymn is a sung confession of the Word of God.  It works in concert with the Scripture readings and liturgy of the Divine Service, and mines the depths of God’s Word to bring Jesus to you.  A good hymn proclaims Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection for sinners, for us.  The same is true of Christmas carols, and “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is no different.  Here we sing of the Child of Bethlehem, born in our flesh to redeem us.

So as you sing the carol this year, remember that what you sing rolls St. Luke 1 & 2, St. John 1 & 10, Colossians 2, and the Nicene Creed into one hymnic confession.  Think for a minute what that means.  As you sing, you are confessing that to redeem you, almighty and eternal God Himself took on flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone to be your very Brother.  He becomes Man to join with you in your misery, to bear the load of your sin, to bear your punishment.  God has become Man for you.  Jesus has wrapped Himself in your flesh and placed Himself under the tree of the Cross for you.  And by the death, resurrection, and ascension of the enfleshed eternal Son, your human nature is exalted to the right hand of the Father.  There, Jesus intercedes for you as He prepares a place for you in His Kingdom.

Digital Story of the Nativity

Where's the Line to See Jesus?

Would your child ask that question?  One four-year-old did and inspired a song.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Here is a men's septet from Latvia singing one of my favorite Christmas songs in Latin.  Enjoy.

Getting Christmas Wrong

Two things reminded me of how normal people can have no pickin' clue about Christmas. The first is a post here at Cyberbrethren noting how a Christian retail group warns that Christmas may not be fun because of the economy. Obviously, I am not using the correct translation of Scripture, because my Bible does not say that spending money is what gives satisfaction. Satisfaction comes in giving of yourself and being content with what you have.


The second is a comic strip that Jim VanDuzer pointed out.

Now that's calling it like it is.