Thursday, December 17, 2009
Luke 1:31-33 "you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
FROM THE FATHER FORTH HE CAME
One could hardly blame Mary for focusing on the birth event of which Gabriel informs her. After all, this was the part of the angel's message that was to be fulfilled within the year--and that would involve her so personally. But as we prepare for another Christmas we cannot help but notice that the birth of this Holy Child is only the beginning of His great journey. Paul Gerhardt sums it up well in the second stanza of his Christmas hymn "All My Heart This Night Rejoices":
Forth today the Conqueror goeth,
Who the foe, Sin and woe,
Death and hell, o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
The Child to be born of the Virgin is not only the "Son of the Most High," He is coming into human flesh in order to do great things for our sin-enslaved race. In our behalf He will take on Satan, sin and hell itself. The road that begins at Bethlehem will eventually go through Golgotha, down into hell and . . . and back again.
But the descent into hell by the God-man, our Savior, will not be part of His suffering--or even part of the pitched battle with the Devil on Calvary's cross. Rather, as we come to Bethlehem we remember how this Little One, born subject to petty princes and Roman emperors, will travel a road that will finally sweep victoriously through the realms of the Prince of Darkness and then return through heaven's gates to heaven's throne. Oh, rejoice, ye Christians loudly.
From the Father forth He came
And returneth to the same,
Captive leading death and hell--
High the song of triumph swell!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 95:4)
