Saturday, December 19, 2015
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT: WITH THE DAWN OF REDEEMING GRACE
After all the preparation and all of the waiting, the day will come at last!
Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light and usher in the morning!
If you cannot be home that day, you are in good company. Mary could not be home in Nazareth to deliver her first baby, either. For "so it was, that while they were [in Bethlehem] the days were accomplished that she should be delivered." Perhaps she did not mind, and was just glad that the day had finally arrived.
Of course, after all the waiting, a birthday is just the first day. Who knows what will follow? In medieval history, for example, there are a lot of famous people whose exact birth-date, even the year or the decade, are unknown. It was not recorded for the generations to come, simply because it was not known at the time that the child would become famous in some way. Nor did the leaders in Israel's capital take note of the birth of a "poor carpenter's son."
But God knew the day and the hour and what this Child would accomplish! And the angels knew, too. When that day dawned, it was the dawn of more than Jesus' birthday. This world's clock struck the hour of Redemption that day -- our Redemption -- of which we still sing! For us that Child will live the perfect life that we should live, for us He will suffer the penalty we deserved. Because He was called "son of man" we are called "children of God." It's a wonderful life indeed that lies before us on the day of His birth!
Hail now! ever blessed morn;
Hail redemption's happy dawn;
Sing through all Jerusalem,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
