The Gospel
According to (Christmas) Carol
O
Come All Ye Faithful
(Be
sure to read the introduction to this series.)
God
has been speaking to humanity since Genesis, chapter 1. And I, for one, think
it is pretty cool that the first words that man ever heard were "Be
fruitful and multiply".
God
spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses. He spoke the 23rd Psalm into
David's heart. He spoke "I will be with you; I will not fail you or
forsake you" to Joshua. God spoke promises to the prophets, assurances to
Mary, wisdom to Solomon, church discipline to Paul, and stunning revelations
about the future to John. In fact, I believe the whole Bible is the inspired
word of God written down by faithful men.
Before
going on, give a listen to Acapella's version of "O Come All Ye
Faithful"
This
week's carol suggests that maybe we should capitalize "Word":
"Word of the Father now in flesh
appearing"
You
see, when Jesus stepped out of Heaven and into this world, He came as… how can
I say this? Well, put it this way, my voice and my words are the expression of
my thoughts. Jesus came as the expression of God's thoughts, His Words:
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. …
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full
of grace and truth. (John 1.1, 14)
You've
heard of the admonishment, "walk the walk and talk the talk" (or
however that goes). Jesus came as the Talk of God walking around.
And
something else stunning happened that first Christmas. It is something that God
wanted and mankind needed since that incident in the Garden in Genesis. On that
day, God drove man not just out of the garden, but also out of His presence. We
were created to crave a relationship with God. We need it! When Jesus, the Word
of God, appeared in flesh we got back what we had long ago lost – fellowship
with God.
Perhaps
that is why, of all the Christmas Carols, especially on this wonderful album of
carols performed by Acapella, there is one line that means more to me than any
other:
"Yea
Lord, we greet thee"
I
know, we are long removed from that stable in Bethlehem. I was not in the crowd
at the Sermon on the Mount. I was not at Calvary that dark day two thousand
years ago. I have not seen Jesus face-to-face. But I believe some day I will
see him face-to-face. And although I can't sing a lick, I can tell you for
sure, some day I am going to enter Heaven and I am going to sing out bright and
clear, "Yea Lord, I greet thee".
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