Category: Incarnation

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Angels We Have Heard on High

In 1855 the French carol, Les Anges dan Nos Campagnes, was first published.  The tune, which tells of the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth, was later translated gloria in excelsis deoand published into English.  This refrain of the classic song takes the text from Luke 2:14 and provides the message the shepherds heard more than 2000 years ago; “Glory to God in the highest…”  Singing in Latin, we hear the angel’s song translated, “Gloria, in excelsis Deo!”

Each of the four verses build upon the shepherds experience and what they might have said following the angelic appearance.  “We have heard angels on high sweetly singing across the plain…” Perhaps as they ‘went back glorifying and praising God…’ they were asked “Shepherds, why are you so excited (jubilant)?  What good news (glad tidings) do you have?”  Perhaps they would have responded (and we sing), ‘Come to Bethlehem and see…’

But perhaps the most interesting part of this carol is to WHOM the angels first appeared.  Not the priest in shepherds-watched-their-flocksJerusalem, nor the scribes and scholars.  They didn’t even appear before the high ranking Jew’s leaders, the ones who were studied and anticipating the Messiah.  Instead, the angels appeared to the lowly shepherds.  Some have even concluded that perhaps these men tending their flocks were the same men who annually supplied lambs for the Passover sacrifices.  Just think, they left the lambs for God to meet the Lamb of God.

If we can better understand some of these songs of the season I believe we’ll be better equipped to not only sing them, but appreciate them.  Our “Christmas Song of the Day”…
.Angels We Have Heard on High.

 

Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains

CHORUS:

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be Which inspire your heavenly song?
Come to Bethlehem and see Him Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
See Him in a manger laid Jesus Lord of heaven and earth;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, While our hearts in love we raise.
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God With Us…Part Two

word became flesh

Part 2 of 2…Immanuel; God with Us!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1, 2, 14

Incarnation, by simple definition is, “God in the flesh!”  Let’s continue our thoughts about the Incarnation of Jesus the Christ…

It was foretold in Genesis 3:15 as God pronounces punishment on Adam and Eve and the serpent (Satan).  As the ‘serpent’ is given his consequence for deceiving/tempting Eve, God offers the hope of reconciliation to all mankind.  “…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.”  With the fall of man comes the plan for salvation, the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 

In Matthew chapter 1, prior to the birth of Jesus, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and confirmed the incarnation.  “…take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”  Perhaps 700 years earlier, Isaiah confirms this with his prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, “…The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  Immanuel, by definition, “God with us.”  We In the beginning was the Wordunderstand the incarnation was foretold and planned from the beginning of time.But perhaps the question we should be asking is, “Why would God become flesh?”  What would motivate a royal, divine, supreme being to descend to the ranks of mortal man?  Why?

Why did the Savior of mankind come to this earth in the first place?  Why would He come?  What determined his lowly state of birth and His humble circumstances?  God’s word, again, holds the key, but you have most likely sung the answer since you were a child.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  To know why incarnation was necessary is to know that, Jesus Loves Me.  “Why did my Savior come to earth and to the humble go?  Why did He choose a lowly birth?”  Why…Because He loved me so!

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God With Us…Part One

John 1...1Part 1 of 2…Immanuel; God with Us!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1, 2, 14

Incarnation, by simple definition is, “God in the flesh!”  The scripture explains it, and for years we have sung about it.  Perhaps you’ll remember some of these old hymns:

  • Come Thou Almighty King (“Come, Thou incarnate Word…”)
  • Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (“…veiled in flesh the Godhead see;hail the incarnate Deity; pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel…”)
  • One Day (“…one day when sin was a black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my example is He!”)
  • We Saw Thee Not (“We saw Thee not when Thou dids’t come to this poor world of sin and death, nor yet beheld Thy cottage home, in that despised Nazareth…”)we believe

So how do we explain such a miracle in time?  Certainly numerous questions come to mind when we consider incarnation.  “How can God become flesh?”  “What is the natural, logical property involved with incarnation?”  Read the words of God as we consider this holy phenomenon.  Paul writes in Colossians 3:9, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…”  Earlier in Colossians, Paul confirms the supremacy of Christ, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15)  Jesus the Christ was not 50% god and 50% man.  He came to earth 100% divine and 100% flesh.  Though the ‘logical properties’ may be unknown to us, for the believer we have blessed assurance that this mystery of Godliness is great.  We believe that He still came to earth, and everything we need to know about salvation and reconciliation with God is found in Christ Jesus.  We wasn’t born in palace as would be expected of royalty, his birth was in a lowly stable.  Royal recognition was gone and He came to experience royal rejection even by His kinsmen (Mark 3:21).  But still…He came.  The video below is a song from Donna Douglas and Pam Thumb that proclamations our faith. Listen to the message as you read the words.

Do we truly understand the sacrifice Jesus made in becoming our Immanuel?  “He left all heaven’s glory to fulfill the Father’s plan.”  A plan that was necessary for our salvation.  We might sing about it and we might know it’s ramifications, but do we truly appreciate it?  There was no out, no substitute as we read in Hebrews 9, “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.  For a covenant is valid only when men are dead…” (NAS)  But as the song continues, “…the hope of what He offered so out weighed what must be done.”  We have a means by which we are saved; through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  His death, burial and resurrection.

The follow up to this study (part 2) will explore the “WHY” behind the incarnation.
Look for part 2 in late May, 2013…