Meditations for Christmas Eve Candlelight Service – December 24, 2017
Meditation #1
One of the reasons we cherish our Lutheran hymns so much is because of their content. While there’s nothing wrong with singing hymns like “Shine, Jesus Shine,” or “No Mountain High Enough,” some hymns just do a better job of proclaiming the truths of God’s Word and God’s saving work. Take, for example, the words of this hymn: “Jesus, your blood and righteousness – my beauty are, my glorious dress.” Or how about these marvelous words: “O Jesus Christ, your manger is – my paradise where my soul is reclining. For there, O Lord, we find the Word, made flesh for us – your grace is brightly shining.”
It’s full of content. It is meat and potatoes. In poetry form connected with memorable music we find the teachings of God’s Word and the very gospel of our Savior.
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,”is one of those hymns. Written by a man named Charles Wesley in 1739, this hymn is a condensed lesson on Christian doctrine and the Words of Scripture. Just consider the first verse: “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King;Peace on earth and mercy mild.’”
Those opening three phrases come right out of the Bible in the account of the angel’s announcement to the shepherds of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:8–15: “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Then, as we continue through the first stanza, Wesley incorporates Law and Gospel into the song:“God and sinners reconciled!”
Now, the word “reconciled” is a beautiful Bible term. The basic meaning of the word is “to change.” In its earliest usage it was used to speak of “the business of money-changers, exchanging equivalent values.” Then it came to mean a change in relationship on the part of people, from a hostile relationship to one of peace and friendship. That’s what it is referring to in this hymn.
Of course, the two parties in this conflict are God and all of humanity. But let’s make sure we understand something – only one of those parties was causing the conflict – us! The problem here was caused by us with our sin. The sinful condition passed down to us from Adam – in which we were born – caused us to be God’s enemies. Our natural spiritual condition is hostility towards God. We wanted nothing to do with him. That’s just how corrupt, perverse, and wicked we are from birth.
God, on the other hand, is and always has been love. So, if a change in our relationship was to occur, God had to take the initiative. That’s exactly what he did. He took it upon himself to change our status from enemies to friends. He did that through Jesus, our mediator.
Now a mediator is a person who brings two sides together. In our society we think of them as one who negotiates a settlement – and one who usually does so by means of getting both sides to ‘give something up.’ But because of our original sinful condition, we couldn’t even move one inch toward God in order to bring about a reconciliation. So Jesus had to do all of the work. He had to be the one to destroy the barrier of sin that stood between us and God. He did just that by giving his life as satisfaction for our sins. He did that by dying on the cross to win our forgiveness.
This is what he came into the world to do. This is why the angels were singing this song of joy. We have every reason to join them.
Please stand
We Confess our Sins and Receive the Assurance of our Forgiveness – pg. 4 in bulletin
Meditation #2
Perhaps realizing that we are focusing on the stanzas of this hymn led you to pay close attention to the second verse we just sang. If you did, you will have noticed that it points us to the center of Christmas: “Christ, by highest heav’n adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord.”
And just what about Christ does the hymn writer want us to see: “Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with us to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel.” He wants us to see the biblical teaching of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Now, when we use the term incarnation, we mean the taking on of a human nature by the second person of our Triune God – God the Son. That means that Jesus Christ is both God and man in one person.
That’s exactly what the Bible makes clear. In passage after passage the Bible calls him both God and man; tells us he has both the characteristics of God and the characteristics of man; and shows us that he does the works of God and does the works of man.
But how can this be? How can true God and true man exist in the one person of Christ? Well, let God’s Word answer that for us. In Luke 1:26–38; 2:1–7, we see the story unfold: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her…
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
He was born of Mary – that means Jesus is true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit – that means Jesus is true God. By the operation and work of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin Jesus was enabled to take on our humanity without inheriting our sin.
But there’s another question we need to ask and answer - why did Jesus need to be true God and man? Well, without a human nature, without a rational soul and will, Jesus could not be our substitute. He would not have been able to carry out his saving work in accord with God the Father’s divine plan which called for a substitute, one who is like us, to live perfectly and die in the sinners’ place.
Yet at the same time, the Bible is abundantly clear: “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him— the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough (Psalm 49:7,8). So Jesus needed to be true God. In this way he could perfectly keep God’s commands. In doing so, the blood that he would shed on Calvary’s cross would be spotless, holy and perfectly acceptable to God the Father as payment for our sins.
A purely human Christ could never be our Savior. A purely divine Christ could never be our substitute. But how blessedly comforting for you and me that Jesus Christ is both God and man, human and divine. God’s own eternal Son loved us so much that he took on human flesh so that he could give himself for us! He and he alone did deal with our sin, guilt, punishment and curse!
We confess these truths as we join our hearts and voices together in the…
Congregational Responses – pg. 6 in bulletin
Please stand
Meditation #3
There is a saying that goes like this: born once, die twice; born twice, die once. What it is, is a memorable way of saying that when the only birth an individual experiences is their physical birth, they will die both a physical death and an eternal death. However, if someone is not only born physically, but by the working of the Holy Spirit is born spiritually and brought to faith, the only death they will die is a physical one – born once, die twice; born twice, die once.
The truth behind that saying is definitely Biblical. You might recall that when Jesus’ good friend Lazarus died, Jesus said to Lazarus’ sister Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25,26). In fact, the Bible repeatedly speaks of death for the believer – the one who has been born twice – with the tender term sleep. When speaking of Lazarus Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep” (John 11:11).
The problem is, when we were born into this world we were already dead – dead in our trespasses and sins. Because of that sinful condition passed down to us from Adam – we speak of that as our sinful nature – we were incapable of giving ourselves a second birth. We were destined to die twice – one of which would be eternal death in hell. So how can we be born twice in order to avoid two deaths? Only by the working of God the Holy Spirit!
That’s what Jesus was talking about when, speaking to a man named Nicodemus, he said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). He went on to explain what he meant: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5).
It is impossible for us to bring ourselves to faith. Spiritually dead people cannot make themselves alive. But, what is impossible for us is not impossible for God. Through the message of who Jesus is and what he has done to save us, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts the faith to believe that everything Jesus did he did for each of us personally. That’s what saving faith is! It is believing that a perfect union between us sinners and our holy God has been re-established because of Christ. The Holy Spirit works this faith – this second birth – through the good news of Jesus found in the word and connected with the waters of baptism.
And what are the results of this second birth? Well, everything good! The greatest, best, most glorious gifts one could ever receive. The forgiveness of our sins; the comfort of knowing we have been declared not guilty; deliverance from the power of death and the devil; peace for troubled consciences;hope in the midst of sorrow; joy in the midst of sadness; help in the midst of problems; confidence when all seems lost; courage when faith is attacked; knowing God as our heavenly Father; having Jesus as our brother; everlasting life in heaven; and even now, the ability and desire to live a life for God.
That’s right, because we have been given this second birth, we are a new person. The old person – who was controlled by the sinful nature – is gone. The new has come. We have been changed. We have now been set apart to live for God.
That means we want to be living differently than the unbelieving world. It means that we can’t be okay continuing to do things we know are contrary to what God’s Word says. It means that we won’t find it acceptable to willingly walk into sin. Instead, we will live in daily repentance, hate sin, want nothing to do with it, gladly turn away from it, and walk in the light and life Jesus brings – waiting for the day he raises us from this earth to the joys of heaven where sin will bother us no more.
All and only because with his perfect life, Jesus lived our perfect life; with his death on the cross, he paid for our sins; and with his resurrection he proved that everything he said is true and that we will rise too. This is what the Holy Spirit has brought us to believe when he gave us our second birth.
Take note of how we sing of these biblical truths in the final verse of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
Please stand