Christmas post #4 - Angels

So we saw in post number 3 the mentioning of angels. And we put angels or stars on top of our Christmas trees. Why? Because it symbolizes the Archangel Gabriel, the chief of God's messengers. God's own herald. He's that great guy who came to Joseph and told him about Mary being pregnant. He told Mary she was going to BE pregnant. He's that neato guy that led the heavenly host in the 'glory of heaven' when he announced Christ's birth to the shepherds in the fields. He was the same guy who also came to Joseph and warned him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to avoid the slaughtering of the children by King Herod (Yeah that guy was REALLY nasty in antiquity). So in a bit of a tribute to good ol' Gabriel and all his work that he did for God being the grandest messenger boy (and probably the patron saint of the postal service) in the history of the world.

The year? 1739. The person? Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley the founder of the Methodist Church in England. The next person? Felix Mendelssohn in 1840. And last but not least, in 1855, William Cummings, an English musician. Charles Wesley wrote the original song and lyrics, but was a fan of the much more somber and grave songs that had dominated ecclesiastical music for centuries. A hundred years or so later, Felix Mendelssohn wrote a piece of music for a cantata to commemmorate the creation of the printing press by Gutenberg. Lastly? William Cummings said "Hey this piece of music fits these lyrics and makes a pretty wonderful song..." And combined Mendelssohn's music with Wesley's words, creating what we know today and the subject of this Christmas post: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

Hark! The Herald Angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King"
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! The herald angels sing:
"Glory to the newborn King"

Hark! The Herald Angels sing/Glory to the newborn King
As we've seen in Silent Night and Let All Mortal Flesh..., the Angels proclaiming the birth of Christ as the King is well established in both the old and the new testament.

Peace on Earth and mercy mild/God and sinners reconciled/Joyful all ye nations rise/Join the triumph of the skies/With the angelic host proclaim/"Christ is Born in Bethlehem"
We see in the book of Isaiah, Chapter 9, Verse 6 "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". That very Prince of Peace is Jesus Christ come to Earth to spread the mercy of God "but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:7). God and sinners are reconciled. The broken relationship dating back through Original Sin all the way to now is healed. Jesus as God with Us (Emmanuel) preparing the way for the Holy Spirit who is God withIN us. All the nations rise and join the triumph of heaven. All people of all nations, not just the nation of Israel, have cause for celebration.

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored/Christ the everlasting Lord!/Late in time behold Him come/Offspring of a Virgin's womb/Veiled in flesh the Godhead see/Hail the incarnate Deity
"Of the increase of His government and Peace there will be no end..." (Isaiah 9:7). Christ IS the everlasting Lord. This also refers to the Temple in the sky that Christ references as building without hands throughout all four gospels. It took a long time for Jesus to come. The Israelites were constantly being shoved into one exile after another. First they tried a patriarchy with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the rest. That didn't work. Then they thought of high Judges. Well we saw how well Sampson worked out sporting a crew cut. Then there were the Kings, Saul, David, and Solomon. Those didn't work out too well to be honest either. Finally we have the prophets. Isaiah, Elijah, and Elisha, as well as the minor prophets that follow. During this time we also had Moses leading them out of Exile in Egypt only to have them relax just so the Babylonians could come take them away and return them again as a very fractured people. Jesus definitely came late to the party. The Virgin Mary is something that not many Protestants understand, so I'm going to take the simplest answer I can and plop it out here. Original Sin is something that is a human trait. We're all born with it. We're all created by it. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. That's the dual nature of Christ in one person. He's fully human so He is one of us and can feel and experience all of the things that we can and do. He's fully divine so that He can conquer death and reconcile God to us. He IS the living bridge between Heaven and Earth. In order however, to make sure that His human side was not tainted and broken away from God by Original Sin, the Sin of Adam and Eve in Eden, Jesus had to be born without it. But how is he going to be born without it if Mommy dearest, Fully human mommy dearest, has Original Sin? Simple. Make Mary a virgin birth as well. Mary was utterly clean and came into and lived in this world as an obedient and Virginal woman, free from Original Sin. THAT is why Mary is so very important.

Pleased as man with man to dwell/Jesus, our Emmanuel
Christ came to this world not as an Angel. He didn't come down as a burning bush. He didn't come down as anything else that could be encountered by people who would immediately know Him as God. As a matter of fact, He came down here as an ordinary guy. Even the Apostles never really figure it out until the Transfiguration found in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36. And even then it's only three of his Apostles, Peter, John, and James, who find out and they're sworn to secrecy! So Jesus was content to come live among humanity as a man without everyone knowing, and of course Jesus is God as well. Jesus, our Emmanuel, the God with us.

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!/Hail the Son of Righteousness/Light and life to all He brings/Ris'n with healing in His wings
He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Son of God who by definition is Righteousness, Justice, Love, Virtue, and Grace. Jesus brings Light into Darkness (See John 1:1-14). You know that bit in Genesis where there was Darkness and suddenly there was Light? Then life? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:1-5) It was through Jesus that God created everything. Pretty powerful stuff we're dealing with here now. Risen with healing in His wings. His entire mission here on Earth, the purpose behind Him coming down was to heal the rifts between Heaven and Earth. Could Jesus have set up shop in Jerusalem as a worker of wonders and just tapped people all day long to heal their diseases? Sure He could have. But that's not Christ's job. His job isn't to heal the physical ailment of the body, something bound to the Earth. His job is to heal the ailment of the soul that is the separation from the Eternal love of our Heavenly father.

Mild he lays his glory by/Born that man no more may die/Born to raise the sons of Earth/Born to give them second birth
What did I just say? He lays the Glory of Heaven. He leaves it all behind to be here among us, meek and mild mannered. Born that man no more may die, to raise the sons of Earth, to give them second birth? He's come to give us eternal life in heaven with God. He's come to raise up the sons of Earth, us, humanity, humankind, and give us a new life. A NEW life, not the OLD life. A NEW life, a Second Birth. One where we will not be separated from the love, glory, and grace of heaven and our Father.

If there was ever a Christmas gift given, that is bar none the greatest one of all. A Father who loves all of us, yes ALL of us, so much that He is willing to tear Himself open, to share in our suffering by dying for all of us. Why? To prove a point that He's God? To guilt trip us every Sunday into feeling bad about what we did Monday through Saturday? No!

Because God hurt and ached when humanity betrayed God's love in paradise. When humankind turns away from that grace that God offers, it hurts. And God has reached out to everyone, offering them a hand, saying in a quiet, demure, mild voice of a man dying on a cross, that He would not be God without us. That He refused to exist any longer without us in His life. He was willing to live for us and give us life to be with Him. And He was willing to die for us to bring us back closer to Him. There is no greater love ladies and gentlemen, than to live and die to be there with another person. God did that for everyone, past, present, and future.

I hope those reading this enjoyed number 4. Only 2 more to go! Join us tomorrow evening, Christmas Eve, for O Holy Night, and then Christmas Day for that beautiful work by Handel, Joy to the World!