Joy to the World, The Lord Is Come - Part 2

 

Michael continues: Jesus Christ came with the dawn of redeeming grace. For although we were deserving of death, He who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf.  He bore the penalty of our sin. For in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. His birth was the dawn of redeeming grace. He came to a world dead in trespasses and sin ... a world deserving of death and condemnation. However, though we were unworthy, He made us worthy and now by His grace, His mercy has made us his own.

Because Jesus Christ was born as the Redeemer of the world, we can have joy. This is the theme of the carol “Joy to the World”: Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let heaven and nature sing ... The glories of his righteousness and wonders of His love. He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove. The glory of His righteousness and wonder of His love. The birth of Christ confirmed the angels proclamation to certain shepherds on a Judean hillside: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Even though the enemy’s ploys to enslave men and women has not changed, Jesus Christ was born to set the prisoners free. The essay, “One Solitary Life” from a sermon attributed to James Allen Francis says, “He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.”

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.*

Jesus Christ is the central theme of the history of mankind. He came to bring the light of the gospel of peace to a world of darkness. The Christmas message is that we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The greatest Christmas present is the presence of God in Christ in us the hope of glory. Rejoice! Rejoice, Christ the Savior is born that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael