1. Join all ye joyful Nations
Th' acclaiming Hosts of Heaven!
This happy Morn
A Child is born,
To us a Son is given;
The Messenger and Token
Of GOD's Eternal Favour,
GOD hath sent down
To us his Son,
An Universal Saviour!
2. The wonderful Messias,
The Joy of every Nation,
JESUS his Name,
With GOD the same,
The Lord of all creation.
The Counsellor of Sinners,
Almighty to deliver,
The Prince of Peace,
Whose Love's Increase
Shall reign in Man for ever.
3. Go see the King of Glory,
Discern the Heavenly Stranger,
So poor and mean,
His Court an Inn,
His Cradle is a Manger;
Who from his Father's Bosom
But now for Us descended,
Who built the Skies,
On Earth he lies,
With only Beasts attended.
4. Whom all the Angels worship,
Lies hid in Human Nature;
Incarnate see
The Deity,
The Infinite Creator!
See the Stupendous Blessing
Which GOD to us hath given!
A Child of Man,
In Length of Span,
Who fills both Earth and Heaven.
5. Gaze on that Helpless Object
Of endless Adoration!
Those Infant-Hands
Shall burst our Bands,
And work out our Salvation;
Strangle the crooked Serpent,
Destroy his Works for ever,
And open set
The Heavenly Gate
To ever True Believer.
6. Till then, thou holy JESUS,
We humbly bow before Thee,
Our Treasures bring
To serve our King,
And joyfully adore Thee;
To Thee we gladly render
Whate'er thy Grace hath given,
Till thou appear
In Glory here,
And take us up to Heaven.
Again, so much to work with here and dwell upon in mystery and awe for Christ who became so small! From stanza 1, I'm struck with the fact that Christ is both "Messenger" and "Token" of our favor with God. The angels had sung that blessed night, "Peace on earth for those on whom His favor rests." And memorably, in Jesus' inaugural sermon/message (Luke 4), Jesus says that the Isaiah passage, which includes "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," is being fulfilled in him. So he's certainly the messenger of God's favor, but he's also the "token" of God's favor in that his redeeming death restored us to the favor of God. This is synonymous with John Wesley's assessment that the plain meaning of justification is 'pardon.' Jesus heard on more than one occasion, "This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased." Through his Incarnation, death, and resurrection, he has made it possible that we may hear the same!
Stanza 3 strikes me with paradox, once again, in the arrival of a King among the most humble of audiences. "His Court an Inn, His Cradle is a Manger." I almost wanted Charles to have said, "His Throne is a Manger" as a way of completing the analogy of a king's livelihood and place.
But it's stanza 5 that makes me want to shout more than anything in this! In it, Charles picks up on the notion from stanza 2 ("Almighty to deliver") when he uses language of victory, liberation, and destruction of evil to communicate the significance and meaning of Salvation. Several days ago, I wrote a post on John Wesley's sermon "The End of Christ's Coming" and discussed how the sermon was quite fitting to be read during Advent. This stanza of this hymn demonstrates that in poetic form: "Those Infant-Hands Shall burst our Bands, And work out our Salvation; Strangle the crooked Serpent, Destroy his Works for ever..." In Christ, our Victor, we have been given dominion over the power of sin and are promised that death, sin's consequence, is not final! In the general resurrection, Christ will have destroyed the final work of the devil. That's what makes this very fitting for Advent!
What else stands out to you?
No comments:
Post a Comment