FRIDAY December 20th
I am going to take us to one of my favourite carols today, I love the tune, and I love the words, ‘Silent night, Holy night’ and here is verse 3 depending upon which version you use, for as it is with many carols the words seem to be altered according to the source or song book used.
Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
I wonder if asked how you would sum up that first ‘Christmas’ morning, I wonder what you would say. I think it could be summed up in many ways, possibly none better than the way the angel summed it up to the shepherds (oh dear the shepherds again! blame my farming background for being drawn to them!) ‘“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,”’ Luke 2:10–11.
But I think that the fourth line of the verse that I have quoted above, is a good summary ‘with the dawn of redeeming grace’, for there in the cradle or manger whatever word you want to use was ‘grace’, and not just grace but ‘redeeming grace’. For the scripture tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
Think about it, we are all born in sin, and as sinners we are dead, cut off from God and deserving of all that God has prepared for the children of disobedience.
YET despite mankind’s ongoing rebellion toward God, which initially came through the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden, God out of his abounding love and because of his amazing grace and astonishing mercy, chose to take the steps necessary to bring about an incredible plan of salvation, and God chose, planned and prepared even before the foundation of the world that he would show his grace to fallen humanity by becoming man, by being born in the humblest of circumstances and so the birth of the baby marked the dawn of redeeming grace.
John tells us in the first chapter of his gospel, ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ The baby in the manger was full of grace, I suggest also that he was and is grace, for Jesus himself is grace, or grace is Jesus. And in Ephesians 2, Paul reminds us that it is by grace we are saved—that is redeeming grace.
So, give thanks this Christmas season, for the dawn of redeeming grace, and remember we are still in the day of God’s grace, and it is through the preaching of, or our sharing of the gospel, be it from the pulpit or our personal witness that God by his Spirit is still reaching out to broken lives with his redeeming grace.
This is the final devotion for 2024 as I will have a break over the next two weeks from sending them out, giving me opportunity to catch up with preparing more for the new year, recommencing on January 6th. So, thank you to all who have either read the devotions or listened to the audio versions. On behalf of Emmanuel Pentecostal Church in Gateshead I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.