A Hymn to God the Father

A Hymn to God the Father
by John Donne

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more. 

Relationship, Not Religion?

I've addressed the phrase "Relationship, not religion" before, but I'd like here to trace its evolution and implore believers to be careful and precise in what they say because most of the believers I know who say this phrase don't realize that what they mean often isn't heard.

Spiritual, but Not Religious
When I was in college, this phrase was all the rage.  At the time, most churches blew it off.  Eventually, the secular world did, too.  At first it meant that someone had some kind of spirituality in his or her life, but no ties to any denomination or world religion.  Later, as it became overused, it took on a connotation of someone flighty and wishy-washy, someone unwilling to stand on what he or she really believed.  However, even as the phrase lost its power, its ideas stuck with society.  We see this in the fact that more people than ever claim no religion at all, yet many also claim they are spiritual or have some kind of spiritual belief.  The phrase fits our relativistic society well: You be spiritual the way you want, I'll be spiritual the way I want and no one's wrong or right.

Relationship, Not Religion
Enter the church.  As society began to drift heartily away from the Christian church, the church took notice.  Realizing that spirituality had become a focus, the church put forth this phrase.  Do you notice that, in fact, "relationship, not religion" is a parallel phrase to "spiritual, but not religious"?  To attract our culture and draw people in, the church took up a "spiritual" mantra.  "No, it isn't about religion," the church said.  "When you come into our church, we aren't about that religious stuff.  We're about a relationship with God/Jesus."  But what did the church mean by that?  At first, and often still today, the church actually means "Relationship, not legalism," but that doesn't have two catchy R's in it and smacks of Christianese so it doesn't get a pass.  Still, most churches who used the phrase and still do will go on to explain its meaning.  What they mean is that Christianity isn't about following a bunch of rules to get to God.  It isn't even about following a bunch of rules to get God to like me after I'm saved.  I love God, I have a relationship with him and I obey him simply because I love him so much.  Friends, that is the truth!  Christianity can never be what it is intended to be if you operate in legalism.  A heart that loves God is a heart that obeys God because it loves him.  If that is true, then why is this phrase a problem at all?

Relationship, Not Religion--Alternate Meaning
Today this phrase is bandied around quite a bit.  But if you ever hear someone say it, your next question should be, "What do you mean by that?"  Because this phrase has moved away from "relationship, not legalism."  Slowly, this phrase has morphed into meaning "relationship, not doctrine."  Many churches today shy away from any emphasis or talk of doctrine.  The line is this: "Look, we are just about having a relationship with Jesus. We don't claim that he's God or the only way.  You don't need 'salvation' to come to him.  The Bible isn't really trustworthy anyway, but you can still learn from Jesus and have a relationship with him."  In the Bible belt where I live, evangelical churches are often blissfully unaware of this understanding of the phrase "relationship, but not religion."  However, many other churches around the country do taut this meaning as well as many secular venues.  I saw an example of this while reading an article on a secular news site.  The author claimed he was a Christian and said that there were some things the church needed to give up, among them the fact that Jesus is the only way, the fact that the Bible can be trusted, the fact that the Bible has anything meaningful to say on moral issues like homosexuality, etc.  By the end of the article I found myself asking, "Why are you even a Christian?"  He threw out all the Christian foundations.  How can he be a Christian?  Because he's got a relationship, he doesn't need religion and by religion, he means doctrine.  I'm going to get close to Jesus, but I don't need his truth claims.

So, Christian friends, we need to be aware of the meaning of this phrase.  Inadvertently, the church has pushed the first phrase above: "spiritual, but not religious."  "Relationship, but not religion" has evolved into a phrase that equals "spiritual, but not religious."  It has come to widely mean I'll take the relationship with Jesus, but not the Bible's truth claims.  Some people may wonder why this matters.  It's just words.  Friends, words are meant to communicate ideas.  There is power in words to formulate thinking.  I am reminded of a similar issue that started with Thomas Aquinas.  Before Aquinas, most biblical scholars focused on the fact that God is sovereign and reveals himself to man.  Aquinas, however, asserted that God can be known to an extent without special revelation.  That is, man can observe the world and know God.  Aquinas was correct according to Romans 1.  But Aquinas would also note that some things cannot be known by man without God telling him.  However, this idea that God can be known without the Word took root.  It next became, "If I can know about God with my own senses, I can trust myself over the Bible," then "If I can know about God with my own senses, I don't need the Bible" and eventually, "If I don't need the Bible and I can trust myself, then I don't need God at all."  Phrases and words move cultures.  What will be the next meaning of "Relationship, not religion"?

How do we handle this?  Define your meaning, my Christian friend.  Speak accurately and be clear.  Realize that catch phrases in the church have different meanings and make sure when you speak those around you know what you mean.
                                                                                                                                  
For previous posts on this topic, see below...

Christianity IS a Religion
Jesus, Redeemer of Religion
Don't Throw Out the Baby with the Bathwater

Jesus Can't Show Up If I'm Alone?

Several times on this blog I've dealt with scripture that has been taken out of context.  Recently a friend of mine (Thank you, Melanie!) pointed out a verse that is commonly taken out of context.  It's one I had never thought of but realized is terribly confusing when not put in its proper place.  It's Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."  This is often used by Christians to state that when they pray together, Jesus shows up.  But, wait?  If that's what it means, then apparently Jesus just can't be with me when I pray alone.  I mean, he's going to be there when two or three are there, but not one.  Right?  Wrong. Friends, Jesus doesn't need people to be together to show up.  I'll let you in on a secret: Jesus is God and that means he's omnipresent.  He's already with you!  If that is true, then what does this verse mean?  Let's take a look at the context.

Here are the verses that come before Matthew 18:20: "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven."

The context of Matthew 18:20 is church discipline.  If we go back to Matthew 18:1, we discover that Jesus was talking to the disciples, not a general crowd.  Jesus is instructing the disciples, future leaders of the church, how to handle discipline issues in the church. The picture is of a brother in the church who is stubbornly committing sin.  He is approached one on one, but doesn't listen.  He then is approached by two or three people, so that there are witnesses to the fact that he refuses to listen.  Then, the matter is brought before the church body.  Jesus then notes that the disciples as leaders of the church will have the weight of the authority of heaven on their sides.  In Matthew 18:20, who are the two or three gathered?  Where have we seen the number of people before in the context? Matthew 18:16, the one or two you take along to talk to the erring brother.  What is Jesus' point in Matthew 18:20 then?  That when the disciples, the leaders of the church, approach an erring church member together, they come as if Jesus was physically standing with them.  The weight of Jesus' authority is with them in the room.  They discipline with his authority.

Dr. Thomas L. Constable says it this way: "It should be obvious from the context that this promise does not refer to whatever two or three disciples agree to ask God for in prayer. The Bible contains many promises concerning prayer (cf. 7:7-8; 21:22; John 14:13-14; 15:7-8, 16; 1 John 5:14-15; et al.), but this is not one of them. In the context 'anything' refers to any judicial decision involving an erring disciple that the other disciples may make corporately. God has always stood behind His judicial representatives on earth when they carry out His will (cf. Ps. 82:1). This is a wonderful promise. God will back up with His power and authority any decision involving the corporate discipline of an erring brother or sister that His disciples may make after determining His will. Here again (v. 20) Jesus takes God's place as "God with us" (1:23; 2:6; 3:3; 11:4-6, 7-8; cf. 28:20). This statement implies a future time when Jesus would not be physically present with His disciples, the inter-advent age, specifically the period following His ascension and preceding His
return."

So there you have it.  Jesus is with you all the time.  You don't need to be with people for Jesus to be with you.  This verse has nothing to do with prayer whatsoever.  What an assurance that even alone, I can know Jesus is with me.

A Critical Appraisal of Current Worship Music and a Resolution

Before I get to the main discussion, I need to start with a disclaimer. This post is not meant to indict certain people or their motivations. I will not be mentioning any songs or artists in particular because I am not writing this to pick on Christian artists or raise up certain artists by putting others down. What I am hoping to do in this post is help Christians to critically consider what we offer to God in the way of worship. I think if we could honestly take a step back and look at our worship objectively, we might be able to recapture worship worthy of His glory.  By worship in this post, I mean music. Yes, worship is far more than that. But for the sake of clarity, when I mention worship, I mean when we stand before God and sing to him. I will be addressing four topics for consideration: the music, the lyrics, the congregation and the resolution.

1) The Music--This post has come about from a video I saw on YouTube. I've had issues with worship music for years, but Jordan nailed it when he made this video. Pretty much what Jordan is pointing out in a funny way is the issue. Our worship music is the same old same old all the time. Same old isn't necessarily bad, but we seem to have found ourselves in a  rut. One author, Brett McCracken, describes current worship music like this: "It’s 90% crappy, knock-off Keane or secondhand U2 (i.e. it is usually very predictable and unoriginal)." Yep. I know exactly what style of music I will hear at church every Sunday. Once again, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. But I can't help and ask myself why the church can't do better. We've got to have amazing musicians in the church that can do better than the same 4 chords over and over, right?

McCracken also notes this: "It’s more about creating an emotional response than eliciting a profound spiritual reflection. The measure of a good worship leader is often how many in the audience stand up or raise their hands out of their own volition." I am a hand raiser. But I'm a weird hand raiser and maybe that's because it took me a long time to be able to raise my hands. I raise my hands when I want to say something to God, not because the music told me to. Seriously, just watch how people raise hands during the worship set. The hands go up when the music gets really fast or loud. The music is designed to elicit a certain response. Is there a lot of thought going on at that point? Maybe...but maybe not. I've heard multiple people in the Christian music industry state that music that sells is music that provides an experience to the audience. Lest we forget, Christian music is an industry at this point. That means it must make money. To make money it must sell and what makes money is what people buy because it makes them feel.

Now, I know some would just skewer me here: "How can you judge someone's music experience?" This question in and of itself frustrates me because it reveals a current way of thinking that gets to me: music is relative. That is, it doesn't matter much what it sounds like or says. Anything goes as long as I feel close to God. Music is outside any kind of critical thinking. I find it interesting to note modern Christians' own response to the emotional evangelism of the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening was a time in American history where people were converted by the hundreds and thousands. And how were they? By preachers yelling about hell and damnation, by being stirred up to faint in the aisles and collapse to the ground. We modern Christians look back at that and say, "Well, how many were real conversions? I mean, they just got all hyped up. How many actually stayed in the faith?" Do you see the irony here? We are skeptical about preaching that makes the gospel purely emotional. Yet we don't see any danger in music we are offering to God that might be eliciting only emotion.

2) The Lyrics--Of course, the lyrics reflect the music. Most of them are similar. And mostly they are romanticized. It's a sad state of affairs when a character on the secular and heinous show South Park points out, "All we have to do to make Christian songs is take regular old songs and add Jesus stuff to them. See? All we have to do is cross out words like 'baby' and 'darling' and replace them with Jesus." Ouch. As a Christian, that hurts. Is there nothing different between Christian worship music and music that worships the secular world? Can we create nothing that speaks a better word? This trend I fear is reflective of the "relationship not religion" popular way of thinking. We don't want songs that have any kind of theology or dogma in them. That won't draw me close to God emotionally and give me the experience of worship I want. A commenter (John Kelly) on a site I read said this: "Maybe we are writing more shallow, simple worship music because we are more shallow, simple people... and were just writing from what we know... David wrote long complicated and wordy laments because that was who he was and that was the culture...Is it wrong that we may write music from who we are? Or should we just pretend we're deeper than we are?" Another ouch. Could it be our worship music reflects the shallow people that we are? John Kelly asks some provocative questions. If our music reflects our shallow relationships with God's truth, then we need to rethink our very lives. As a way of rethinking, I want to point out the reason Jesus said he came to earth: "For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me" (John 18:37). Nowhere does Jesus say in the Bible: "I came to make sure everyone felt cuddled and warm and fuzzy." Of course, this doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't love people or want to love us physically. He likens Jerusalem to a city he wants to hold under his wings like a mother hen protecting her chicks and the church to a beloved bride. But that doesn't change the fact that Jesus' number one concern was objective truth claims about who he was and who God is. Could it be this is where our music could differ from the world's? Could Christian music seek more than emotional response?

Another problem with lyrics: they can be at the least nonsensical, at the worst wrong. This is where music relativism rears its ugly head the most. Worship music, most think, cannot be judged.* The common thinking is that an artist spent his time pouring out his heart to God to write that, so you can't judge it. Wait a minute. I can critically scrutinize the sermon a pastor worked on for months, but I can't touch a song? Christian songs that purport to claim truth about God can and should be judged. I often tell my students to never turn off their brains. This includes music. Are the lyrics in the music true? I have heard many worship songs where the lyrics were just plain biblically wrong. One of them attempted to use a scripture, but changed some terms, completely changing the meaning to a biblical untruth. When we sing we must think.

3) The congregation--This is where it gets personal. So far I can pretty much blame musical artists. But what about me? I'd like to look at a passage of scripture, Isaiah 1:11-13. In this passage, God addresses the sacrifices of Israel. Sacrifices were designed to express relationship with God (three out of the five types of sacrifices have nothing to do with sin whatsoever). Israel had gone its own way, focused on its own desires rather than God. Yet the people still went to the temple to sacrifice. In this context, God says this: "'What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?' says the LORD. 'I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me.'" The sacrifices were worthless because they were done out of meaningless tradition. God did not want meaningless worship. We must critically ask ourselves, "What does my worship sound like to God?" Am I uttering trite phrases over and over without a thought? Is music relative to me? That is, if I don't get a sweet, fluffy feeling, do I tell myself I haven't worshipped? Do I sing untruths, claiming my life is for God alone, when I have expressly excluded God from areas of my life?

4) The resolution--It is my contention that the banal music and lyrics of our worship music makes it extra hard for our worship to be real. It's so easy to come to church and mouth words on a screen and not think about them once. I do this all the time. Same old songs, same old music, same old lyrics. I get lulled into a timeless existence where the music just flows around me, but really without me. But let's face facts: this is our culture. The music isn't going to change anytime soon. So I can sit around and grouse about that or I can do something about it. Here is what I have done to try and make my worship meaningful to me and the Lord--1. Really hear/read the words. Don't just passively sing. Make sure you know what you are singing. If it is a biblical untruth, stop singing. I sometimes stop even if it just isn't personally true, if singing it would be lying to God. 2. Talk to God during the music. Make it a prayer. Take a moment to turn it in inward, to reflect on it. There's a reason Psalms, the Bible's songbook, has indications to pause (selah). I wish music would just stop sometimes so we could reflect on what we are singing instead of just plugging along. 3. React to God's truth, not the emotional push. You don't have to raise your hands with everyone else if it's a meaningless act for you. Maybe you need to just sit down, even though every worship leader commands you to stand. Maybe you need to kneel. Maybe you just need to stand there and think about what you are singing.

When it all comes down to it, I just want to implore my fellow brothers and sisters to worship God in spirit and truth. As we come to God in worship, let's keep our brains active. We can hope that worship music will someday step outside the common to reflect an uncommon God, but in the meantime, we'll make sure we enter worship eyes, ears and brain wide open.

*A word on the term judge--The common response in Christian circles to any use of the term judge is "Who are you to judge? Jesus said judge not lest you be judged." Those that levy this response seem to forget that all throughout the New Testament, Christians are called to make judgments, to determine if something lines up with the truth or is false. There are two senses of the word "judge" even in English. Judge can mean to condemn or judge can mean to consider critically. I am not saying here that we need to go into churches and start railing about the music and having hissy fits. I am saying that we need to be willing to critically consider the music we produce.

Christmas Truth: "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" Part 3

This is the last part of three posts I've published that are meditations on the theological song "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  If you want to read the previous two parts, you can find them here and here.  Let me sum up what the first two stanzas of the song have taught us: Jesus is the almighty King worshipped by angelic servants who brings peace and mercy as he paves the way for the reconciliation of God and man.  He has come for everyone on the earth as the Messiah, a fulfillment of prophecy.  Even more amazing, he is God, deity incarnated in a virgin's woman, another fulfillment of prophecy.  He has come voluntarily to dwell with us, to be Emmanuel.  And now, the last stanza.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness
Piggybacking on the previous stanza, this stanza again emphasizes that Jesus is from heaven.  He comes to earth from heaven because he is God.  He is the Prince of Peace, an allusion to another fulfilled prophecy found in Isaiah 9:6.  The Prince of Peace in Isaiah is also called "Mighty God."  No doubt about it, the Prince of Peace is God.  Thus, he can truly be deemed righteous.  He is the son of righteousness, that is, all that is righteous proceeds from him and is in him.  He is truth and morality and holiness.

Light and life to all he brings, Risen with healing in his wings
Now we get to the clincher--the why this king, Messiah, Christ Jesus has come.  The first stanza hinted that he would reconcile man and God, but how?  This stanza says that he will bring light and life.  That he is risen is a hint to his death.  This Messiah will die and yet rise again and come with healing for man in his wings.  As for the wings, I can't help but think of Jesus crying out as he came into Jerusalem, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings."  Indeed, he would rise showing that healing could only come to those who gather themselves under his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die
This healing that will come is not for temporary sickness, but for the pervasive sickness that leads all men to death: sin.  In humility, the Messiah left heaven for earth (already described in the second stanza) so that man would no longer die.  If he will no longer die, then this must mean the Messiah will solve man's sin problem.

Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth
Here then is the crux: Through Christ's own death and resurrection, man can himself die and be raised to life.  Man can receive a second birth into life devoid of sin and live eternally.  I am reminded here of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus: "In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'  'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.'"  Through rebirth through Christ, man lives again one with the Spirit.  His sin problem and thus death is conquered.  This, then, is the truth of Christmas.  We celebrate the incarnation because it leads to our freedom from sin and death.  The true joy of Christmas rests in our own salvation through the sacrifice of the incarnate God. 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

Christmas Truth: "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" Part 2

This is the second part of a meditation on the stanzas of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  If you want to read the first part, you can do that here.  I am looking particularly at the theology found in the song.  I consider it to be the most theological of all the Christmas songs I know.  We saw last time that the first stanza makes the following declarations about Jesus: He is the almighty King worshipped by angelic servants.  He is the one who will bring peace and mercy as he paves the way for the reconciliation of God and man.  He has come for everyone on the earth.  He is the Messiah and his birth fulfills prophecy.  Let's now see what the second stanza proclaims about the Messiah.

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord
This refers back to stanza one where Jesus is also worshipped by angels.  But why is he worshipped?  The second half of the line explains--He's the everlasting Lord.  The king and Messiah of the first stanza is now declared to be something even greater--the Lord himself.  He's not just a king that lasts for a day; he's the everlasting Lord.  Thus, he is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords.  He is God himself.

Late in time behold him come, offspring of the Virgin's womb
Late in time does not mean that Jesus was late or should have shown up earlier.  The phrase means here that a long time elapsed from his promised coming to the time he arrived.  He was promised as early as Genesis 3.  The earth has waited in anticipation for a long time.  When he arrives, this Lord adored by angels is conceived in the womb of a virgin.  This is both a fulfillment of prophecy and a hint the reason for why he was to come.  He had to be born a man to complete the mission ahead of him.  (In Genesis 3:15, we see a promise that an offspring will come of woman that will crush the serpent, so this line also bridges the gap between Genesis and the gospels, that the time has elapsed to the promise's fulfillment when the offspring is formed in a woman's womb).

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity
This line gives me chills.  Jesus' flesh is a covering for the Trinity (yes, this song declares the Trinity!).  We are staring right at the Trinity when we see Jesus for he exists one with his father and the Spirit at all times.  As he is the God, the Trinity, we are called to hail him just like the angels, to hail God incarnated in flesh.

Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel
Jesus is not forced to come.  He has not been pushed or manipulated or tricked.  He is pleased to dwell with man.  He has a reason to come and he loves man enough to come, to forsake the worship of angels above and live as a human being.  He will know our temptations and trials and pains.  He will walk among us so that he can love us and show us the better way.  He will draw us close with physical arms.  He will be with us, the meaning of Emmanuel.  In fact, through the gospel he teaches us he will never leave us or forsake us.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, 

who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:14

Christmas Truth: "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"

A few years ago, my husband and I went to a Christmas concert at a local symphony center.  For the last part of the performance, the symphony and its choir asked the audience to stand and sing, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" along with them.  I've always liked this particular Christmas song because it is sung at the end of my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life.  However, I have to admit that as is often the case, I had sung this song many times, but not paid close attention to its words.  It was about Jesus' birth and angels heralding it.  Got it.  But that night, as I followed the words to the song, I found myself floored.  I was struck by the fact that "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" is the most theological Christmas song I've ever heard, and here were hundreds of people singing it, singing truth out to God, even if they didn't personally believe it.

For this Christmas I'd like to offer three meditations on my now favorite Christmas song, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  I'm going to approach it one stanza per post because I don't want to rush it.  It's just too beautiful.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"
In this song, Jesus' entrance into the world is announced with gusto.  He doesn't come silently, just a babe--no, he comes with angelic servants proclaiming that he is a king.  The angels reveal to the shepherds the truth that the king has arrived.  This is a baby born with powerful authority.

"Peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."
What has this mighty king come to do?  To fight?  To throw off Rome?  No, to bring peace, not a sword.  He comes with mercy.  His plan is far grander than physical battle, more far reaching than the shepherds could dream.  The king is not coming to concern himself merely with the restoration of Jewish power.  He is coming to bring God to sinners.  Sinners?  Yes, to mankind whose problem is not Rome, but its darkest heart of sin.  This king will wipe clean the darkness of man's heart and fill it with the light of God.

Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies
Even more far reaching!  The king has not come only to Israel, but to all nations, to all men.  Every person on earth is to have the joy of reconciliation available to his heart.  Those who are reconciled worship along with angelic servants the one that has drawn them near by banishing their darkness.

With the angelic host proclaim, "Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Oh the depth of this one line!  Those who are reconciled, what do they proclaim?  "Christ is born in Bethlehem."  Such a simple line, but so deeply profound.  The king is Christ, that is, Messiah.  This is confirmed because he is born in Bethlehem, a fulfillment of prophecy.  This then, is not just any king--he is the foretold king from the Old Testament, the Messiah, the Suffering Servant, the Son of Man.  He has come, the one the Jews have waited for, the one who will change all history by his arrival.  You cannot deny his truth, because fulfilled prophecy testifies to his identity.

Wow.  The theology in this song awes me.  In this one stanza we have these declarations about Jesus: He is the almighty King worshipped by angelic servants.  He is the one who will bring peace and mercy as he paves the way for the reconciliation of God and man.  He has come for everyone on the earth.  He is the Messiah and his birth fulfills prophecy. 

"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,

praising God and saying,

'Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven,

the shepherds said to one another,

'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,

which the Lord has told us about.'"

Luke 2:13-15