Perhaps everyone experiences this at least once in their lifetime… a moment of actually thinking about the words we sing at Christmastime. This has happened to me the past couple of weeks unlike years before.
I’ve always had a few favorites that I’ve really thought about. This year, though, as I’ve heard familiar carols sung in different styles and actually looked at the words, the idea of the incarnation has been exploding in my mind and heart.
“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” wasn’t a carol I would have considered as a favorite. After all, within just the first line there are two words we don’t use in modern English! Yet this year, I keep thinking about one line:
“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hailed incarnate Deity”
Jesus left heaven… fully God, yet fully taking on our situation. Incarnate. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead made His appearance in our midst. The incarnate deity. The penultimate sacrifice.
One more line from a more modern song, Welcome to Our World, struck me at a concert the other night. The man who was singing it brought out these ideas beautifully.
“Tiny heart whose blood will save us”
The same blood that was pumping through the very heart of the little baby born that night – the same blood that came from a skinned knee – was the blood that was shed for our sins. The ultimate sacrifice.