Whenever I think about what God has done through Jesus, I'm overwhelmed with awe. He is an awesome God & worthy of honor. As we hear songs like "Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "Away in a Manger", & "Joy to the World", let us use this to worship Him in our hearts. It's because of Him that we have life eternal in heaven & joy here on earth.
I just bought Dave Barnes's Christmas album. It's my new favorite for this season. :-) I particularly love the song "Mary and Joseph". The lyrics really help me picture the event of the incarnation (the coming of Jesus to earth) aka what we celebrate at Christmas. Below is the last half of the song:
The angel scared her half to death
She would've screamed but she lost her breath
On a midnight there in the middle of May
He said "Oh Mary don't be afraid
You'll bear a son that the Lord has made
Name him Jesus, He'll light the way."
She packed the clothes, he made the plans
They had to go to Bethlehem
But there was nowhere left to stay
So in a barn she gave birth
To the King of Kings the Lord of Earth
Just a little bitty thing sleeping on the hay
Sleeping on the hay
The story's too long to tell
But he walked on water and lived through hell
Killed on a cross and rose from the grave
We got a King they got a Son
Mary and Joseph were the only ones
There on that very first Christmas day
There on that very first Christmas day
Let's praise God for Jesus - every day! And in case you're wondering WHY Jesus came to die, John's Piper's book "The Passion of Jesus Christ", now called "Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die" addresses just that. Piper gathered from the New Testament 50 reasons/purposes for the crucifixion & below are those purposes.
1 To Absorb the Wrath of God
2 To Please His Heavenly Father
3 To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected
4 To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead
5 To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners
6 To Show His Own Love for U
7 To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us
8 To Become a Ransom for Many
9 For the Forgiveness of Our Sins
10 To Provide the Basis for Our Justification
11 To Complete the Obedience That Becomes Our Righteousness
12 To Take Away Our Condemnation
13 To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation
14 To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful
15 To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect
16 To Give Us a Clear Conscience
17 To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us
18 To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness
19 To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him
20 To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age
21 To Reconcile Us to God
22 To Bring Us to God
23 So That We Might Belong to Him
24 To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place
25 To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God
26 To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End and Become theEternal High Priest
27 To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest
28 To Free Us from the Futility of Our Ancestry
29 To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin
30 That We Might Die to Sin and Live to Righteousness
31 So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God
32 To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves
33 To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting
34 To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him
35 To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning
36 To Create a People Passionate for Good Works
37 To Call Us to Follow His Example of Lowliness and Costly Love
38 To Create a Band of Crucified Followers
39 To Free Us from Bondage to the Fear of Death
40 So That We Would Be with Him Immediately After Death
41 To Secure Our Resurrection from the Dead
42 To Disarm the Rulers and Authorities
43 To Unleash the Power of God in the Gospel
44 To Destroy the Hostility Between Races
45 To Ransom People from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation
46 To Gather All His Sheep from Around the World
47 To Rescue Us from Final Judgment
48 To Gain His Joy and Ours
49 So That He Would Be Crowned with Glory and Honor
50 To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant by God for Good
Hallelujah! (Praise the Lord!)
