Hope in Christ

Christmas is about Christ. And because of Christ, Christmas is about hope. On the night He was born, Christ’s life had not yet come to fulfillment in His death. But our Savior’s life had begun…

“to give knowledge of salvation to His people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
(Luke 1:77-79)

The hope is salvation, from our sin-ravaged souls to the glorious freedom of the children of God, the joy and privilege of knowing Him. As the Christmas song I am listening to says, “I found my life, I found my life in Him.” In Him and Him alone we are found in the only true life. Words fail me when I think about the incarnation. This is part of a prayer from The Valley of Vision.

“Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like Him.
Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.
Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity,
the uncreated and the created.
Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me…
In Him Thou hast given me so much
that heaven can give no more.”