Praises for the Incarnate God.

Think about the Incarnation--the real secret of Christmas: Creator becomes Creature. God sets aside His Glory and takes on the incontinent frame of a helpless newborn. A crying baby. And the God of the universe was born a refugee, with no place to lay His head, no roof, no bed, and jobless parents on the run from the slaughtering armies of a murderous king. And He was born in a stable, no less--can you get any lower? Laid in a feed trough? Homeless, a refugee in Africa? And people would whisper about the legitimacy of His birth. How could He have been born in more humble circumstances? He would spend His childhood in a country that knew neither His language, His culture, His people, nor His Father. Egyptians didn't like Hebrews when the first Joseph brought his family from Canaan. After the Exodus, the ethnic strife surely worsened. No matter how bad your story, is His not comparable? Or if you're like me, there can be no comparison--His being so much worse.

It is no exaggeration to say He whose position was highest in the universe took on the position of the very lowest. But why? We know why He went to the cross, right? That cup was necessary for our salvation. But why did the rest of Jesus's life have to be so humble, so difficult? Plenty of Biblical heroes had decent childhoods. But Jesus suffered thirty-three unusual years not for our salvation, but our encouragement. He suffered in all things as we have. He knows our griefs. This is the key to the title, Man of Sorrows. Not that He was sad, but that He can relate. When we find ourselves suffering cruelly, nailed to a cross because our crime merits death, and we beg God to change everything--He doesn't. Often He lets us suffer. But--and this is so amazing!--He sets aside His glory and joins us. When He does not remove our suffering, He joins us in it. And then we know the fellowship of His sufferings. And what a fellowship--to be joined in our suffering by the Great Physician, the Wonderful Counselor, the King of Kings.

How many kings would do that?

How Should a King Come?

How should a king come?
Even a child knows the answer of course,
In a coach of gold with a pure white horse,
In the beautiful city in the prime of the day,
And the trumpets should cry and the crowds make way.
And the flags fly high
In the morning sun
And the people all cheer
For the sovereign one,
And everyone knows
That's the way that it's done.
That's the way that a king should come.

How should a king come?
Even a commoner understands
He should come for his treasures
And his houses and lands.
He should dine upon summer strawberries and milk
And sleep upon bedclothes of satin and silk.
And high on a hill
His castle should glow
With the lights of the city
Like jewels below.
And everyone knows
That's the way that it's done.
That's the way that a king should come.

How should a king come?
On a star-filled night into Bethlehem
Rode a weary woman and a worried man,
And the only sound in the cobblestone street
Was the shuffle and the ring of their donkey's feet.
And a king lay hid in a virgin's womb
And there were no crowds to see Him come.
At last
In a barn,
In a manger of hay,
He came! And God incarnate lay!

And the angels cried,
"Glory, Glory to God!"
Earth was silent so Heaven rang.
"Glory, Glory to God!"
Men were dumb so the angels sang.
"Glory, Glory to God!
Peace on Earth, good will to men!
Glory, Glory to God!
Christ is born in Bethlehem!
Glory to God, Glory in the Highest!
Glory to God, Glory in the Highest!
Glory to God!"