Week 4 Day 3

 Today and tomorrow will be the end. I know normally we go 6 weeks, but this year... it will be 4. <3

Read: Luke 1&2, Sing: Hark the Harold Angels Sing, Memorize: Luke 1:46-50 & Luke 2: 8-14

My heart is feeling consumed today. On so many levels. I feel the weight of my mountain ( no joke, we have 5 kids... its a toppling mountain) of laundry needing to be folded behind me. I am a procrastinator in many ways, so yes I still need to go out shopping today, I want to savor these days before Christmas leading up...trying not to stress it but feeling the ticking of the clock. It is amazing to me how much faster Christmas comes each year. I am seeing more this year than even my children growing and becoming young people, not my babies, and desiring to treasure these days. 

Yesterday we learned from John Macarthur about the glory of the Lord. I am still there. I can't lie, I am stuck there. I am amazed at the significance. I am dazzled by His Light on a people undeserving, and I long to linger here. Its part of why I am stopping at 4 weeks this year. I pray that before 2021 starts you can linger here too, in His Glory. In His Everlasting Love. 

In Luke 2 verse 16 it says, and the shepherds went with haste...and found Jesus! Just as the angel had told them. They went quickly, without delay, and there was the Savior of the World. I want to encourage that response from us this Christmas. That we go with haste to His presence, each morning, each evening, each burden and each blessing. That we go to haste and see the promises made anew each time, there is Christ, just as His Word promises us. 

Today is our hymn study, and again I need to thank Tara W. for this beautiful reflection on Hark the Harold Angels Sing. May it bless and teach you as much as it did me:Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Charles Wesley 

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored; Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations, come, fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness now efface, stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love.     

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), an English leader of the Methodist movement and author of more than 6,500 hymns. 

Charles and his brother John were educated at Westminster School and Christ Church in Oxford and were ordained to the ministry. Diligent in study and fervent in holy living, John and Charles, along with fellow-preacher George Whitefield were dubbed “the Holy Club.” Charles and John both made a trip to America in order to minister there. However, while the brothers were deeply religious, neither had experienced salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ at that time. Charles Wesley was saved on May 21, 1738, after which he recorded in his journal that the Spirit of God “chased away the darkness of my unbelief.” It was out of this experience that Wesley was moved to pen his famous hymn “And Can it Be?” Wesley’s goal in writing hymns was to teach the poor and illiterate sound doctrine. 

While walking to church on Christmas Day, the sound of the London church bells inspired Wesley to pen his theologically rich hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Saturated with biblical references this hymn proclaims glory to the One Who would reconcile the sinner back to Himself. Many of Wesley’s writings speak to the reconciliation between God and man. Written within a year of Wesley’s conversion, he couldn’t help but sing “Glory to the newborn King” Who made it possible for God and sinners to be reconciled.

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King:  Luke 2:14 Wesley begins the hymn not at the beginning of the story but right in the middle when the angels are announcing Christ’s birth to the shepherds. 

Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”  II Cor. 5:19

Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1; Luke 2

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see -- God and Man

Hail th’incarnate Deity, virgin birth of the Son of God and King of nations. 

Pleased as man with man to dwell, Christ’s humility—Philippians 2; 

Jesus our Emmanuel. Emmanuel, God with us. 

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! 

Light and life to all He brings, ris’n with healing in His wings. Malachi 4:2 – “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.”

Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. We are saved by being “born again”

Come, Desire of nations, come, fix in us Thy humble home; “Desire of nations” is a reference drawn from Haggai 2:7. 

Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, bruise in us the serpent’s head. Genesis 3:15

Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love. I Cor. 15:45

May you worship Him in His Glory and Grace today.