Angels from the Realms of Glory

This Christmas hymn, penned by the British abolitionist newspaper editor James Montgomery, bids its hearers to come worship Christ. First it calls for the angels to proclaim Christ to the world, then it bids the shepherds of the Christmas story, then the wise men, and finally "we saints before the altar bending" in the present day. The hymn declares that God was with us on earth through Christ and that he "in his Temple shall appear" at the last day. Let us, too, respond to the call to "come and worship."

Angels from the realms of glory
Wing your flight o'er all the earth
Ye who sang creation's story
Now proclaim Messiah's birth
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King

Shepherds in the fields abiding
Watching o'er your flocks by night
God with us is now residing
Yonder shines the infant light
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King

Sages leave your contemplations
Brighter visions beam afar
Seek the great Desire of Nations
Ye have seen his natal star
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King

Saints before the altar bending
Watching long in hope and fear
Suddenly the Lord descending
In his Temple shall appear
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King

(from the Praise & Worship Study Bible)

A Prayer for Peace

O God, you who are the Author of love and the Lover of pure peace and affection, let all who are terrified be fears, afflicted by poverty, harassed by tribulation, worn down by illness, be set free by your indulgent tenderness, raised up by renewal of life and cherished by your daily compassion.

-The Gallican Sacramentary (ninth century A. D.)

The Beginning of Jesus

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-" 
(1 John 1:1-2)(ESV)





Several heresies had arisen within the Christian church in the time of the Apostle John. The most dangerous of these was Gnosticism, and especially the branch known as Docetism. These people denied the possibility of God being in the flesh and claimed that if Jesus was God then his presence on earth must have been an apparition. Flesh and material were all sinful and, therefore, God could not come in flesh. The challenge was to the foundational doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ. When, then, did Jesus begin to be?

It is evident from the scriptures that Jesus did not have His beginning when He was born as a babe in Bethlehem. John asserts that Jesus was from the "beginning." This is a word of time and not eternity but by it John does not mean the beginning of Christ's earthly existence in the flesh, nor yet does he mean "In the beginning" as in Genesis 1:1. He means that Jesus is simultaneously in existence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus is very God and the second person of the Trinity.

We speak then of the pre-incarnate Christ, meaning that Jesus was active in the Godhead from eternity. In John 8:58 Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Why does Jesus not use the past tense and say, "I was before Abraham?" Jesus uses the present tense because with God there is no future or past tenses. God is not bound in time. This may be a little philosophical but it is very important for it is the genuine understanding behind Hebrews 13:8 which declares that Jesus is ".... the same yesterday, today and forever."

It is a thrilling thought, to the believer, that Jesus is very God and we must hold tenaciously to this conviction.

(Dr. Robert M. McMillan)