A Quiet Arrival

Have you heard the song “Winter Snow” by Audrey Assad? It’s an eloquent Christmas song released last year that begins with these lines:

 Could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forest fire
With the power of Heaven in Your flame

 If you or I were God, that’s how we might choose to arrive on planet Earth, with a show of power and strength. We like making a splash, we like getting attention. The Lord, however, chose a different approach, as Audrey continues in her song:

 But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

 When the Creator decided it was time to walk physically among the people He created, He chose to arrive as they do, the same way every other human has arrived with the exception of the first two. No trumpets, no fanfare, no fireworks, just another baby born in a small town in an unpleasant setting, no less, with no one around except the parents.

 Now, some moms (and dads) may be thinking childbirth is anything but quiet and you’re right; it’s often a noisy, messy affair but it’s normal, it’s how we expect humans to arrive.

God, on the other, even God as a man, would choose something grander, right? Isn’t this the same God whose appearance on Mount Sinai had the Hebrews trembling in their sandals? Yes, it is, and that’s one reason His arrival is so marvelous.

 Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus because it gives us a tangible beginning to our redemption. God, the same God of Mount Sinai, comes to earth to be with us, among us! The plan was in place long before Jesus’ birth but for us when He finally gets here, when Jesus is born as a human we can see the plan taking shape. Of course we have the benefit of hindsight; we get to see a fuller picture than Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men and everyone else we associate with Jesus’ birth.

 It was back at Mount Sinai that God first described Himself to Moses, who was hiding behind a rock as the God passed by:

 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. ⁶ And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

(Exodus 34:5-7 New King James Version)

 I have always liked those verses because God tells us who He is, and notice that He begins with “merciful and gracious”. Isn’t that wonderful, that the One who created us is merciful and gracious? Yes, He is holy and He goes on to make it clear that sin is not overlooked, and that’s why so many years later He came to earth “quiet, soft and slow” as Audrey Assad sings. Moses had to hide from God’s presence, glimpsing only His back and even that made Moses’ face glow for weeks after that encounter!

 We can’t handle God in all His power and might, so He slipped in among us, as one of us, so we can be with Him. Jesus came to show us how to live, yes, but He also came to show us Himself. We see the gracious and merciful God of Mount Sinai walking among the poor, the outcast, the “least of these”, loving, healing, touching and drawing them all to Himself.

 Just a few pages after Luke recounts the birth of Jesus, he shares an episode early in Jesus’ ministry:

  So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
        “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
       Because He has anointed Me
      To preach the gospel to the poor;
      He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
      To proclaim liberty to the captives
      And recovery of sight to the blind,
      To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
       To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

  Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

(Luke 4:16-21 New King James Version)

That’s the good news of Christmas! Jesus has come! God is with us! He is drawing us to Himself, calling all who will listen to trust Him, to follow Him and to live with Him forever!

As Audrey suggest in her song, Jesus could have swooped down to earth in might rush of power with a host of angels to call people to repentance and preparation for the kingdom of God. Instead, He chose to slip into our world and to gradually reveal Himself to the fragile, foolish people He made for Himself. He will come again, though.

 One day He will “swoop in” with power, might, and glory to the delight of those who love Him but to the fear and dread of those who reject Him. Yes, He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger” but He is also holy and He does not overlook sin. That’s why the little baby born in manger in Bethlehem would one day hang on a cross, beaten, despised and rejected to pay the penalty for our rebellion and selfish disobedience.

 Have you trusted Him? Have you received His forgiveness? Have you given your life to Him? Can you celebrate the coming of your Savior this Christmas?

 What better time than Christmas to receive the greatest gift ever given? If you sense your need for God’s forgiveness, respond to the Lord today!

 Your gentle Savior is waiting.

 Merry Christmas!

To learn more about a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ click here.

 Equip FM serves Lynchburg at 95.3 FM, Amherst and Madison Heights at 88.7 FM, and Appomattox at 90.5 FM. You may also listen online at www.equipfm.org.