1. Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Thy home!
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.
2. Not by human flesh and blood,Virgin's Son, make here Thy home!
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh--
Woman's Offspring, pure and fresh.
Colossians 1:13 God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Grace Mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text today is the lesson read, along with the first two verses of our hymn, Savior of the Nations Come. Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. This year, our focus for our Advent services will be the hymn, Savior of the Nations come. This beloved hymn is one of the oldest hymns of Christianity, being attributed to Ambrose of Milan who lived from 340-397 AD. And even though the hymn is 1600 years old, most Lutheran churches will sing it during the advent season. I even had a class at the Seminary where I had to memorize it. We still pray the same prayer! Savior of the Nations Come!
After all, that is the point of Advent, that God will send a savior - That a savior is coming to rescue you. That is what the very word Advent means, "coming". During the next few weeks, we will continually be pointed to the Savior who has come, and who is to come again. We will be awaiting his advent, his arrival. But who is he? Who is this savior who is coming? Who is it that our hymn speaks of?
The answer is that our savior is not the one we expect. He isn't an army general. He isn't an earthly ruler, or a mighty warrior, or even a movie or sports star. Instead, the savior is the baby born in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ. He's a small helpless baby, lying in a manger. A baby who needs his diaper changed. He's a baby who cries and who gets hungry, a baby who was born in a barn because there was no room in the inn. In this picture of our savior, we see weakness, and frailness.
When we look at this baby, we don't see a savior, because in this small baby we see ourselves. We ourselves are weak, we ourselves are sinful. We disobey God regularly. God's commands seem like impossibilities. When faced with God's word, we see that we fall short in what we say and do. We don't really love our enemies. We don't support our neighbors as well as we support ourselves. As we read in the book of Romans. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." "There is no one who is righteous, not even one."
As sinners, we are in opposition to God. We live opposed to his will. And as we are against God, we deserve death and damnation. We deserve hell. Each and every one of us. We are enemies of God. As the book of Hebrews says, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." In sin, we fear God's punishment for sin, a raging fire that consumes God's enemies.
But now, in advent, we look towards this tiny baby, and we wonder how this baby is different? How can this little tiny helpless baby be the savior of all the nations? Because this baby isn't just the frail human we see, he is also, as our text says, "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him." "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." This isn't an ordinary baby, this baby is God in the flesh. This tiny newborn baby existed before the world was even created, and he will still exist after it is brought to an end by his own second coming.
This baby is God incarnate, God in the flesh. In all of the places where we each have fallen short, God in the flesh will succeed. Where we are weak, God is strong. Where we disobey God, Immanuel will obey, even to the point of death. For this baby, who upon his birth cried out to his mother as he was laid in a wooden manger, so too will he cry out "My God My God why have you forsaken me" as he is nailed upon a wooden cross.
This baby will one day take all your sins upon himself, because God loves you. This baby will shed his blood and pour out his life in the punishment you deserve, taking your place on the cross. This baby, God in the flesh, will die on the cross in your place. And having died, he will be raised into eternal life apart from sin and weakness, apart from our sinful human frailty. Instead, with him, we will be truly human, with no weakness, with no suffering. In the death of Jesus you will have life and life to the full.
And so now, as we look at the baby in which the mystery of the God head lies, we are amazed. As the hymn says, "Marvel now O Heaven and Earth, that the Lord chose such a birth." Your God has come! He has come born as a tiny baby, a baby who will be the "lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." God has been made "woman's offspring pure and fresh" (Genesis 3:15) In Jesus, God and man is forever joined together. In Jesus you will be before him in his kingdom.
Amen, come Lord Jesus, Come Quickly!
Amen, come Lord Jesus, Come Quickly!
