Advent Devotional: December 9

"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a much newer Christmas hymn by church standards. It was published just over 150 years ago, in January 1872, by Christina Rosetti and was set to music by Gustov Holst, whose composition helped make the song become known all around the world.

In verse 1, Rosetti uses the setting of a cold, hard winter as an allegory to describe the hapless condition of the world at the time of the Incarnation. Without the coming of Christ, the world is lost in sin and without hope, but the humble nativity scene described in verses 3 and 4 illustrates the effect of the gospel on hard hearts in the final verse. Rosetti builds anticipation of Christ's worthiness of worship and concludes with an application of Mark 12:20, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..."

In verse 2, however, Rosetti contrasts Christ's first and second coming just as Isaiah depicts "the last days" in Isaiah 2. It is clear that Isaiah's prophecy looks forward to the Messianic Kingdom when Jesus will sit on His throne in Jerusalem, but the NT applied the scene as beginning with Christ's first advent (Cf. Ac 2:17; 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 1:2; Jas 5:3; 2 Pet 3:3) but to be completed when the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6) returns: