Christmas 2024: 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) to be completed when the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6) returns:

Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.

This is the same glorious vision of the future reign of God described in Isaiah 2 - a passage that focuses on the exaltation of the house of God, the establishment of peace, and encouragement to live in His light. It will be a time when God's Word will not only be proclaimed among the nations but it will also be embraced by them. However, Isaiah also reminds us that it is God's judgment that ultimately brings peace to a world plagued with strife and sin. We must, therefore, be sure to "be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor 5:20-21). Then, having been reconciled, must walk in the light and be at peace with one another as testimonies of our future reality in the present. Respond to His truth and live in view of the reality of His truth, love, and grace to a watching world, with our confidence in the hope of His promises to be fulfilled.