Advent Devotional: December 10

After sin entered the world, "and death through sin, and death spread to all men because all sinned" (Rom 5:12), God revealed even in His righteous judgment that He is merciful and gracious. He gave hope in a Redeemer - one who'd come to crush the serpent's head (Gen 3:15). Even so, Adam and Eve could not have begun to imagine the extent of death and suffering in the world until the promised Child would come. In fact, when Eve conceived and gave birth to her firstborn, she declared, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD" (4:1). Cain's very name, meaning "acquired one," indicates Eve's belief that Cain was actually the seed of the promise. Adam and Even must have been m to mortified to see Cain's rebellious spirit, eventually culminating in the murder of his own brother Abel. The Promised Child of Gen 3:14 wouldn't come for another 4,000 years. By then, the world should certainly understand the horrible cost of sin, and the joy of heaven to see Him finally come would be unparalleled.

That is the setting for today's hymn, "He is Born, the Divine Christ Child," written in France in the mid-19th century. The song intends to convey the overwhelming excitement that should accompany the coming of the Divine Christ Child, as the prophets foretold so many years before. That joy is made only more exuberant against the backdrop of Israel's state of desolation due to God's judgment (cf. Isa 6:11-12), but that is just why Christ came: to bring peace between God and sinful men.

Even though Israel did not receive Him with joy or understand His message as they should have (Isa 6:9-10), those who have been granted ears to hear (Matt 13:9) receive Him as God's gracious gift to mankind. "Four thousand years and more have we waited this happy hour... let all sin His nativity!"