'Silent Night"

"Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light,
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth"

So, was singing this beloved Christmas song at church on Sunday...I would guess I have literally sung it over 100 times in my short almost 30 years and I caught something I had never noticed before (really, in all actuality, I'm sure it was the Holy Spirit drawing my attention to it...these things don't happen on accident).

I'll start with the 2nd line I bolded first..."Jesus Lord at Thy birth." He was Lord at His birth. He was born a King. He didn't have to do anything to achieve this after His birth. He "was what He was" (similar to when I say at school about undesirable situations "It is what it is"). This holds within it the puzzling mystery of how he could be God and Human all at once...completely Lord and God and King but also completely human...he most likely had a runny nose as a two year old, he probably got paper cuts from holding the parchment scrolls, he needed sleep at night. (One thing I really love about God is that he is inexhaustible and doesn't get tired.) This may not be a startling realization for anyone else, but it was a refreshing detail I had missed before. Another reason why I like hymns and Christmas hymns are no exception.

"With the dawn of redeeming grace" I looked up the meaning of "dawn" (besides the early time of day and my good friend Dawn) and this is what I found: "to begin to open or develop" or "to begin to be perceived." Jesus' birth and coming (which ushered in the New Covenant based on grace and not law/rules/performance) had been told of for hundreds of years and I'm not really sure if God's people could really "wrap their brains" around what this would mean. They knew he would rule, he would be the Great Shepard, he would save his people from their sins (Matthew 2:6, Matthew 1:21 just a few of the myriads of verses to support this idea)...but did they really know what this would require...and how it would end? His coming was the "beginning" of the Grace that would redeem.The "dawning" of what good was to come...the Redeemer who brought and brings Grace to us. And once again, this may be something that is not new to you and yes, I've heard it over and over again, but so thankful when a precious concept that I've heard for years takes on a new gleam and meaning.