The great descent of the Word made flesh.
The great descent of the Word made flesh.
A hymn by Horatius Bonar.
We should never get over the great descent which God in Christ undertook in order to win salvation for sinners. From heaven above to the ruined world below, he took on flesh and emptied himself in the ultimate demonstration of love, service, and sacrifice (Phil. 2:5–11). The One who spoke a Word and brought forth all things that were and are and will be, lowered himself and “partook of the same things” — that is, flesh and blood — “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Within such tremendous news, there are infinite depths of love and grace to be explored (Eph. 3:18–19). Such is the point of the Christian life, I do believe. To that end, here is an exemplary hymn written by Horatius Bonar which praises the Lord Almighty, who, “in mighty love,” descended to our place of sin and death in order to set us free:
The Son of God in mighty love,
Came down to Bethlehem for me;
Forsook his throne of light above,
An infant upon earth to be.
In love, the Father’s sinless child
Sojourned at Nazareth for me;
With sinners dwelt the undefiled,
The Holy One in Galilee.
Jesus, whom angel-hosts adore,
Became a man of griefs for me;
In love, though, becoming poor,
that I through him enriched might be.
Though Lord of all, above, below,
He went to Olivet for me;
There drank my cup of wrath and woe,
When bleeding in Gethsemane.
The ever-blessed Son of God
Went up to Calvary for me;
There paid my debt, there bore my load,
In his own body on the tree.
Jesus, whose dwelling is the skies,
Went down into the grave for me;
There overcame my enemies,
There won the glorious victory.
In love the whole dark path he trod,
To consecrate a way for me;
Each bitter footstep marked with blood,
From Bethlehem to Calvary.
’Tis finished all; the veil is rent,
The welcome sure, the access free;—
Now then we leave our banishment,
O Father, to return to thee! (156–57)
Throughout those lines, my thoughts run towards what the great Reformers referred to as “the great exchange,” that is, Christ becoming sin in order that we might become his righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). This is what Jesus has done for your sake and mine. As Paul says earlier in his second letter to the Corinthians, “He became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). May we never tire of hearing and singing of the tremendous news of Christ’s glorious descent.
Grace and peace.
Works cited:
Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope (New York: Robert Carter & Bros., 1866).