One Little Word Shall Fell Him
Glorying in the hope of Christmas
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10–11)
O what glorious wonders are contained in that little word, “Christ”! Such a short designation, such a simple title, and yet it contains within it all the hope of this fallen world. Like the Rock at Horeb, which poured forth water for a thirsty people when it was struck (Ex. 17:6), so this little word pours forth streams of living water when we begin to examine it. Strike it even once and life issues forth like rivers in the desert.
One of the places we first encounter the “Christ” (i.e. God’s anointed king) is in Psalm 2, where universal dominion is ascribed to Him: “‘Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession’” (v. 8). Following this thread we find that His dominion will also be an everlasting dominion: His throne “shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16). Moreover, His reign, indomitable and unending, will be a reign of peace rather than chaos, bringing Yahweh’s salvation to the very ends of the earth (Isa. 9:7; 49:6). Through Him the nations will be grafted into Israel’s inheritance and “built up in the midst of my people” (Jer. 12:16). They will forsake their idols, “learn the ways of my people,” and glory in Yahweh alone (4:2), when He establishes His “servant David” over them to “feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezek. 34:23).
The reign of God’s Christ will also have implications for creation. Under His rule the “wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat…they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:6, 9). The curse, in other words, in all its grim totality, will be rolled back and eradicated through the rule of this Spirit-anointed King (Isa. 11:1). He will usher in a new age when He comes, a new world where every trace of sin has been wiped away. As He says in John’s vision in the New Testament: “‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Rev. 21:5).
However, as the revelation of this Christ unfolds throughout the Old Testament, a startling twist begins to emerge alongside it. Astonishingly, when God’s Anointed King appears, He will not accomplish salvation by divine fiat, nor will He conquer the world with a battlecry and simply declare the deliverance of His people. Rather, His appearing will be subtle, almost obscure, like the slow growth of a young plant or a root out of dry ground (Isa. 53:2). He will have no form or majesty to draw the admiration of the world and “no beauty that we should desire Him” (v. 2). Instead, He will be despised and rejected by men, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (v. 3).
Further, the Christ’s rejection will eventually culminate in His death — a death which is both undeserved and substitutionary. The Christ, in other words, will die for the sins of others rather than His own. He will be “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” (v. 5). He will “bear” and “carry” our griefs and sorrows like a sin-bearing scapegoat, though He Himself is innocent. Finally, He will offer up His own life as “an offering for guilt,” crushed under the hand and will of Yahweh (vv. 4, 10).
But this is not where the story ends. For, wonder of wonders, the prophet tells us that after these events, the Christ, the servant of Yahweh, will “see his offspring” (v. 10). God will “prolong his days” and cause His will to prosper in His hand. The grave, in other words, will not contain God’s Anointed — death cannot hold Him. Somehow, some way, the “righteous one” will conquer death and make “many to be accounted righteous” with Him (v. 11). He will “divide the spoil with the strong” (v. 12), enjoying the fruits of His victory, and upon the basis of His redeeming work Yahweh will establish a “covenant of peace” with His people that shall not be removed, and shower His saints with steadfast love and compassion everlasting (54:10).
So who is “the Christ”? Who is the Saviour of the world? He is the One the angels proclaimed: the child born to Joseph and Mary in the city of David all those years ago. He is the man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Shoot from the stump of Jesse, born of woman and born under the law, yet at the very same time “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.” He is, to put it still another way, the Word made flesh, the culmination of ancient hope, the Desire of nations, the crucified King, the Lamb of God, and the Shepherd of Israel.
Words fail to capture His fullness. Perhaps this is why the Scriptures layer so many types and shadows upon one another. In any event, whether we have the strength to perceive it or not, all this is brought together under one head in that little word, “Christ.”
This is the hope we remember and celebrate at Christmas time. This is the Saviour we preach. And He is a glorious Saviour indeed!
A sinless God, for sinful men,
Descends to suffer and to bleed;
Hell must renounce its empire then;
The price is paid, the world is freed.
And Satan’s self must now confess,
That Christ has earned a Right to bless:
Now holy Peace may smile from heaven,
And heavenly Truth from earth shall spring:
The captive’s galling bonds are riven,
For our Redeemer is our king;
And He that gave his blood for men
Will lead us home to God again.
Anne Bronte, “Music on Christmas Morning.”