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December 4, Mr. Nathan Demlow
O God, O Lord of heaven and earth, Thy living finger never wrote that life should be an aimless mote, A deathward drift from futile birth. Thy Word meant life triumphant hurled, In splendor through Thy broken world, Since light awoke and life began, Thou hast desired Thy life for man.
Our fatal will to equal Thee, Our rebel will wrought death and night. We seized and used in prideful spite Thy wondrous gift of liberty. We housed us in this house of doom, Where death had royal scope and room Until Thy servant, Prince of Peace, breached all its walls for our release.
Thou camest to our hall of death, O Christ, to breathe our poisoned air, to drink for us the dark despair That strangled our reluctant breath. How beautiful the feet that trod The road that leads us back to God! How beautiful the feet that ran To bring the great good news to man!
O Spirit, who didst once restore Thy church that it might be again he bringer of good news to men, Breathe on Thy cloven Church once more, That in these gray and latter days There may be those whose life is praise, each life a high doxology To Father, Son and unto Thee.
This hymn speaks of Christ joining in our earthly state at His incarnation. We are reminded both why Jesus’ coming was necessary, as well as the suffering that Jesus endured having come to us. Our fatal, rebel will abused our gift of liberty from God in the garden, placing us under the kingdom of the devil, which displaced us from a right relationship with the Lord. Life lost its flavor in this pit of emptiness, from the futility of birth to the distress of death.
But this emptiness is not the way God desires His children to live. Christ has come, by the miraculous virgin birth, taking away our death-ward drift and replacing it with life eternal! Christ has come to “drink for us the dark despair,” taking our futile lives upon Himself and giving valuable meaning to our new life in Him. Christ has joined with us in the flesh, being “made like His brothers in every respect” (Heb. 2:17). Christ’s coming returns us to our intended state of being, restoring us to a right relationship with God, granting us a place in His kingdom. So, dear Christian, we not only remember Christ’s coming this Advent, but we wait also for His most glorious return. Let us not forget this gift of new life and meaning found in the coming of Christ!
Mr. Nathan Demlow
Christ Academy: High School Student, 2018-2020 Christ Academy: High School Proctor, 2021-2022
