Christmas Carol: Hark The Herald Angels Sing

“‘Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”

- Matthew 1:20b-23

Advent Devotional

We have four gospels to paint a more complete and compelling picture of Jesus. While each one tells the same basic story, each also provides texture, nuances, details, and perspectives the others do not. Yesterday, in John’s gospel we saw who Jesus was, why He came, and how to receive eternal life through Him. Today, Matthew’s account takes us back in time to shed more light on the “how” and “why” of Jesus’ birth. God calmed Joseph’s fears of Mary’s apparent unfaithfulness by revealing through an angel in a dream that her pregnancy was a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ divine conception was necessary because of who He was—God’s Son—and what He was sent to do—to save His people from their sins by dying as their sinless substitute. The angel’s message would have brought Joseph both great peace of mind and heart and strengthened his faith when he heard that Jesus was to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy of 700 years earlier. (Isaiah 7:14)

Jesus would be called Immanuel, God with us. Jesus affirmed this identity when He said to the public, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), and when He told his disciples “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Not only is Jesus God in human form, He is also the only way to the Father, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Who do you think Jesus is? Have you come to the Father through belief and trust in Jesus? Does, Hark the Herald Angels Sing resonate in your heart?

Thomas A. Tarrants

Author, President Emeritus, CSLI

Thomas A. Tarrants is President Emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute. After serving twelve years as president and nine years as vice President, he retired from his position as Vice President for Ministry and Director, Washington Area Fellows Program, with CSLI in June 2019. He holds a Masters of Divinity Degree, as well as a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Christian Spirituality. Tom is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church Alliance and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. He spends his time writing, mentoring, consulting and traveling. His life story is told in Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

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