As you read this article hopefully you are well into the Christmas Season with decorations, presents, and songs. This truly is a wonderful time of year. One that is filled with spiritual meaning and significance as we think about our Savior’s birth. This year we especially need a time of reflection and much joy.

What makes Christmas especially beautiful is all the wonderful songs that are scripturally rich and beautiful. One of the most familiar is Joy to the World, and this year I have the third stanza in my mind:

No more let sins and sorrows grow Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow Far as the curse is found

Isaac Watts, who wrote Joy to the World, had a right understanding of what Christ’s coming to earth would accomplish - removing the curse and allowing the blessings of God to come. Because of the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve all of creation has been affected and put under a curse. “For the creation was subjected to futility....and has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth” (Rom.8:21,22). Only Christ, chosen by God, could come and reverse the effects of that covenantal curse. That is exactly what He has done in his righteous life, sacrificial death, resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven. He became the curse for us so that we could receive all the blessings of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

If you remember in CS Lewis’ The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, the White Witch casts her spell on Narnia declaring that it will always be winter and never Christmas. But as Aslan comes and breaks the spell, the result is the snow and ice begins to melt and patches of green grass, green tree-branches, and flowers begin to appear. What a beautiful metaphor of life being brought to earth through the arrival and presence of Christ. All of creation is blessed by the arrival of its Creator.

This year our Advent Sermon Series is called The Crisis of Christmas: Far as the Curse is Found. The title comes out of Watt’s Christmas classic that Jesus came not into a perfect world, but a world in crisis, full of sin and troubles. Yet Christ’s coming brings blessings as far as the curse is found. Hope you will join us for every message and that it will bring blessing in the midst of this “crisis” year.

As you contemplate the advent of our Savior, may you think often of ALL that the Lord has given you through Jesus Christ. All because He has reversed the curse and has come to make His blessings flow. May the blessings of Christ flow this Christmas season - and always!
God bless you and yours! Merry Christmas!