Day 21

We have seen over the last few days that the Word of God has appeared throughout the Old Testament. It was He in the burning bush, it was He who appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre, it is He who we read of in the Psalms that looks upon the earth and it trembles, and it is He who led Israel out of Egypt.

We now have the understanding that the mount referred to in the fourth ode is the same from Habakkuk and it points us to all these appearances we see and ultimately to the divinity of the Messiah.

 Jesus Christ is the Logos, the Word of God, the Son of God. He is the Messiah. The astounding thing that we must come to understand is that He who has worked through mans history, Who has existed before time began, Who is one with the Father, is now born as a babe in a manger in Bethlehem.

His appearance in the Nativity is the ultimate appearance. It is the one that will usher in our salvation. As St. John Chrysostom says: “The Ancient of Days has become an infant. He Who sits upon the sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched, now lies subject to the ands of men.”

What a powerful image given to us. He who was in the beginning with God, He Who is God, now takes on our form. And He does this for us, not to us, but for us…for our salvation.

As we hear in the Compline Service of Christmas “God is with us, all you nations understand, and submit yourselves for God is with us!”

In Christ

Fr. David