Hopes and Fears
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” ~Genesis 3:15
If you feel the way I do about Christmas, you have probably been listening to Christmas hymns and carols since about June 26th. For the past five months or so, the lyrics of these wonderful songs have been ruminating in my mind (and, I hope, yours). I love the rich biblical theology they convey. It’s hard to sing about Christmas without taking into account the whole biblical story of redemption. This is why so many of these hymns do more than draw our attention to the night of Jesus’ birth; they invite us to grapple with the whole story of redemption that leads to it. So, for the month of December, we are going to look at a few lines from well-known Christmas hymns and consider how they engage the whole Bible while drawing us into the story of salvation.
Phillips Brooks’ famous hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” includes the line, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” If ever there was a line in a Christmas hymn that forces us to reckon with the whole Bible, it is this one. Brooks reminds us that all the years of history were wrapped up in that starry night in Bethlehem. When any other child is born, it is the hopes and fears of the parents that matter — hopes for a healthy baby and fears about becoming first-time parents, for example. But when Jesus was born, it was the hopes and fears of all the years — of all God’s people throughout all of human history — that were met in Him that night. How unique and wonderful was the birth of Christ!
God’s people had been hoping for a Savior since the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:15, God promised One who would crush the enemy’s head. From that moment on, God’s people looked for His coming. Over the centuries that hope was repeated and expanded as the Covenant of Grace was progressively revealed to God’s people: Abraham was promised a Seed who would bless the nations (Gen. 22:18; cf. Gal. 3:8, 16). David was promised a Descendent who would sit on the throne forever (2 Sam. 7:12–16). The prophets spoke of God’s Light and Truth entering the world to lead them to His holy hill (Ps. 43:3); a Shoot from Jesse’s stump who would judge the world in righteousness (Isa. 11:1); the Son of God who would be called out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1); and — even as our hymn highlights — a Ruler who would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). Across all these years, the hope of Israel — the One who would take away their fears — was promised.
When Jesus was born, all the fears of God’s people were quieted. Their long anticipation was fulfilled, their anxieties calmed, their needs met, and their hopes realized. Truly, the hopes and fears of all the years were met in Him that night.
Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Pastor