Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me
today.
During the Advent and Christmas seasons we are taking a look
at some of the hymns of the season on Saturday. This might be a helpful
devotional habit because the hymns we sing are expressions of faith and often
teach us important lessons. They are, in a sense, God’s Word rearranged and set
to music. It is good for us to look closely at what we sing. There are
beautiful and inspiring biblical messages contained in the hymns.
The hymn we will look at today is Savior of the Nations, Come. (You
can listen to it here.)
In the Lutheran Service Book from Concordia Publishing House it is hymn number
332. For a good modern adaptation of the hymn you might want to check out this video. (Savior of the
Nations, Come by Koine)
This is one of the oldest hymns we still sing today –
outside of the songs and praises that are in the Bible itself! It was written
by St. Ambrose of Milan, who lived from 340-397 AD. (Ambrose, himself, is an interesting
guy and worth reading up on!) The song seems to have fallen out of regular
usage … or maybe never really caught on, I’m not sure … until Martin Luther
translated it into German for his parish and set it to a new melody in the 1500’s
which is very similar to what we sing today. It was translated into English by
Samuel Janzow just last century, and has been updated more recently for the
Lutheran Service Book.
When Ambrose wrote the hymn there was a controversy in the
church. There was another leader by the name of Arius who was very popular.
Arius taught that Jesus was not God the way that the Father is God. He taught
that Jesus was not eternal like the Father or the Holy Spirit. As you look
closely at this hymn, you can see that it is very carefully stating that Jesus
is both true God and true Man, as the Bible teaches us. It stands against the
teaching of Arius and confesses – that is it speaks in union with – what the
Bible teaches.
The hymn prays for Jesus to come to us right now in the
midst of our lives as it declares the way that Jesus came the first time. “Savior
of the nations, come, Virgin’s Son, make here Your home! Marvel now, O heav’n
and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth!” It proclaims the mystery of Jesus’
birth as it recalls both the Virgin Birth and the godly conception that was not
by human flesh and blood, but by the Spirit of our God.
Perhaps the most artistic expression of this teaching is
found in verse 4, “Then stepped forth the Lord of all, From His pure and kingly
hall; God of God, yet fully man, His heroic course began.” This is, of course
speaking of Jesus’ birth. He is the Lord of all, and the pure and kingly hall he
steps forth from is Mary’s womb! Even in that moment he is God and man, fully
and completely. And do not lose the last words of the verse, Jesus was here on
a heroic journey to live the life and die the death that would save us.
Jesus salvation is highlighted in v. 7 using images of light
and darkness. “From the manger newborn light Shines in glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides, In this light faith now abides.” Faith lives
where Jesus is. Even in the manger, we see God’s salvation completed, even
though Jesus had not died and risen yet. For God to begin something is the same
as for Him to complete it. Who can stop Him? Jesus’ entrance into the world was
a crushing blow to the ancient serpent’s head just as surely as Jesus’ death
and resurrection sealed our salvation. Even at His birth, Jesus is the light of
the world and darkness cannot overcome Him.
Verse 8 is a doxology, and traditionally we would stand as
we sing this verse that honors God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It reminds us
that while Jesus is true God and true Man, he is also part of the Godhead,
co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. It also reinforces for us that the
Three-in-One and One-in-Three all work for our salvation.
This is a great hymn for us to ponder on Christmas Eve as it
brings everything together that Christmas is about. The hymn speaks of the wait
for Christ to come, the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth, Jesus’ humanity and His
divinity, and, of course, of the salvation He was born to bring to us.
Prayer
Savior of the nations, come, Virgin’s Son, make here Your
home! Dwell among us, Lord Jesus, and by Your Spirit, hold us near to You in
faith, hope, and love. For You are the Father’s Son Who in flesh the vict’ry
won. By Your mighty pow’r make whole All our ills of flesh and soul. Heal us
and heal our world. You are the light of the world and we pray that You would
drive out the darkness in our lives and in our world so that we would all give
You glory, Lord Jesus, and celebrate Your salvation. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Luke 2
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
Before I go I want to say Merry Christmas! I pray that these
devotions on the Advent readings and hymns have helped you to prepare for the
celebration of Jesus’ birth, and also prepared you for His second coming! As we
come up on Christmas, you know that New Year is just a week away, and with the New
Year comes resolutions. One of my resolutions is to read through the entire
Bible in 2018. It’s been a while since I’ve read the whole thing, and I want to
get back into that habit of hearing/reading the whole Word of God. If you would
like to join me in that I have three plans – two for reading the whole Bible
and one for reading through the New Testament. If you would like to see those
plans, you can email me at eric.tritten@gmail.com
and I will be glad to share them with you.
One more thing: If you got something out of this devotional
time, would you share it on social media or just tell someone about it? It
stands to reason that if this blessed you, it will bless someone else.
Thanks again, Merry Christmas, and God bless you!
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