In Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby (Will Farrell) offers up an irreverent prayer to baby Jesus,
“Dear Tiny Infant Jesus...” Ricky prays. His wife interjects, “Hey, um... you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him baby. It's a bit odd and off puttin' to pray to a baby.” Ricky responds, “Well, look, I like the Christmas Jesus best when I'm sayin' grace.”
Some of us are more comfortable with baby Jesus as well. He can feel more approachable than the suffering Jesus on the cross or the reigning Jesus on the throne.
Throughout this Christmas season, we are examining profound truths in four lines from Charles Wesley’s (brother of John Wesley) popular hymn and Christmas carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Last week we considered the first line: “Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”. Today, we are exploring the second line where Wesley invites us to confront the smallness with which we sometimes view Christ in the manger.
Glory to the newborn King!
Wesley’s hymn opens on the hills of Bethlehem as the angelic hosts erupt in praise! The line we will explore today appears in the second stanza: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity”.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Refrain:
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th'incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.
These lines help us behold the mystery of the incarnation. Let’s consider three facets of God’s character that are revealed in this stunning couplet: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity”.
1. God becomes an image bearer
Humanity is the crown jewel of God’s creation. Everything else is “good” (Gen. 1: 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), but after the creation of man and woman, God declared everything that he had made was “very good” (Gen. 1: 31). Only human beings bear the imprint of the Creator. And even though we rejected his rule, he never rejected us. God not only created us to bear his image, he became one of us to redeem us.
Paul writes, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority” (Col. 2:9-10). Because in Christ the fullness of deity dwells, Jesus is God in the flesh. We who are “filled in” Christ share in his divine power and authority over every “rule and authority” being united with him. Gregory of Nazianzus, the 4th century church father said, “For what he has not assumed, he has not healed; but that which is united to his Godhead is also saved.”
“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity.” Hail him, indeed!
2. Humility enfleshed
In the birth of Jesus, we behold the lowly heart of God. Paul reflects that Jesus’ humility was not only seen in his earthly life, but also witnessed in his incarnation: “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7). Christ had every right to remain in power and comfort, yet his love compelled him to step into weakness for the sake of sinful humanity.
Jesus describes his own heart as “gentle and lowly” (Matt. 11:29). Though he is King of Kings, he comes as servant of servants. “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity.” In Jesus, we see the very heart of God.
3. God’s glorious dwelling
God has always desired to dwell with his people. He is not one who stands far off. God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen. 3:8). We are not ants tirelessly tunneling about in God’s ant farm, an amusement only intermittently attended to. No, the great Sovereign longs to be with us. God not only rescued Israel from Egypt, he instructed them to build a tabernacle so he might live among them. “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God” (Ex. 29:45-46).
WhereGod dwells his glory dwells. Moses describes what happens once the tabernacle was erected, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34). So too, when the ark entered the temple and the people worshiped, God’s majesty took up residence in the temple “the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God” (2 Chron 5:13b-14).
John declares that this same glory is present in Jesus. He says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). In Jesus, God gloriously dwells among us!
“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’ incarnate Deity.”
Jesus’ incarnation is not a divine spectacle but a divine gift of the Almighty: healing for our humanity, humility made visible, and glory brought near.