Christmas hymns often bring back deep, significant memories and emotions when we sign them each year. Often, in many cases, they can offer so much more. Some great Christmas hymns offer wonderful theological insights as well.
One of the lines in the Hymn, "O Holy Night," has an incredible insight that I had never considered until this Christmas season. The first verse to the Hymn has these words:
Oh holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.
It is the last line where I want to focus. As I read these words a few days ago, it struck me how much the incarnation has to do with our identity. This is certainly true for me, as I have experienced a radical transformation of my self-image as I began to understand myself in light of the Gospel. It was truly life-changing for me when I understood my identity in and through Christ. I understood that I was worth Jesus coming to earth and even dying. I understood I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I experienced genuine and perfect love from the One, who knew everything about me. As a result, I began to understand myself differently, and my soul truly "felt its worth" for the first time. It took the incarnation of Jesus for us to be redeemed and to feel the worth of God's perspective on us.
identity of humanity
Consider the incarnation for a moment. On that "holy night" "of our dear Savior's birth," God took on human flesh. Philippians 2 tells us Jesus assumed the identity of humanity. He identified Himself with us in a complete way. He was carried in Mary's womb for nine months, born through the natural progression through the birth canal, and came into this world just like every other human besides Adam and Eve. His conception was unique, of course, but moving forward from conception, Jesus fully identified with us in our humanity.
This is what it took for us to find our identity in Him. In the incarnation, Jesus took on the identity of humanity for humanity to find its true identity in Christ. The culmination of this is described in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
By taking on humanity's identity through the incarnation, Jesus was in a position to take our sin upon Himself and pay the price for us. To allow us to become who God has always intended us to be. The French poet, Placide Cappeau, may have had no idea of the depth of his words, but they speak of profound truth.
Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth
The world lay in sin and error, desperately looking for all that had been lost in the Garden of Eden. Then Jesus appeared, and the human soul began to find a new identity. In the first Adam, we inherited sin, death, and corruption as our old identity. Through the incarnation, in which Jesus, we find our identity in Him, allowing us to inherit righteousness and eternal life.
His coming speaks to our worthiness, and because of Him, our soul can feel its' worth.
As Lent commences on Ash Wednesday, we are entering a time of introspection and prayer leading to Easter. Let us reflect on the significance of death preceding resurrection, urging readers to embrace a daily practice of surrendering self in preparation for our spiritual transformation.