O Holy Night
Isaiah 40:29–31
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
When my family first moved to the valley, we did a lot of work on our house. We moved over Memorial Day weekend, and that summer, I spent every moment I wasn’t at church renovating the house. It was exhausting—not just physically, but mentally as well. You begin to wonder, “Will this ever end?”
Then came the day we had the carpet installed upstairs. I remember laying down on the carpet, FaceTiming my wife, and just starting to cry while muttering something along the lines of, “It’s finally done.”
I was crying because the carpet represented hope at a time when it felt like the process would never end. I didn’t feel like I had much left to give, and the carpet served as a sign of hope that something different was just around the corner.
On Christmas Eve, First Baptist has the tradition of someone singing the song “O Holy Night.” There are two phrases in that song I want to draw our attention to today.
“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.”
This is an interesting word choice by John S. Dwight. I asked ChatGPT to define thrill for me, and this was part of the summary: “In short, a thrill is that rush you feel when something meaningful, surprising, or powerful breaks into the moment.”
“A thrill of hope” is an interesting yet profound illustration to describe the birth of Christ. Israel had waited for generations for the promised Messiah to finally appear. Years of waiting and ever-growing weariness were suddenly interrupted by a “rush” of hope.
“For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
There are a number of verses in the Bible that talk about new mornings (Lamentations 3:22–23; Psalm 30:5). These verses typically point to God starting something new.
In Lamentations, it speaks of God’s mercies being new every morning. A new day is an opportunity for a new start in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The birth of Jesus wasn’t just the fulfillment of a promise—it was the beginning of a “new and glorious morn.” It marked the beginning of the end of God’s redemption plan for His people. God was about to unleash a new way of interacting with His people—a way that led to complete forgiveness and His presence dwelling in those who believe.
As we gather for services on Christmas Eve, as we spend time with friends and family, and as we exchange gifts and stories and make memories together, we also take time to remind ourselves that Christ changes everything.
May the birth of Jesus still fill our hearts with a thrill of hope, and remind us that no matter how weary we feel nothing is beyond hope when God is at the center of the story. Something new is always “just around the corner.” When God is calling the shots in our lives.
Isaiah 43:19:
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
Merry Christmas,
Adam