Daily Affirmations - Day 1 - Good Tidings of Great Joy: Heaven Came Down

This week's Theme: Good Tidings of Great Joy

---

Day 1: Heaven Came Down

The 1939 movie, The Little Princess, is loosely based on the classic children's story, A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett— published as a book in 1905. In this movie version of the story, Sara Crewe is left at Miss Minchin's School for Girls, an expensive boarding school, while her widower father, Captain Crewe is deployed on military duty. After some time, Sara receives news that her father is dead.

Without the security and the fortune of her father as a buffer against Miss Minchin's greed and cruelty, Sara endures harsh treatment and terrible deprivation. But the little girl, convinced that her father is still alive, finds the courage and determination to persevere through all her hardships.

Sara's ordeal comes to an end when, in one of the veterans' hospitals she had been frequenting in her desperate search, she finds her father, wounded and dazed. Sara's joy knows no bounds when her father eventually recognizes her, and the two are finally united.

Sara's "good news" is a heartwarming ending to the story of one child, abused, ill-used and neglected by a cruel world. But the angels' message to the shepherds that long ago night in the Bethlehem hills was for every child— small or grown, old or young— cast off, mistreated, marginalized, and buffeted by a cold harsh world. The gospel writer Luke conveys the amazing details:

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:8-14 - NKJV).

Good Tidings of Great Joy. The best news of all, for all people: "A Savior has been born to You; He is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11 - NIV).

Can we really comprehend the significance of that news? The writer to the Hebrews in discussing the significance of Jesus' sojourn and mission on earth, describes the incredible, never-before access to God Jesus ultimately provided. He contrasts the Mountain of Fear, a mountain...burning with fire to the Mountain of Joy with thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly... (Hebrews 12:18, 22).

Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12:12) created unprecedented access to a God separated in holiness from sinful, corrupt, tainted, humanity. Although God had provided the law on Mount Sinai, the law could not absolve human guilt in the face of His terrifying holiness (Hebrews 12:21).

But on that night in Bethlehem— the night that Heaven came down— Jesus came to be the Savior of the world— to fulfill God's covenant promise to His ancient people. But beyond the limits of every human expectation, in His ways that are vastly above our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), He came to be the guarantor of a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22)— not just for one nation, but for all people.

In Him the law would be fulfilled, for His sprinkled blood would satisfy the full justice that the demands of the law could not. In Jesus would be realized justice from the moment of man's fall— justice for Abel (Hebrews 12:24) and for all the slain, and for all the wronged and the victimized throughout human history.

And above all, the justice of a holy God would be satisfied for the inherent and expressed evil of every human being. None of us is exempt— there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10); for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

But unlike Sara Crewe, we do not have to seek the one who would rescue us and protect us from the wrongs and abuses of a harsh, cruel world. Our Father is not lost— we are. But He sent His Son to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). And by trusting in Him we too, can find the courage and the determination to persevere through all the hardships of this world.

And we can be greatly encouraged when we take hold of the hope set before us... as the anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:18-19). For the angel-song of good tidings of great joy...to all people echo through the ages since that night over the fields in Bethlehem.