On this coming Lord’s Day, the final Sunday of Advent 2024, we will consider the words of 1 John 4:10, which serve as the Biblical text for the Advent hymn entitled ‘Within a Crib My Savior Lay.’  The hymn’s three simple stanzas are both dense and  beautiful with Gospel truths:

Within a crib my Savior lay,
a wooden manger filled with hay
come down for love on Christmas Day:
all glory be to Jesus!

Upon a cross my Savior died,
to ransom sinners, crucified,
his loving arms still open wide:
all glory be to Jesus!

A victor’s crown my Savior won,
his work of love and mercy done,
the Father’s high-ascended Son:
all glory be to Jesus!

What I especially appreciate about this hymn is the way that the author has personalized the work of Jesus.  He is “my Savior” who was found in the manger, “my Savior” who was led to Calvary to die, and “my Savior” who rose from the dead and reentered the glory of heaven.

As you compare the hymn text to the Biblical text, you can readily see the connection.  The Apostle John writes that,

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Of course, these magnificent truths of the Gospel, or our Lord’s incarnation, His atoning death, and His bodily resurrection mean nothing apart from one’s personal faith in the One found in the manger.  To become His is to confess that He is “my Savior,” not just a Savior.

As you prepare for the worship and the preaching of the Word, reflect prayerfully on the wider context of 1 John 4:7-11.