Come, Desire of Nations, Come

When Christ first came, few recognized Him
as King, but when He comes again every
knee will bow.

     Economic ruin, crime, and politicians that make it an occupation to lie are a few of the news items we've grown accustom to.  I don't think it is just me that is ready for a change for the better.  It is exciting looking back in history and seeing times of revival where whole towns were transformed.  The broken homes were healed and vices like gambling and alcohol lost their grip on peoples lives.  These things happened because Christ came into their towns and became their Prince of Peace.  When Christ first came to this earth, he came as a servant and showed us how to live.  When he comes the second time he will come as King.     

"The government shall be upon His shoulder" Isaiah 9:6

    When things are put on the shoulder they are usually very heavy.  Christ took the heavy burden of the cross for us upon His shoulder.  This verse is the antithesis of that because Christ's shoulder in this verse is the symbol of authority.  And unlike Moses, who said he was unable to manage a great number of people, Christ is up for the task.  As we see the princes of this world say," Let us break His bands and cast away His cords from us," the Son promises that He will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.  The warning to the rulers of men is to "kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little."  To those who humble themselves before Him they find that He is the Prince of Peace.  He came as a baby in swaddling clothes, but we will see him a man with clothes of royalty and hair that is white.  The baby in a manger is the Ancient of Days and reigns supreme. My favorite Christmas carol, Joy to the World, cries out this time of year with the words: "Let every heart prepare Him room."  Our hearts need lots of room because He has a big throne.

     The carol, Joy to the World, is not even about the first coming of Christ, but his second.   I think Joy to the World is my favorite carol because it is expresses the rule of Christ in present tense and as you sing it thinking about the words it gives the feeling of things being made right even now .  It is a little bit of a foretaste of things to come. This carol brings perspective on the first coming though.  It makes us stand in wonder at the power that Christ reserved and leaves us with the knowledge that He rightly should have been received with gladness rather than rejected.  He will yet get the glory His is due as another carol, Hark the Herald Angels, says, "Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!"  and "Come, Desire of Nations, come, fix in us thy humble home."  How humbling it is that He would make my heart His Home!