This hymn is a rather romanticized image of Christ’s birth—‘Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright….sleep in heavenly peace…’ It sounds like such a peaceful, holy, glorious, clean setting. And in some ways, maybe it was. Yet in other ways it was very much not so. It was the night where the humiliation of Christ, as it is often called, began.

Why is it called the humiliation of Christ? Well, let’s take a look!

Philippians 2:5-7 states, “Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.”

John Macarthur says, “Though He had all the rights and privileges and honors of being God, He didn’t clutch them. He existed as God but He refused to cling to that honored position. He refused to cling to all the rights and honors that went with it.” Instead, the Son of God—God Himself—who is holy, holy, holy, the creator of all things, completely satisfied in Himself, almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, etc., humbled Himself to be born as a baby. The hymn describes Him as “Lord, at Thy birth” and yes, because He is God, He is Lord, but He was born not as a king or lord (lowercase ‘l’) in a beautiful palace, surrounded by the luxuries the world has to offer, being waited on by servants, but to a poor sinner (remember Joseph and Mary’s sacrifice was a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons when they presented Jesus to the Lord in the temple—not a lamb (Lev 12:8, “and if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.”)) Not only that, he had a manger—a feed trough for animals, for his bed because even the inn had no place for Him. Can you imagine?

The Almighty Son of God became a helpless baby that needed His diapers changed, needed to be fed, clothed, –everything that we do for our babies had to be done for our Lord. Luke 2:51 talks about how “He continued in subjection to them (his parents)”. Jesus, the creator of the World subjected Himself to sinful parents—to His fallen creation! Wow!

Matthew Henry says, “His whole life was a life of humiliation, meanness, poverty, and disgrace. He had no where to lay His head, lived upon alms, was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, did not appear with external pomp, or any mark of distinction from other man.”

And He did this for us—for people who hated God, who were in rebellion to Him—His enemies, so that we could be reconciled to God! Not only did He humble Himself by His birth, but the humiliation of Christ continued through His life, and culminated in Him subjecting Himself to be crucified on the cross, to bear the wrath of God for our sins, and then to be raised from the dead on the third day, overcoming death so that we may be forgiven. That we may be clothed in His righteousness and stand blameless before God in Him.

These truths should lead us to a sense of awe and to worship Him with thankfulness. And, as Philippians 7 talks about just before the portion we were looking at, starting at verse 3, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Christ’s humiliation should lead us to live lives of humility and service. We need to exemplify Him!

One last application. When we consider how Christ gave up all He did for our sakes, it should make us willing to give up all for His sake. Are we willing to give up homes, families, comforts, even our lives for the sake of Christ? For some of us, that might mean going elsewhere as missionaries. For some, being reviled or mocked at work for the stand you take. For some, having family turn on you because they hate God. Even for some, it may one day mean imprisonment or death. Are we willing to do that for Christ Jesus who humbled Himself beyond what we can even imagine for our sakes? Are we willing to do that for Christ the Savior who was born?

~ Fenna B

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love’s pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth