December 23

Behold the Lamb of God
Words by Andrew Peterson
Music by Andrew Peterson & Laura Story

Behold, the Lamb of God
Who takes away our sin
Behold the Lamb of God
The life and light of men
Behold the Lamb of God
Who died and rose again
Behold the Lamb of God who comes
To take away our sin

Broken hearts--behold our broken hearts
Fallen far--we need you
Behold the Lamb of God

Chorus

Son of God--Emmanuel
Son of Man--we need you
Behold the Lamb
The hope of man
Behold the Lamb of God


You can listen to the entire performance here. Click on "Behold the Lamb of God" to just listen to this song.

December 21

In a Protestant upbringing, I think sometimes we try so hard to remove all things Catholic from our doctrine that we can ere too far to the other extreme. In particular, consider Mary, the mother of Christ. She, being a daughter of the first Adam, was a sinner. She was not holy. Yet, the Lord God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, chose her upon whom to bestow His grace.

-----------
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
(Luke 1:26-35)
---------------

The all-knowing God chose Mary to be full of grace. He gave her the strength to endure the position He would lay upon her shoulders. Think about it in human terms, she was a young, unwed virgin. What would become of her when word got out that she was pregnant? Her fiancee, Joseph, was ready to leave her until an Angel of the Lord visited him in a dream to tell him that she would give birth to the Messiah! Through it all, Mary remained humble and continued to find favor with God.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
(Luke 1:46-49)


I have been hesitant to post the following song because of the anti-"Mary-worship" inside of me. However, I do not think there is anything in this song that worships her. Rather, it does a superb job, in my opinion, of showing the grace of God upon a woman named Mary. Andrew Peterson vividly juxtaposes the human side of Christ's birth with the revelation of the Incarnate Deity, for the sole purpose of saving His people from their sin.

Read the words carefully, try to think on the human side of Mary and Joseph as they anticipated and experienced the birth of their first son, but not any ordinary son. At the same time, read it carefully and try to grasp the magnitude of the truth of the coming of Christ (the gospel), God's only-begotten Son. Christ, the God-man, the son of Mary, was, is and shall forever be "the Maker of the moon, the Author of the faith that can make the mountains move."

(Disclaimer: We do not know the actual events of Christ's birth. Was there pain? According to Genesis, God said that there would always be pain in childbirth because of the sin of Eve. But this Child was different; He was holy. I do not want to error in adding anything to scripture. For me, this song merely depicts God made man, the condescension of an Almighty God to a servant, the Word made flesh.)

I trust this will be a blessing to you today.


Labor of Love
Words and music by Andrew Peterson
vocals by Jill Phillips

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love


As usual, you can listen to this song here. Click on "Labor of Love."

December 11

So Long, Moses
(Deuteronomy 32:48-52, Joshua 1:1-3, Judges 17:6, 1 Samuel 8:1-5, 19-22; 10:1; 16:1; 18:7, 2 Samuel 2:10, 5:4, 5:9, 10, I Kings 8:17; 12:21, Isaiah 11:12, Isaiah 53:2-5, Micah 5:2)

So long, Moses
Hello, Promised Land
It was a long, long road
But your people are home
So long, Moses

Hello, Joshua
Goodbye, Canaanites
We're coming to town
Twelve tribes and no crown
No crown, Oh Lord

We want a king on a throne
Full of power, with a sword in his fist
Will there ever be, ever be a king like this?

Hello, Saul
First king of Israel
You were foolish and strong
So you didn't last long
Goodbye, Saul

Hail, King David
Shepherd from Bethlehem
Set the temple of God
In mighty Jerusalem

You were a king on a throne
Full of power, with a sword in his fist
Has there ever been, ever been a king like this?
Full of wisdom, full of strength, the hearts of the people are his
Hear, O Israel, was ever there a king like this?

Hello, prophets
The kingdom is broken now
The people of God
Have been scattered abroad
How long, O Lord?

So speak, Isaiah
Prophet of Judah
Can you tell of the One
This king who's going to come

Will he be a king on a throne
Full of power with a sword in his fist?
Prophet, tell us will there be another king like this?
Full of wisdom, full of strength,
The hearts of the people are his
Prophet, tell us will there be
another king like this?

"He'll bear no beauty or glory
Rejected, despised
A man of such sorrow
We'll cover our eyes

He'll take up our sickness
Carry our tears
For his people
He will be pierced

He'll be crushed for our evils
Our punishment feel
By his wounds
We will be healed."

"From you, O Bethlehem
Small among Judah
A ruler will come
Ancient and strong."

Words and Music by Andrew Peterson, Behold the Lamb of God (click highlight to listen to sample), 2004.

December 6

Passover Us
(Exodus 7-12; 12:21,22; 16:2,3, Leviticus 14:13)

Well, we all remember Moses on the banks of the river
He said "Pharaoh, you've got to let my people go.
You don't want me to tell you this ten times over
Denial ain't just a river, you know."

And we all remember Pharaoh, he just wouldn't do it
So the plagues they came on Egypt one by one
His heart was hard and the other nine just couldn't move it
So the last was the worst the death of the firstborn son.

But the Lord, He gave to Moses a word for the people
He said their firstborn sons would live to see another day
"Put the blood of a lamb on the doorway and death will pass right over"
That night all of the children of Israel prayed.

Chorus
"Lord, let your judgment Passover us Lord,
let your love hover near
Don't let your sweet mercy Passover us
Let this blood cover over us here"

So the years went by and the people they whined and they wandered
And only sacrifice atoned for the sins of the land
So you see the priest he placed open the holy altar
The body of a spotless lamb
And he prayed.

Chorus
"Lord, let your judgment Passover us
Lord, let your love hover near
Don't let your sweet mercy Passover us
Let this blood cover over us here"

Words and Music by Andrew Peterson, 2004
Behold the Lamb of God album

Pit of Despair

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, And the light about me shall be night; Even the darkness hideth not from thee, But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. (Psalms 139:7-12)

-----

Over the past few years, I have enjoyed the music of Andrew Peterson, who is an artist after my own taste. (His "Behold the Lamb of God" album is listed on the right margin.) Below you will find a selection of a recent post to his blog that I found particularly rewarding. You can find his blog at The Rabbit Room .

----------

The Pit of Despair, or, A New Lament
By Andrew Peterson

The oldest song on my new album is also the title track.

I wrote it in Pennsylvania in 2008, after spending a few days at Lancaster Bible College, a fine establishment that flew me in to talk to the students about writing and to put on a concert with the Captains Courageous the next day. (Psst! Lancaster! I had a great time and would love to come back.)

So there I was in Lancaster, feeling as sorry for myself as I ever had, languishing in the hotel room alone, wishing Andy and Ben’s plane would hurry up and arrive. The road is, of all lonely places, one of the loneliest. There’s a certain thrill in the beginning of the trip. I love seeing the sights, exploring new towns, feeling for a while like an observer of life rather than a liver of one. Of course, that’s a dangerous place to be.

Soon the excitement fades, and before you know it every face you see is a reminder of the faces you left behind. Every house looks sad. You start paying attention to the weather in your hometown. My heart literally aches sometimes when I hear my children’s voices on the phone. Along with the homesickness, on this particular trip I was shadowboxing some old familiar demons. I’m susceptible to a particular set of lies, voices that ring in my ears, voices that would have me believe a thousand things of myself and my God other than the truth to which I cling. When my faith falters and I forget my God, when I forget that his undying love now stands guard against all condemnation, I hold myself in contempt. I can hardly look in the mirror because all I see is sin, sin, sin. All I see is a fool. I see a failure.
-----
Click here to read the rest of this post, including the lyrics to the resulting song.