Chris Tomlin, as he often does, added a contemporary chorus to this song and it is great. However, I lament that this song skips my favorite verse. If you are a worship pastor I would encourage you to sing the Tomlin version without skipping verse three because all the verses are so rich and do such a good job of explaining what happened beginning at Christmas.
"No more let sins and sorrows grow
nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow
far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse if found."
This verse highlights something we evangelicals miss during our Advent and much of the year. The evangelical movement has done a wonderful job of highlighting the personal nature of salvation. Christ was crucified for my sin and He rose to bring me eternal life and only I can respond to that and no one can do it for me. This is the thing we evangelicals get very right.
What we too often miss is the Cosmic Gospel. Jesus died for me but not only for me. It's often said that if I were the only sinner that Christ would die for me. I'm not so sure about that and I guess I'll never need to know if that statement is true. But I do know that Christ died for so much more than for my soul. Christ died to redeem all of creation. He died to make all things new. He rose to renew all in creation that was spoiled by The Fall.
"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." Romans 8:19-21
The creation is "groaning as in the pains of childbirth" (Romans 8:22) waiting for renewal.
"No more let sins and sorrows grow
nor thorns infest the ground."
"Then I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...
He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making all things new!" Revelation 21:1 & 5a
Christmas is about Jesus coming to earth to redeem it and His people in it.
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse,
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD
and He will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes,
or decide by what He hears with His ears;
but with righteousness He will judge the needy,
with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth;
with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be His belt
and faithfulness the sash around His waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together,
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand in the viper's nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His place of rest will be glorious." Isaiah 11:1-10
"He rules the world with truth and grace
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love,
and wonders, wonders of His love."
Joy to the Lord! The Savior reigns and one day soon we and all of creation will experience more fully His rule and reign. Advent by eagerly waiting for that today.
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