DECEMBER 23 BORN TO LIVE By John Adair Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary
You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. (Psalm 16:10)
Births provoke hope. At a child’s birth, we can begin to imagine the promise of a life well-lived. What will she contribute to the world? Whose life will he change for the better? Such questions of expectation are natural as we encounter newborns, and even more so when it comes to the birth of Jesus—as we encounter this newborn, we look forward to the great things He will accomplish. Sometimes, we root our hope in death. One old Christmas carol—“Ring the Bells”—proclaims that Jesus was “born to die that man may live.” Hebrews 2:9 echoes this sentiment when it says that God, the Son, became human so that “He might taste death for everyone.” However, death is not our hope. If our Christmas story is only that Jesus was born to die, we’re missing something essential. Sure, we can testify with Scripture and hymns that say Jesus was born to die. But we need to follow that up with the equally important truth that Jesus was born to live. The affirmation of Psalm 16:10, looking ahead as it does to that most famous descendant of David, is that Jesus was destined to live. This means everything to the hope and expectation we invest in this newborn at Christmastime. It means we don’t just affirm His death, but His resurrection as well. And it means something even more pointed for us here and now: we, too, were born to live. As you consider the newborn Jesus this Christmas, remember that His birth leads us to our ultimate hope—our own resurrection and life eternal with Him.
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