I have been preaching on Christmas carols, highlighting the meaning and biblical significance of the lyrics. I thought for my writing today I would do the same for a brand new Christmas song, called “Arrival.” It is by Hillsong Worship (yeah, I like their stuff), and the lyrics are below, along with a link to the YouTube video.
This song focuses on the wonder of the incarnation – the Artist stepped inside the paint, the Architect lived inside the plan, the Author climbed inside the page. God is the One who holds this whole world together, and yet He came and inhabited the created world – as the uncreated One – so that we would know His love. Our God with infinite knowledge allowed Himself to be confined in a baby’s mind; He allowed Himself to be taken care of by human parents. This is true wonder; these things are marvelous to reflect upon.
The wonder is not just that God became human but that, in Christ, humans can be transformed – our wills can be changed to want what God wants for us and our eyes can be opened to see the Lord. Christmas is a busy time, but don’t miss the wonder of the season. Christ has come. God is with us.
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-MwUA8Kbo4
VERSE 1: Who is God that He would take our frame? The Artisan inside the paint
Or breathe the very air His breath sustains, The Architect inside the plan
CHORUS: Oh come now hail His arrival, The God of creation
Royalty robed in the flesh He created
Jesus the Maker has made Himself known
All hail the infinite infant God
VERSE 2: The One who had no start and knows no end, Became confined in time and tense
The Everlasting God, the Great I Am, In the mercy of a mother’s hands
BRIDGE: The One who holds the stars in the creases of His hands
Is the One who holds my heart like a mother once held Him
The One who knows what lies where space has run its course
Embraced a baby’s mind, and now I can know my God
The monarch of the stars, the King above all kings
The ruler of my heart and the Savior for my sins
The One who sees what lies in each and every soul
Embraced our finite eyes, and now we can see our God
The holy Word of God defined by name, the Author climbed inside the page
BRIDGE 2: God embraced our frame When He graced the world He made
All hail the divine in a manger
Love embraced our fate When the playwright took the stage
All hail the arrival of our Maker
Words and Music by Michael Guy Chislett, Matt Crocker, Benjamin Hastings & Dylan Thomas
