Now Are the Days Fulfilled
A Christmas Hymn
#99 in The Lutheran Hymnal
The author of this month’s hymn is unknown, but the words of Scripture his hymn call to mind are familiar: “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His son . . . ” (Gal. 4:4).
That first Christmas was a special one for God the Father. He was looking forward to the birth of His one and only Son as a human being.
The magnitude of the effort and planning and love that went into carrying out His plan dare not escape us. The guiding and directing of thousands of years was all done for that one moment–all so that God could give the first and best Christmas Gift to the world.
In that Gift “dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), given so that “your joy may be full” (1 Jn. 1:4). Yes, your joy–you who were born full of sin; you God wanted to fill with the joy of forgiveness.
What we could not do, “God did by sending His own Son . . . that the . . . law might be fulfilled in us . . . ” (Rom. 8:3-4).
It is God’s earnest desire that you “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19).
And in us God’s desire has been realized, for by Spirit-worked faith “of His fulness we have all received, and grace for grace” (Jn. 1:16).
It could well be said of our days before Christmas: “Now are the days full-filled” — full of shopping, full of holiday activities, full of anticipation over how full the space below our Christmas tree will be.
But let’s not fill our days so full that no room is left for that for which God completely emptied Himself.
Make time for God in His Word to fill you with His Christmas present–His “indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
–Pastor Paul Krause