Series

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’” (Matthew 2:1-2)
The magi, guided by God, did not find the “King of the Jews,” as they supposed; they found the King of all people. Jews of Jesus’ day looked to the Old Testament patriarch Abraham as their religious and ethnic ancestor. God had made a covenant with Abraham that from his descendants would come the Messiah; and for the most part, Jews considered the promise of the Messiah to be exclusive to their ethnicity. Gentiles, in most Jews’ reckoning, were not included in that promise. However, in that regard they overlooked the glorious God-given Messianic prophecy of Isaiah, who wrote, “The Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your [Jesus’] light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isaiah 60:2-3)Read More »TLH 128 “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning”

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING

In the Old Testament, the kings of Israel were anointed to their office. We read of how Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon as king by pouring oil on his head (1 Kings 1:34, 39). This ceremony of anointing publicly identified Solomon as the one whom God Himself had chosen and endowed with the Holy Spirit to be the ruler of His people.
The anointing of Israel’s kings also served an even more important purpose. It pictured something about the coming of the promised Savior. His titles of Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) mean “the Anointed One,” God’s own choice to be the world’s Redeemer.Read More »TLH 59, LSB 398 “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”