Day 20 – Once in Royal David’s City

Do you remember the excitement and anticipation you had as a child waiting for Christmas morning? Maybe you remember the thought of presents under the tree, sharing a special family breakfast, or the melodies of Christmas carols playing throughout the house.

Now capture that sense of exuberant anticipation for a moment and consider that Jesus’ desire for us is to feel that same excitement every day. Why? Because He is coming back again at any moment and any time. Jesus Himself tells us, “At that time we will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens…Be on guard! Be alert…Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!” (Mark 13:26-27,33,35-37)

As you listen until the end, you will hear that this carol ends on a magnificently triumphant note celebrating the fact that whether at Christ’s Second Coming or when we pass from this earth into His heavenly Kingdom, we will be finally with Jesus Himself. That is truly the greatest gift we can celebrate at Christmas!

Once in royal David’s city
stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby
in a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little child.

He came down to earth from heaven
who is God and Lord of all,
and his shelter was a stable,
and his cradle was a stall:
with the poor, and mean, and lowly,
lived on earth our Savior holy.

And our eyes at last shall see him,
thro’ his own redeeming love;
for that child so dear and gentle
is our Lord in heav’n above:
and he leads his children on
to the place where he is gone.

“This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels… on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. (II Thessalonians 1: 6,10)