It being Christmas I wanted to share something short but beautiful. My favorite Christmas hymn is Veni, Veni Emmanuel, or in English, O’ Come, O’ Come, Emmanuel. The song is both a prayer that accurately captures the hopes, if not the actual words, of those who looked forward to the Messiah’s first coming and those of us now who anticipate His Second Coming. But it also testifies to us that we need not wait for Christ to come again to experience the power and peace He promises to bring because God is with us even now in Presence, Person, and Spirit. He is our Emmanuel, our ever present God if we but open our eyes, minds, ears, and hearts to Him.
Tag: Nativity
The Eternal Victory of Christmas
I recently wrote that without a proper understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that one cannot fully comprehend the meaning of Christmas. Christ was born to Resurrect, defeat Death and Hell, and open to path of salvation and eternal life to all. This is absolutely true, but since I wrote that article I have had my vision widened to see that the scope of the Atonement, and therefore the Nativity, is much wider, much deeper, and much greater than I had before understood.
Here I try and share that vision with you through the writings of Apostle Orson Pratt. Herein he discusses the Plan of Salvation and its unending and self-perpetuating nature. The cycle of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Exaltation, and Creation are explored here in Elder Pratt’s writings. Then I briefly connect these truths back to the Nativity and how understanding them will deepen our comprehension of the richness and eternal ramifications of that first Christmas.