"He Undertakes A Great Exchange"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Today, in your hearing, this Scripture is fulfilled. Today Christ is born. Today the Light of the World is become flesh. Today the God of heaven is made man and is born of a virgin. The Light has pierced the darkness and the darkness is destroyed. The Creator has become creaturely, has become a man. God becomes man, and all flesh shall see the salvation of our God.

For the children of man have sat in darkness for untold ages. Since the Fall, man has been engulfed in deep darkness and the shadow of death. Formerly, you were alienated from the Lord and His grace. You forsook His gifts, and sat in darkness and bondage. You chose to do what is best for yourself in your own eyes, and isolated yourself from others, even those who would attempt to love you. Even your love for others has been tainted by the poison of sin, which turns love into misuse.

Therefore, you were left to sin in great darkness, in the shadow of death. You mourned and wept, and further caused grief by your own sins and trespasses. You existed as ships, not passing in the night, but colliding in the fog of death and deceit. You were helpless, dead, and in impenetrable darkness.

But then, in the fullness of time, after myriad ages of darkness, the Light has dawned! The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. The Lord has come to His people and redeemed them! He comes among sinful man, takes up flesh and blood of man, and sanctifies us.

“The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Finally, the Lord has rent the heavens and come down. He has shined the light of His grace, life, and truth into your dark, benighted sphere. He has sanctified all mankind by taking on flesh and blood and dwelling among us. He has come, not as a strange, alien, other-worldly being, but as a man, the son of a woman, having body and blood, mind and soul.

As we just sang, “He undertakes a great exchange, Puts on our human frame, And in return gives us His realm, His glory, and His name” (LSB 389.4). God has become man, not by the lowering of the Godhead into humanity, but by the taking up of humanity into the Godhead. Hail the Incarnate Deity! The Lord God of Hosts is a man. He has taken up all that is yours, so that He might purify and perfect it, so that you might be made pure and holy and perfect.

The Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ is the first step in His earthly journey toward Calvary. His birth in the flesh in that stable in Bethlehem was the guarantee, the token and pledge given to you and to all creation that He would redeem His people and restore all creation. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He was born a baby in order that He might become a man, in order that He might die for all men.

In exchange, He gives to you all that is His. He gives you His forgiveness, life, and salvation. He gives you His Body and Blood as sure tokens of His grace and favor. He gives you His name, engraved upon your forehead and your heart. He gives you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, access to the throne of the Father. He makes you who were not a people to be a people, chosen and beloved of the Lord. His Incarnation is the seal and pledge of this. In that moment, salvation is as good as accomplished, because nothing can stop Him from setting His face toward that place and that cross.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” His guarantee is fulfilled by His cross. The Lord cannot lie; He pledged Himself to your salvation, and He is faithful, He has done it. Upon the cross, our Lord cried out “It is finished!” Your forgiveness has been won, your peace has been restored, your joy has been perfected.

And yet, you still now sit in the edge of the light. Another Advent season has passed, and another Christmas morning has dawned. We rejoice that Christ has come, He has died, and He is risen. But we realize that He has not yet come again. And so we continue to pray, “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!” Salvation is accomplished, but is not yet delivered fully. The light has dawned, but the Sun of Righteousness is yet to rise permanently.

But take heart, for we have seen His glory. All flesh has seen it together. Veiled in flesh, we have seen the Godhead. Immanuel has been born. God is with us, because God is man. The glory of the Lord is risen to the throne of heaven, where He lives and reigns for you, until the day when He shall call His angels to bear you home. The glory of the Lord shines round about you, now and always, because the glory of the Lord is given to you. The Lord dwells within you, full of grace and truth. And so we pray, “By Thine all-sufficient merit Raise us to Thy glorious throne!” (LSB 338.2).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.