Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Part 3
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Part 3
Romans 5:6–11
Merry Christmas, friends! Some of you arrive at this holiday with hearts already sparkling like the lights on your tree. Others feel like the tree fell over and the dog ate half the presents. Either way, I’ve got the best news you’ll hear all season—and it doesn’t depend on how you feel.
We’ve spent three weeks inside one hymn, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Today we land on the final stanza:
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.
Notice anything? Jesus wasn’t just born. He was born for something. Born on a mission. And if you miss the mission, Christmas turns into nothing more than sentimental background music.
Paul spells the mission out in Romans 5:6–11. Six short verses that move from the manger straight to the cross—because that’s where the manger was always headed.
Here’s the heart of it: “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Not for the respectable. Not for the pretty-good. Not for the people who had their act together enough to deserve a Savior. He died for the ungodly.
Who are the ungodly? Every last one of us. Ungodliness isn’t just doing really bad stuff (that’s wickedness). Ungodliness is far more common: it’s living every day with little or no thought of God, His will, His glory, or our absolute dependence on Him. It’s building a life where God is irrelevant. And every human being—church member or not—has done it from the crib.
We were created for God’s glory (Isa. 43:7), but we turned the spotlight on ourselves. We live for our comfort, our plans, our pleasures. That’s why the wrath of God hangs over the world (Rom. 1:18). And that’s exactly who Jesus came for.
You’ll sometimes hear heroic stories of someone taking a bullet for a good person. Remember Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy spreading his body in front of President Reagan? Brave. Rare. Worthy of medals.
But Paul says, “You’ll barely find someone willing to die for a righteous person—yet while we were still sinners (enemies!), Christ died for us.” That’s not medal-worthy. That’s miracle-worthy.
Why would He do that? Verse 8: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Not after we cleaned up. Not once we proved we were worth it. While we were unlovable, ungodly enemies, God loved us and sent His Son on a rescue mission.
Two life-changing results explode out of that love.
We are justified by His blood (v. 9).
Justified = declared righteous. The Judge of the universe slams the gavel and says, “Not guilty—paid in full.” All the wrath we earned was poured out on Jesus at Calvary. Every believer is now, right now, immune from the wrath of God. Not because we earned it, but because Jesus absorbed it. No purgatory. No “hope I’ve been good enough.” Finished. Done. Glory!We are saved—present tense—by His life (v. 10).
Jesus isn’t dead. He’s alive at the Father’s right hand, and Hebrews 7:25 says He always lives to intercede for us. Every time the devil drags your failures into heaven’s courtroom, Jesus stands up and says, “Mine. I paid for that one. That one too. All of them.” There is no condemnation left. None.
That’s why Paul ends with a shout: “We rejoice (we boast!) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ Jesus.”
We don’t boast in our goodness. We boast in His. We deserved wrath. We got love. We deserved condemnation. We got adoption. We deserved death. We got life—second birth, eternal life.
So this Christmas, whether your family is picture-perfect or falling apart, whether your heart is full or aching, fix your eyes here: The baby in the manger was born that man no more may die. He came to take enemies and make them sons and daughters. He came to take the ungodly and clothe them in His own righteousness.
No wonder the angels couldn’t stay quiet.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth.
Born to give them second birth.
That mission started in Bethlehem, finished at Golgotha, and continues today from the throne room where Jesus prays your name.
If you’ve never trusted Him, today is the day. If you have, then lift your head and boast in the God who loved you when you were still His enemy.
That, friends, is the Christmas story. And it’s the only one that can carry you through every other story life throws at you.
Glory to the newborn King—who reigns forever as the risen King.
