'A city with no room for its King...': Advent Day 16

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping-
For God became a man and stepped into your world today.
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King;

While you were sleeping.

Missing out always hurts. How much it hurts depends on the severity of the lack. A missed bus will produce mild annoyance whereas a missed loved one causes great heart ache. But these two extremes share the once essence – grief caused by loss. This is the theme of this Casting Crown’s song, and the subject is the most terrible loss there can be – missing out on God’s amazing unfurling of redemption in Jesus Christ through human history.

The song begins with a consideration of Bethlehem’s obliviousness to the Saviour’s birth, banishing Jesus to a filthy stable. It moves to Jerusalem’s blindness to Jesus’ true identity as they crucify Him at Golgotha. The final verse is contemporary, decrying the western world’s stubborn apathy to His coming return (although be cautious of the anti-environmental and pre-millennial sentiments).

It is a song of deep mourning and grief, undergirded with a plea – wake up! Don’t miss out. Don’t make the mistake of Bethlehem or Jerusalem or secularism.  Don’t be asleep to Jesus this Christmas time.

While you were sleeping - by Casting Crowns.