From Heaven to Bethlehem to Heaven
Year after year, I share with you the words of “Once in Royal David’s City.” What a powerful message it has for every parent. I hope you can find time to savor it during this Christmas week.
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 Saviour holy.
And through all his wondrous childhood,
He would honor and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly maiden
In whose gentle arms He lay;
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.
For He is our childhood’s pattern,
Day by day like us He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see him
Through his own redeeming love;
For that Child, so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And He leads his children on
To the place where He is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him, but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
When like stars his children rise
Singing praises in the skies.
I pray that all of your children and ours rise someday, singing praises in the skies.
And He is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power.
When He had made purification of sins,
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high . . .
Hebrews 1:3