Andrew Peterson CD

We’re back home again (contented sigh). We have 1200+ more kms on the Corolla. The kids had a great weekend at their respective places (thanks again to the two families that might read this). Even the kids, I think, are glad to be home.

On the way back home we stopped at a Big Christian Stuff store. Juanita found a CD titled Behold the Lamb of God by a guy named Andrew Peterson. Never heard of him. However, we gave the CD a listen, and we were impressed. Juanita noticed some familiar names among the friends who contributed to the CD because of their Indelible Grace connection. I really like the biblical plotline arrangement of these songs on this disk.

There is a line in one of Andrew’s songs that really struck us: “He died like a man.” The context is Philippians 2:5-11, the hymn to Christ. There are two aspects to that line that are so important to keep in tension.

First, Christ, being the exemplar of humanity, died as the perfect man, the ideal unrealized since the fall of Adam. Christ’s courage, perfection and love were beyond any possible human comparison, yet Christ was fully man as He died on the cross. He is our champion. By faith, He is our new Adam (Romans 5:12ff). He died like a man.

The second aspect is even more striking: God the Son, the one by whom all that exists was made, died like a man. “Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered” (from The Servant King by Graham Kendrick). This fact is basic to Christian theology, but may we never get over the magnitude of this reality!

I took notice of this line particularly because I am going to begin a sermon series on Philippians 2:5-11 this coming Sunday. I have never preached this passage as a Christmas message, let alone a four part series, but there is more than enough material there. Seeing as the Apostle Paul deals so clearly with the incarnation and its implications, it is a natural for a Christmas series.
     
Behold the Lamb of God is a rare Christmas album in that most of it wouldn’t sound out of place year round. Given how rarely we buy CDs, that’s a good thing. Highly recommended.