Our call to worship today is from 1 Timothy 6. Paul writes,
“I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”
(1 Timothy 6:13–16 ESV)
Now, there’s a lot in this passage, but for our purposes today I want to point out one attribute of Christ in verse 16 – Christ alone has immortality.
What does “immortality” mean? It means cannot die. And yet, we also affirm that our Lord died. How is this possible? The scriptures teach that God’s Son, the immortal one, became man. He took to himself mortal flesh so that He could die for our sake. Don’t let the profundity of that escape you: This is what prompted Charles Wesley to pen the lyrics: ‘Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies! Who can explore His strange design?
Today on this third day of Advent, we’ll sing of Jesus’ birth and of his death. His birth is what makes possible his death. There is no exclamation of “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Rev 5:12) apart from “For unto you is born this day… a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11 ESV). So, as we stand and sing together today, I invite you to marvel at the birth and death of Jesus, who reigns immortal upon His eternal throne.