The Infant Priest Was Holy Born

The Infant Priest Was Holy Born

LSB #624

v. 1: The infant Priest was holy born
For us unholy and forlorn;
From fleshly temple forth came He,
Anointed from eternity.

v. 6: The body of God’s Lamb we eat,
A priestly food and priestly meat;
On sin-parched lips the chalice pours
His quenching blood that life restores.

The holy for the unholy. That’s Jesus. He is the holy one from eternity, the one to whom the angels continually cry “Holy, holy holy Lord!” Yet He came into our world for us who are unholy, to make us holy again through the forgiveness of our sins. One of the ways we receive that forgiveness is through the Lord’s Supper - Jesus’ Supper. The Supper in which He gives us His body and blood to restore the life we lost in sin. In this Supper we receive not mere bread and wine, and not just any body and blood - but God’s own body and blood. For the body and blood of Jesus is God’s body and blood, for Jesus is both true God and true man in one person. In giving us Himself, He is not only giving us part of Himself but all of Himself. What a gift this is! That us who are unholy and forlorn, without hope, be declared holy and therefore be filled with hope and joy. That is the gift Jesus died for, and the gift that we receive at the altar as His children.