Why Christ Came by Joel Beeke

As the Holiday season approaches, I'm thrilled to have this resource for my family devotionals. While the world honors the commercialism and characters such as Santa Claus, I plan on daily reading through this with my young children to help better explain the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. The best way to describe 'Why Christ Came' would be bite sized portions of Christs Glory and Gospel in a devotional style that's both easy to read and enjoyable. There is no new and profound truth that all church history has been blind to, just the same beautiful and trustworthy message that faithful men have trumpeted for centuries and Beeke and Boekestein follow in suit.

The Hammers Echo Rings

Chocolate bunnies, hallowed eggs
Children hunt yet are mislead
The truth is dangling from a thread
The hammers echo rings

Her new dress, his suit and tie
A happy glimpse at photo time
We celebrate while ignore the crime
The hammers echo rings

The church now filled this time each year
The proud just gather, don’t cohere
The lost don’t even know to fear
The hammers echo rings

Perhaps you too have heard the call
Transcending time, before the fall
The scream that rang out from the cross
As the hammers echo rings

If not, I pray, your mind to budge
And see through the world, its toxic sludge
Lest when you stand before Cosmic Judge
The hammers echo rings.

The Awakening

To go through life in misery
A hazy state of captivity
Was all but certain death to me
A self proclaimed death penalty
To find my pleasure in the world
Of eyes and flesh let lust endure
As my pride ruled with its tenure
To follow a phantom inveigled allure
Yet boast and brag was all for not
As in my soul was all but rot
In sleep in death in all distraught
My mind was veiled to all forethought
Yet fall and crash as like a plate
To pieces in my broken state
I found my web of my mistakes
And of my plight felt its full weight
Was then the Spirit stirred in me
My eyes unveiled, I now could see
My Father dropped me to my knees
My Savior was my awakening
Though sins I still must mortify
I know now its Gods Grace not I
That I’ve been called to give my life
And for this love I’d gladly die

Broken Knees

I dare not count the tears I've cried in fear they be to few
For how is it that my heart breaks for others more than you
And as I find I'm bound in time to the path you choose
Then should I not spout tears of joy at least in awe of you?
Holy Spirit break my knees and knock me off my pride
For I would rather crawl in you than walk outside your light.
When those nights a fear of death ravages my head
I praise you for your Sovereignty; my peace, my life, my bread.

I Am The Carpenter

I am the carpenter of self righteous deeds
For it was I who took the tree
And cut it down and shaved some off
To form two beams then form a cross
And it was I who came to Him
And kissed his cheek and called him friend
Then tied him up and led him down
To prosecute where lies abound
And it was I who spit in his face
And beat him in his submissive state
I ripped the beard from off his face
With whip his back did lacerate
Then made him wear a cloak of wool
To show the depths my soul so cruel
Then crowned him with a crown of thorns
That I did weave with all my scorn
I beat him more, did laugh and mock
Cloak graphed to flesh, I ripped it off
Then on his back I placed the tree
And marched him up to Calvary
My hand held the hammer proud
That drove the nails with the sweat of my brow
I lifted him up, again mocked and laughed
And it was I who placed the plaque
Reading ‘King of the Jews’ for all to see
So they could be amused like me
And Satan and I did bear our teeth
Joining our hostility
As the pitiful man drew his last breath
This self proclaimed god was finally dead
But in three days this man was raised
He conquered death, he conquered grave
He came and opened my eyes to see
That I’d been called from eternity
In my sin I was so blind
But now my Savior opened my mind
And by Sovereign Grace he bore that cross
As the only was to reclaim his lost
So I am the carpenter, yes in deed
For those were MY sins that made that tree.