December 21, 2025 - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART

Abby Cheng

My favorite Christmas song is one that not a lot of people have heard of, but it never fails to bring me to tears every time I listen to it and ponder the lyrics. It's called “Arrival” by Hillsong and it beautifully describes the impossibility of God taking on flesh and becoming a baby called Immanuel, or “God with us.” Here are some of my favorite lyrics in the song:

“The One who had no start and knows no end

Became confined in time and tense

The Everlasting God

The Great I Am

In the mercy of a mother’s hands”

“The One who holds the stars, In the creases of His hands

Is the One who holds my heart, Like a mother once held him

The One who knows what lie, Where space has run its course

Embraced a baby's mind, And now I can know my God

The monarch of the stars, The King above all kings

The ruler of my heart, And the Saviour for my sins

The One who sees what lies, In each and every soul

Embraced our finite eyes, And now we can see our God”

“Oh come now hail His arrival, The God of creation

Royalty robed in the flesh He created, Jesus the maker has made Himself known

All hail the infinite infant God”

Can you grasp the gravity of the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the universe lowering Himself all the way down to the level of a helpless, mortal human baby on Christmas Day? It's almost absurd to think of the lengths He went to in order to set His plan of salvation in motion. When we really stop and dwell on exactly what God did for us that first Christmas, all the other things that steal our attention away during this holiday (like presents, parties, food, and decorations) pale in comparison and we are left in awe of our infinite infant God. All glory to our God who came down to earth to dwell with us and save us from our sins!