All is Well

“All is well, all is well.  Angels and men rejoice.  For tonight, darkness fell into the Dawn of Love’s Light.”

What an incredible thought on this fourth Sunday of Advent.  I had the privilege of conducting the choir for one song in this morning’s presentation while the director and his wife did a duet.  The core of the song for the choir was Wayne Kirkpatrick & Michael W. Smith’s All is Well, the words of which I quoted above.  As we ran through this in previous practice sessions and then again today, I was struck by the simplicity yet boldness of this statement.  These are exactly the words God spoke that first Christmas over 2,000 years ago first to the shepherds and then to the world.  Despite over 400 years of silence from His prophets, the “fullness of time” had finally arrived and God told the world in that very strange way that, “All is well and I am still in control.”

A young peasant couple, traveling to a tiny, back-water town simply because of his lineage and a governmental order, find themselves camped out back in the only space available.  Ordinary shepherds, just a hillside away, get the first announcement to go see this child.  And there, among the animals and the most common of common people, God whispers His greatest message to mankind …

“All is well … I’ve sent you My Son as Messiah - just like I’d planned all along.  May you find peace and rest in Him.  All is well.”