Yes, the Christmas story is full of miracles: the virginal conception and birth, the birth of John the Baptist, the incarnation, the angelic heralds, the attendant prophecies….

There is, however, another miracle that we don’t always talk about this time of year, though it is described beautifully in the poetry of Charles Wesley’s “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”:

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Think of Adam’s likeness as the image of our brokenness. Paul captures this so eloquently in Romans 7:15-18:

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.  But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh.

But now, Emmanuel—“God with us”—has come to replace the image of our brokenness with the image of our healing. “Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface/Stamp Thine image in its place.”

The first Adam represents our moral failures, shame, bitterness, and estrangement from God, but the second Adam, Jesus Christ, represents our freedom from all of these. The second Adam replaces the first and reunites us with God.

The traditional site of Jesus’ birth in the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

John Wesley talked about this as both relative and real change. The relative change is that we now have a different relationship to God. We are forgiven. “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor 5:19). But there is also, he said, a real change: we become different people when God stamps the image of Christ onto our hearts. It’s not something we can do on our own. Only God can do it. “ If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). God is making us new.

A few days ago I mentioned to my wife how crazy the drivers were lately. It’s not as if we live in New York or Los Angeles. We live in Dayton, Ohio. Crazy traffic isn’t normally something we have to deal with. “It’s because it’s Christmas,” she said. “Everyone is in a rush trying to get ready.” She was right, too. We all see it: at the mall, at Wal-Mart, even in the church parking lot. What God has done for our redemption has become an occasion to demonstrate how desperately we need it.

We often lament the commercialism and secularization of Christmas. We say we want to “put Christ back in Christmas” and remember “the reason for the season.” But what is the reason for the season? We celebrate the birth of Christ, but perhaps we overlook what God has done for us by becoming incarnate for us in Christ.

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
Oh, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

God reached into the brokenness of time and space to rescue us from sin and death. We who were lost have now been found. Those who are lost may still be found. We’re not just forgiven; we’re part of a new creation. God is making us new. God is making all things new, and that is the miracle that all the other miracles serve.

So when you sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” this year, sing it like you mean it. You’re proclaiming miracles as you sing: the miracles surrounding Christ’s birth, the miracle of your new birth, and the miracles of the new creation.