In 1915, Henry Barraclough wrote a hymn titled, “Ivory Palaces.” It is a hymn that should be included with the Christmas repertoire, but rarely if ever is. Consider the lyrics and see if you do not agree. He begins in the first verse speaking of the glory of the Lord and then in the refrain wrote this.
Out of the ivory palaces
into a world of woe,
only his great eternal love
made my Savior go.
He took the inspiration for the hymn from Psalm 45, a psalm that speaks of the Messiah.
“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” (Psalm 45:6–8, KJV)
How often do we consider the miraculous sacrifice that our Savior made in leaving the glories of heaven to come to this earth. He left a place of infinite peace and tranquility. He left a place where He was worshipped and adored. He left a place where there was not even a hint of sin. There was no ugliness there. He left heaven, a place of infinite glory.
From this awesome place of infinite perfection, he came to this sinful and defiled place called earth. He gave up the outward manifestation of deity and became a man. He came to a place where He then would experience human suffering, where He would be scorned, ridiculed, abused, rejected, beaten, and crucified. Comparatively speaking, he left infinite beauty, glory, peace, perfection to come here, a virtual cesspool of sin and corruption, to be misunderstood and rejected.
Why? Why would He leave all of that and come here? Why would He leave that, knowing that He would endure the most cruel treatment on the cross? Barraclough wrote it most eloquently, “only his great eternal love made my Savior go.”
Our Lord left all the infinite glory of heaven to come here because of His infinite love for us. I hope you will carry that thought with you through this Advent Season, but not just now, throughout the days and years to follow.
Out of the ivory palaces
into a world of woe,
only his great eternal love
made my Savior go.
Renewing the Heart 