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There are many wonderful hymns which are filled with an incredible depth of revelation. It’s a shame that the church in America these days has for the most part neglected the hymns, because they can educate us while we worship. They engage the intellect as well as the emotions. The Christmas carols are no exception, and fortunately we return to them at least once a year. Last Sunday we were singing Joy to the World and I was struck by the words of the song. Its message may be missed, or not understood. So, I thought I’d write a blog post which highlighted some of the, to me, more interesting verses and phrases of a few of the common Christmas carols we sing and a little of the background stories behind the writing of a few of them.

Joy to the World

As a writer of worship music Isaac Watts sought to re-write the psalms interpreting them from the perspective of the New Testament—in other words, what he thought David might have written if he had a more complete knowledge of God’s revelation. Joy to the World is Watt’s interpretation of psalm 98, which in part says,

Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. (vv 7-9)

For Watt’s re-interpretation of these verses we can look at verse 2 of his song: “Joy to the world! The Savior reigns; let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy . . . .”

I particularly like verse three: “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found . . . .” This is actually a reference to the curse found in Genesis 3 and the redemption which was promised at that same time; “And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel (v 15).” This is a reference to the redeemer overcoming and defeating Satan the serpent.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

“Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!’ . . .” I’ve never noticed before that this line is telling us what the herald (messenger) angels are singing – it’s a quote. And, what is their message? The King is born! He has come to bring peace by reconciling himself (God) with his enemies (which would be us sinners); which means healing our damaged relationship.

Let’s look at a couple more lines. “. . . Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel” (verse 2); “. . . Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die . . .” (verse 3). These lines describe the incredible and ineffable incarnation of God in Jesus. God lays his glory/splendor aside and takes on human flesh, glad to dwell with us humans as a human himself – to be our Emmanuel/God-with-us. Why does he do this? To save us from the power of death.

O Come All Ye Faithful

This theology of the incarnation described in Hark! the Herald Angels Sing is also mentioned in O Come, All Ye Faithful. In the 3 verse there is this line: “Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing”. This is a reference to John 1, which says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (vv 1-5, 14)

Once in Royal David’s City

This is yet another carol which illuminates the doctrine of the incarnation. This carol was written by an Irish woman named Cecil Frances Humphreys in the 1800’s. It was her desire to help children better understand and remember the Apostles’ Creed, by writing a series of Hymns which focused on particular parts of the creed. She wrote this song to teach children about Jesus Christ, who as the creed says “was conceived of the Holy Spirit, [and] born of the Virgin Mary”.

Verse 2 states, “He came down to earth from heaven, Who is God and Lord of all . . . . Verse 3 ends with the line “. . . Christian children all should be, Mild, obedient, good as He.” Verse 4 continues the idea,

“For He is our child-hood's pattern, Day by day like us He grew, He was little, weak, and helpless, Tears and smiles like us He knew, And He feels for our sadness, And He shares in our gladness.”

Verse 5 completes the thought,

“And our eyes at last shall see Him, Through His own redeeming love; For that child so dear and gentle, Is our Lord in heaven above, And He leads His children on, To the place where He is gone. Not in that poor lowly stable, With the oxen standing by, We shall see Him, but in heaven, Set at God's right hand on high; When like stars His children crowned, All in white shall be around."

I especially like how this song teaches us, and remember it’s directed towards children, that Jesus was a little child and went through the same things we went through as children – “tears and smiles”. And, I like how this Christmas carol tells us how we will one day see him, but not in the “lowly stable”, but in his glory, where he will lead us as he has opened up the doorway.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

With this one I’m going to include the entire hymn, because it is just so great. This hymn seems to mix a mournful plea and joyful expectation. It is helpful to remember that Advent meanings “coming”, and during Advent we not only look back at the first coming of Jesus, his birth, but look forward to the second coming of Jesus, his triumphal return. I think that while this song is recalling that God has started his redeeming work, it is a longing cry for Christ’s second coming when he will complete that work.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Refrain

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,

Who orderest all things mightily;

To us the path of knowledge show,

And teach us in her ways to go.

Refrain

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;

From depths of hell Thy people save,

And give them victory over the grave.

Refrain

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Refrain

O come, Thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Refrain

O come, O come, great Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height

In ancient times once gave the law

In cloud and majesty and awe.

Refrain

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,

An ensign of Thy people be;

Before Thee rulers silent fall;

All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Refrain

O come, Desire of nations, bind

In one the hearts of all mankind;

Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,

And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

This song references many prophetic themes. The call and the assurance that Emmanuel (God with us) is coming – Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” The “Rod of Jesse” refers to Isaiah 11:1: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse”; Jesse was the father of the great king David. In 2 Sam 7:12-13 God promises David,

The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

“Day-Spring” refers to the statement made by Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, in Luke 1:78: “The dayspring from on high has visited us.” “Thou Key of David” comes from Isaiah 22:22: “The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder,” which in turn refers to Isaiah 9:6 “The government shall be upon His shoulder.”

Jesus is referred to in this song as a ransom; Jesus said, referring to himself, in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He is a ransom which saves Israel, but not just that, he is the “desire of nations”, because his Kingdom rule will bring salvation, peace, justice and prosperity for us all, not just Israel.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Another hymn written for children to sing – things used to be so different. I’m going to just highlight parts of the carol.

“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” (verse 1). This is one of my favorite lines in any hymn. It highlights the importance of Jesus’ birth; everything culminates in him.

Verse 3 declares, “How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n; So God imparts to human hearts, the blessings of His Heav’n. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin; Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.” Jesus and with him the Kingdom of God slipped into this world in an astonishingly inauspicious way, born to a couple of peasants in a barn. In the same manner God’s Kingdom is expanding in this world today; quietly taking up residence in our hearts. Most may never even notice that the Spirit of Jesus is present in this world. But, still he walks in this world of sin, and condescends to enter into the lives of humble broken people.

  The oft’ neglected fourth verse; I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen this before, so I’m putting it in here just to give it some attention. Verse five follows it.

Where children pure and happy pray to the blessèd Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;

Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

I like the idea expressed here that celebrating Christmas is not just about remembering the birth of Jesus. The fourth verse tells us that where there is love and faith, the darkness is once again broken and Christmas comes again. This theme is strengthened in the final verse, where we ask Jesus to descend to us again, to defeat sin, and enter into our hearts, to be born in us today (and this was before the whole ‘born again’ Christian thing was such a polarizing issue). The last line asks Jesus to be our “God-with-us” today, as he was 2,000 years ago.

O Holy Night

“. . . It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. . . .” For thousands of years we humans have longed for a better world, but our “sin and error” continuously leads us to destroy ourselves and our neighbors. Are we doomed? No, in a seemingly insignificant event – the birth of a Jewish child – the process of our redemption was begun. This brings hope to those broken down by the cares of this world, because a “new and glorious” age is upon us.

The final verse says, “Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His Gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother, And in His Name all oppression shall cease. This section of the hymn declares some of the results of the coming of Jesus’ Kingdom. This verse reminds me of Luke 4:16-21, where Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61:1-4,

[Jesus] stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”