The Message of the Carols

We’ve been in the “Christmas season” for weeks, or probably months, if you go by the first Christmas decorations at Hobby Lobby! However many days before we start to think of Christmas, there are certain things that everyone associates with the holiday—twinkling lights, an evergreen tree adorned with special ornaments, red and green decorations of all kinds, brightly wrapped packages, and, of course, special music that we only hear once a year!

Christmas is both a Christian holy day and a major secular holiday. While more public festivities surrounding the day deliberately avoid references to its Christian origins, even non-religious people may still be reminded that Christmas is a Christian holiday when familiar Christmas carols are featured playing in the background at nearly every retail store. It seems fitting as throughout the Bible, singing is used to declare the goodness of God. There are at least 50 commands from God to sing His message of grace and truth. You see, we have been created, compelled, and commanded to sing. Christmas is time for Christians to sing the wonderful carols and to use the truths they express as a witness of the Hope of the World revealed in their gospel message. It has always been the case.

In 1739, prolific hymn writer Charles Wesley penned a Christmas hymn titled “Hark How All the Welkin Rings.” Ever hear the word Welkin before? Me neither! Welkin is an old English word describing the heavens, ringing with joyful praise for the newborn King. Unfortunately for Wesley, his lyrics paired with a somber, depressing dirge of ten stanzas and nobody wanted to sing that!

Fourteen years later, the famous preacher George Whitefield saw potential in the hymn and rewrote it with the now familiar “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

Adopting an unlikely new melody, originally written by Mendelssohn to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the printing press, most of those original ten stanzas were dropped. The popularity of the carol soared as it was played and sung from grand cathedrals to small country churches during America’s Great Awakening.

Let’s take a few minutes to consider the profound truth declared in song. After all, the message of this song is for you.

We begin: Hark! The Herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,

These first three lines paraphrase the angelic proclamation in Luke 2:8-14

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

The next line reads: God and sinners reconciled.

This phrase crystalizes the idea of 2 Corinthians 5:18 that

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us {the sinners} to Himself.”

But wait a minute! “Who are you calling a sinner?” you might ask! And what is a “sinner,” anyway? Good questions! Sin is anything that is contrary to the character of God. That includes violations of God’s laws, selfishness, and pride, among other things. A sinner doesn’t have to be someone who violates God’s moral laws over and over again. A sinner is any person who does anything contrary to the character of God. It only takes ONE sin to make you a sinner. That is Me…and you, too.

The birth of Jesus Christ, that newborn King, provides the opportunity of a restored relationship between God the Holy and perfect sovereign Creator and fallen humanity—us. Not “us” as in all people on earth, collectively, but “us” as in individuals—me, you—reconnected to the God who gave us life. Such an opportunity is an ultimate act of both mercy to reconcile the relationship we on our own can never attain, and power to overcome the gap between the two realities. To overcome the infinite shortfall of material humanity from the realm of Spiritual glory took an act of God’s mercy toward us. God came among us in the unassuming, mild material being of a newborn baby on that first Christmas.

Let’s continue: Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

Join the triumph of the skies;

With angelic hosts proclaim,

“Christ is born in Bethlehem.”

We—each of us—are invited, not merely to witness the angelic proclamation of the birth of this newborn King, but to join with the angels in recognition, praise, and worship of the Christ child just as was written in Psalm 86:9 which says:

“All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.”

Now on to verse 2 of the song: Christ by highest Heaven adored;

Christ the everlasting Lord;

Late in time, behold Him come,

Offspring of the virgin’s womb.

The arrival of God’s Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, the King and Reconciling Savior, had been anticipated by the Jewish people for hundreds of years. The prophet, Isaiah, told them, and us, that He would be born of a virgin:

“Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and she shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

The rest of verse 2 of our song says: Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;

Hail th’incarnate Diety,

Pleased as man with men to dwell

Jesus our Emmanuel.

What in the world does all that mean? Let’s start at the end of the verse with the phrase “Jesus our Emmanuel.” Remember from

Isaiah 7:14 the words “…the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and she shall call His name Immanuel.” ?

Emmanuel means “God with us.” Jesus is God with us. This prophesy came true, literally, not just figuratively. The virgin’s son, Jesus Christ, IS God—with us—because the human life which grew in the womb of Mary was a miracle performed by God. The child, Jesus, was, literally, God “veiled—concealed, hidden—in human flesh—that’s what “incarnate Deity” means. In Jesus, the unapproachable God became a real, physical, touchable human being who could love and be loved as a human person while still retaining his deity. And, through faith, we can know Him and receive His love today.

This event doesn’t stun and fill us with awe as much as it should. We need to remember that, in the Old Testament, anytime anyone drew near to God, it was terrifying. People couldn’t even look directly on the Glory of God lest it kill them! That’s how high and holy and unapproachable God Almighty is. But the New Testament tells us, In John 1, verses 1 and 4 that:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and then in verse 4…The Word became flesh and dwelt among us….”

Through Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel, you can meet God; you can know Him personally and without terror! The relationship is interactive. For one-third of the human population the relationship is real and, for many, is well worth the persecution. What kind of relationship must that be like? Answer that question is left for you to explore and experience it for yourself. He can come into your life because He came into the world as Mary’s little baby. God is with us, in Jesus, reconciling the world to Himself—providing a pathway of salvation for all of us sinners who deserve only God’s condemnation and wrath and certainly not His “mercy mild.” And, because He loves us that much, it pleased God to take on a human form and dwell with men.

On to verse 3 of our song: Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings,

Risen with healing in His wings.

Besides telling us that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and call His name Immanuel, the prophet Isaiah also wrote, in Isaiah 9:6:

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon His shoulder,

and His name shall be called

Wonderful counselor, Mighty God

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Sound familiar? Perhaps you recognize those words from another familiar Christmas song, Handel’s Messiah!

Wonderful counselor, Prince of Peace, everlasting Lord, Sun of Righteousness—these are all names for Jesus that express His character as God.

And Jesus tells us, in John 8:12 that He IS

“…the light of the world” and “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Psalm 30:2 reads:

“O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.”

and I Peter 2:24 tells us:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”

Going back verse 3 of our song: Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die,

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Jesus set aside His full glory as God to take the form of a human baby, born to Mary. But why? Why would a holy God do that? For you. Just as a parent loves their child because the child reflects them in appearance or character so too does Creator God love you and wants to cleanse you of your sin, to be reconciled through Jesus. See, God is a holy God. Perfectly holy, Entirely holy. Completely, 100% holy and without any sin. And I’m not. And neither are you. And because we aren’t holy and sinless, we can’t be in the presence of a holy God with our sin. The Bible tells us that our sin leads to death, but faith in Jesus leads to life, now and eternally.

Romans 6:23 tells us what our sin results in:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

and John 3:16 gives us the path out of that dilemma:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His begotten only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

and 2 Corinthians 5:17 reassures us that we don’t have to be stuck in our sin anymore!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”

There are many Christmas carols that speak of Christ’s birth: “Away in a Manger” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and others emphasize the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. But the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus is only the beginning of the Gospel story. Jesus did not stay a baby in the manger. The reason we celebrate Christmas is because of who Jesus is—the Son of God—and what He came to do—to save US from our sin. Because God is holy, he must punish sin. If sin is to be forgiven, it must be covered by an adequate sacrifice. The carols we sing at Christmas remind us not only of Jesus’ birth, but also of his death as that perfect sacrifice for sin.

The words of another carol, “What Child Is This,” underscore this truth. Verse 2 of the song tells us that

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

the Cross be borne for me and you.

When Christ died on the cross, He paid the penalty for sin for all those who would believe in Him.

Colossians 2:13 says:

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses (that’s another word for sins)…God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us…nailing it to the cross.”

The last verse of “The First Noel” reiterates this point:

Then let us all with on accord,

Sing praises to our heavenly Lord,

Who hath made heaven and earth of nought,

And with his blood mankind has bought.

The same God who created the world out of nothing is the same God who makes forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life possible through Jesus Christ.

The Gospel story doesn’t stop with the birth of Jesus or even with His death because, after his death and burial in a sealed tomb, Jesus rose again. He was resurrected, demonstrating that He has truly defeated sin and death on behalf of all of us. By paying the penalty for our sin and defeating its power over us, Christ makes an eternal life of salvation available to all who will believe in Him as Lord and Savior. The fact that sinful people can experience peace with God when they truly deserve death is the essence of grace.

The author of “Silent Night” penned a third verse that we sometimes don’t sing:

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Son of God, loves pure light

Radiant beams from they holy face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace.

Jesus, Lord at thy birth!

Jesus, Lord at thy birth!

This redeeming grace is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem on that first Christmas. It’s why He died on the cross, and it’s why He was resurrected from the dead—so that, through Him, sinful men and women can be reconciled and restored to relationship with God.

So, the message of the Christmas carols, and of Christmas itself, brings sinners—me and you—to a crossroads. We have to confront and deal with who the person of Jesus Christ is and what He came to do. According to the Bible who predicted the coming messiah hundreds of years in advance with uncanny accuracy, Jesus is the ONLY path to salvation and eternal life with God.

Acts 4:12 tells us:

“…and there is salvation in no on else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

So, what will YOU do with Jesus this Christmas? Will you embrace Him as Lord and Savior? Or will you dismiss Him and reject the relationship and salvation He offers? Will you sing the songs of Christmas without even thinking about the words you sing? Or will you submit to Him for who He truly is—no longer a little baby lying in a manger in a stable in Bethlehem, but the risen and exalted Son of God who died for your sin and rose again and now sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, waiting for you, loving you, desiring relationship with you.

If you have never been forgiven of your sin and reconciled to God through Jesus, let me extend to you the Bible’s invitation to embrace the true gift of Christmas that the carols celebrate in song. That gift is Jesus.

The Lord Jesus promises forgiveness, salvation and eternal life to all who come to Him in faith. The Apostle Paul summed up the good news of salvation with these words that he wrote in Romans 10:9:

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved.”

It really is that simple! If you want to know, truly know, guaranteed, that you have eternal life, all you have to do is confess your sin and believe that Jesus died to free you from it. There aren’t any magic words you must recite or rituals you have to perform. You can simply pray something like this: “Jesus, I know I’ve sinned and I know you are the Savior. Please forgive me of my sins and be my Lord.” If you’d like someone to pray with you as you take this step toward new life, or if you just have more questions, please don’t hesitate to come ask me or one of the other ladies of this church.

In closing, I love the words of the second verse of “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” We rarely sing it, but it seems a fitting conclusion for those who will embrace the true meaning of Christmas:

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,

Doomed for guilt to endless pains,

Justice now revokes the sentence,

Mercy calls you; break your chains.

Come and worship, come and worship,

Worship Christ, the newborn King.

May you have a Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and a New Year full of the blessings that come from knowing Him as Lord.

Susan and I pray you enjoy the Peace and contentment of a fulfilling Christmas in Him