By Stephen Mitchell
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT
by
Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber
Joseph Mohr was
born in Salzburg on 11 December 1792, to an unmarried embroiderer,
Anna Schoiberin, and Franz Mohr, a mercenary soldier and deserter,
who abandoned Joseph’s mother before the birth. At his baptism
shortly after birth, as the parents were unmarried, Joseph received
the name of his father, according to custom.
Johann Nepomuk
Hiernle, vicar and leader of music at Salzburg Cathedral, enabled
Mohr to have an education and encouraged him in music. As a boy, Mohr
would serve simultaneously as a singer and violinist in the choirs of
the University Church and at the Benedictine monastery church of St.
Peter. From 1808 to 1810, Mohr studied at the Benedictine monastery
of Kremsmünster in the province of Upper Austria. He then returned
to Salzburg to attend the Lyceum school, and in 1811, he entered the
seminary. Since he was of illegitimate birth, a special dispensation
was required in those days for him to attend seminary. On 21 August
1815, Mohr graduated and was ordained as a priest in the Austrian
Roman Catholic Church.
In the fall of 1815, Mohr was asked to provide temporary help in the
village of Ramsau near Berchtesgaden. Mohr then served as assistant
priest in Mariapfarr (1815-1817). It was during this time, in 1816,
that he penned the words to “Silent Night” in Mariapfarr.
Poor health forced him to return to Salzburg in the summer of 1817.
After a short recuperation he began serving as an assistant priest at
St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, where he made the acquaintance of Franz
Gruber, schoolteacher in neighbouring Arnsdorf. The town and church
was often subject to flooding from the Salzach river. Flooding before
Christmas had damaged the organ in the church in Oberndorf making it
unusable for the Christmas Eve midnight Mass.
So on a cold
Christmas Eve in 1818, Mohr walked the two miles from his home in
Oberndorf bei Salzburg to visit his friend Franz Gruber in the
neighbouring town of Arnsdorf. Mohr brought with him the poem he had
written some two years earlier. The Christmas Eve midnight Mass was
only a few hours away, and Mohr hoped his friend, a school teacher
who also served as the church’s choir master and organist, could set
his poem to music. Gruber composed the melody for Mohr’s “Stille
Nacht” in just a few hours.
The song was sung
at Midnight Mass in a simple arrangement for guitar and choir. This
year marks the 200th anniversary of the creation of this Christmas
Carol. Various legends have sprung up over the years concerning the
genesis of “Silent Night”, but the simplest and likeliest
explanation seems to have been that Mohr simply wanted an original
song that he could play on his favourite instrument, the guitar.
Within a few years, arrangements of the carol appeared in churches in
the Salzburg Archdiocese and folk singers from the Ziller Valley were
taking the composition on tours around Europe.
Mohr, a generous man who donated most of his salary to charity, was
moved from place to place, and remained in Oberndorf only until 1819.
After Oberndorf he was sent to Kuchl, followed by stays in Golling an
der Salzach, Bad Vigaun, Adnet and Anthering. In 1827 he was made
pastor of Hintersee, and in 1837 of the Alpine village of Wagrain.
Here he created a fund to allow children from poor families to attend
school and set up a system for the care of the elderly. Mohr died of
pulmonary disease on 4 December 1848, at the age of 55. Mohr
obviously never forgot his humble and difficult origins, doing all he
could throughout his life to help those who were living in poverty.
In Austria, Stille
Nacht is considered a national treasure. Traditionally, the song
may not be played publicly before Christmas Eve.
Over the years,
because the original manuscript had been lost, Mohr’s name was
forgotten and although Gruber was known to be the composer, many
people assumed the melody was originally composed by a famous
composer, and it was variously attributed to Haydn, Mozart, or
Beethoven. However, a manuscript was discovered in 1995 in Mohr’s
handwriting and dated by researchers as c. 1820. It states that
Mohr wrote the words in 1816 when he was assigned to a pilgrim church
in Mariapfarr, Austria, and shows that the music was composed by
Gruber in 1818. This is the earliest manuscript that exists and the
only one in Mohr’s handwriting.
In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, then serving at
Trinity Church, New York City, wrote and published the English
translation that is most frequently sung today, translated from three
of Mohr’s original six verses.[8] The version of the melody that is
generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby or pastorale,
differing slightly (particularly in the final strain) from Gruber’s
original. Today, the lyrics and melody are in the public domain,
although newer translations usually are not.
In 1997 the Silent
Night Museum (Saltzburg, Austria), commissioned a new English
translation by Bettina Klein of Mohr’s German lyrics. This is the
translation on the bulletin insert. Whenever possible, (and mostly),
Klein leaves the Young translation unchanged, but occasionally Klein
(and Mohr) varies markedly. For example, “Nur das traute hoch
heilige Paar, Holder Knab’ im lockigen Haar” is translated
by Young: “Round yon Virgin mother and child, Holy infant so
tender and mild” where as Klein rewords it: “Round yon
godly tender pair, Holy infant with curly hair,” a translation
closer to the original.
The carol has been
translated into about 140 languages.
[Much of the above
copied from two Wikipedia articles.]
Mohr’s poem
focuses exclusively on that night that God’s Son, Jesus, entered into
human sight through the womb of the virgin Mary. We will look briefly
at all six verses of Mohr’s message in poetry.
1.
Silent night! Holy night!
All’s asleep, one sole light,
Just
the faithful and holy pair,
Lovely boy-child with curly
hair
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!
2.
Silent night! Holy night!
God’s Son laughs, o how bright.
Love
from your holy lips shines clear,
As the dawn of salvation draws
near,
Jesus, Lord, with your birth!
Jesus, Lord, with your
birth!
3.
Silent night! Holy night!
Brought the world peace tonight,
From
the heavens’ golden height
Shows the grace of His holy
might
Jesus, as man on this earth!
Jesus, as man on this
earth!
4.
Silent night! Holy night!
Where today all the might
Of His
fatherly love us graced
And then Jesus, as brother embraced.
All
the peoples on earth!
All the peoples on earth!
5.
Silent night! Holy night!
Long we hoped that He might,
As
our Lord, free us of wrath,
Since times of our fathers He
hath
Promised to spare all mankind!
Promised to spare all
mankind!
6.
Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds
first see the sight.
Told by angelic Alleluja,
Sounding
everywhere, both near & far
Christ the Savior is
here!
Christ the Savior is here!
All six verses
begin “Silent Night, Holy Night.” To be honest, being a
celibate Roman Catholic priest, I’m not sure he was qualified to
write about how silent the birth of Jesus was. Because of God’s
judgment on Eve’s fruit-bearing, women bring forth the fruit of their
bodies with a lot of pain. “To the woman
He said, ‘I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain
you will bring forth children.'” Mary would have been no
different. Just because she was giving birth to the Messiah does not
mean she would have been exempt from that curse. Every cry of a woman
in labor is God’s reminder that He hates sin and sin must be judged.
So, through the birth, I seriously doubt the night was that silent.
But there was
definitely holiness present that night. Jesus was not conceived with
a sin nature. He was, from the moment of conception, exactly what He
had been from eternity and would continue to be through eternity,
holy, undefiled, innocent. Hebrews 7:23-28
speaks of Jesus’ ministry as High Priest before God. Listen to what
it says about Jesus’ sinlessness:
The
former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because
they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other
hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.
Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God
through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For
it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy,
innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners
and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those
high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then
for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He
offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are
weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a
Son, made perfect forever.
Mohr went on, in
verse 1:
All’s
asleep, one sole light,
Just the faithful and holy pair,
Lovely
boy-child with curly hair
I am sure, after
the struggle of a birth, sleep would be welcome and, perhaps, sleep
did come. Just the faithful and holy pair? Not sure about the “just”
part. Births in that culture were a community affair of the women. It
would not just be family members, either. The community’s women would
gather to help in the birth and to celebrate the new life. Husbands?
They were not welcome to attend. Would they all leave afterward? On
that I cannot say. But we do know that the Roman Catholic doctrine of
the holiness of Mary is false. The only intrinsic holiness was found
in the baby, not in Mary or Joseph. In Luke
1:46-47 we have the beginning of Mary’s reaction to her cousin
Elizabeth’s declaration about the baby Mary was carrying. Listen as
Mary begins her song:
And
Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced
in God my Savior.”
Mary, as every
other person on the planet except Jesus, was a sinner and needed a
Savior.
But Mohr’s
statement about Jesus is very interesting. “Lovely boy-child
with curly hair.” Mohr was recognizing the Jewishness of Jesus.
First, it might be
appropriate to mention here that the typical imagery of Mary and
Joseph traveling to Bethlehem alone is most likely false. Unless
Joseph was the only remaining member of his family, there would have
been many that traveled with them. Notice what Luke wrote in Luke
2:1-5:
Now
in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census
be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken
while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to
register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up
from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of
David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and
family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was
engaged to him, and was with child.
Secondly, though
Mary went up as a family member of Joseph’s family, Mary was a
descendant of David in her own right. If we understand the genealogy
of Luke 3:23-38 as that of Mary, as it
seems, then Mary was a descendant of David through David’s son
Nathan, while Joseph, whose genealogy is in Matthew
1, was a descendant of David through David’s son Solomon. So
Jesus was the legal son of Joseph and the actual son of Mary apart
from any human father.
Legally and
biologically, Jesus was a Jew. Mohr’s pointing this out by describing
Jesus with a typical feature of Jews, the curly hair, is a bit
surprising. In that culture, antisemitism was endemic. Martin Luther,
near the close of his life, wrote a polemic against the Jews that was
as vicious as it could be without actually calling them to be
slaughtered.
But Jesus had to
be a descendant of David for God to keep His word. As Gabriel said to
Mary in Luke 1:31-33:
And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the
Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father
David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His
kingdom will have no end.
Jesus was Jewish
and God is not done with the Jews. He has a plan for them and “the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Jesus
will one day reign on the throne of His ancestor, King David. On that
throne, Jesus will reign, not only as King of the Jews, but as King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will reign as King and Lord over all
of Creation.
In verse 2, Mohr
emphasized God’s love and salvation. It does not appear to be clear
whose holy lips are being emphasized, God the Father’s or God the
Son’s. But Mohr’s emphasis on the “dawn of salvation”
drawing near is very clear. Finally, thousands of years after the
promise given to the serpent in Genesis 3:15,
the promised seed of the woman who would crush the head of our
ancient enemy Satan had arrived. Within just a few short years,
salvation would be accomplished for all mankind, if they would only
place their faith in God’s holy Son Jesus. Jesus did come to reign
and He was truly Lord at the moment of His birth. The Magi’s question
was very perceptive: “Where is He who has
been born King of the Jews?” He did not have kingship
thrust upon Him. He was born king by virtue of Who He is. Mohr had it
right. “Jesus, Lord, with your birth.”
In verse 3, Mohr
wrote that the coming of Jesus into the world that night brought
peace. The angels spoke of God’s peace to the shepherds as they
were out in the fields watching over the sheep in Luke
2:10-14:
But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring
you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for
today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who
is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there
appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace
among men with whom He is pleased.”
As Longfellow had
written in his poem, “There is no peace on earth.” That was
equally true 2000 years ago. In fact, peace cannot exist where God
does not have full reign. All the attempts, both nationally and
individually, of man to bring his own peace, to provide his own
peace, have always been dismal failures. “’There
is no peace for the wicked,’ says the LORD” [Isaiah
48:22]. True peace has only come with the presence of Jesus.
Which is why Jesus said to the Disciples, “Peace
I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I
give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be
fearful” [John 14:27]. True
peace only arrived with the baby in the manger. And because this
world is riddled with man’s evil, that peace could only have come
from Heaven itself.
And Mohr wrote
that Grace, God’s goodness undeservedly lavished upon us, came upon
us in the person of Mary’s holy child. Look at the Scriptures to
see how often God’s grace is coupled with the presence of Jesus.
Listen to just two examples, John 1:14
and Romans 5:15:
And
the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth.
But
the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the
transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of
God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to
the many.
Truly, as Mohr
reminds us, grace has come upon us from Heaven in the person of
Jesus, man on this earth.
Then in Mohr’s
4th verse, he wrote that the love of the Father and the
love of the Son graced mankind with the coming of Jesus. Paul wrote,
in Romans 8:39, that the love of God is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that love can only come to our hearts
through the saving work of the Son of God. The Apostle Paul closed
out his letter to the Ephesians with this prayer: “Peace
be to the brethren, and love with
faith, from God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ” [Ephesians 6:23].
Mohr also wrote
that the Father graced and the Son embraced all the peoples on earth.
God’s grace was poured out for all mankind. It continues to be
freely available through faith in Jesus. And Jesus did embrace all
mankind by taking on humanity. We call this the Incarnation. Jesus
laid aside some of the independent exercise of His divine
prerogatives, took on humanity, and submitted Himself to the Father
as a man. Paul wrote of this in Philippians
2:5-8:
Have
this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross.
Then, the author
of Hebrews expressed the same truth this
way, in 2:9:
But
we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels,
namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory
and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for
everyone.
And then, in
verses 14-15:
Therefore,
since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also
partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him
who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those
who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Jesus
took on humanity to be like everyone, but without sin. Then He went
to the cross and died for everyone.
It
was in this way that Jesus embraced all mankind by becoming as human
as we are, yet without the taint of sin.
In
verse 5 Mohr wrote of man’s hunger to be free of the just wrath of
God. We know we are sinners, though we try to pretend that we are
not. We have devised all kinds of religions trying to provide our own
righteousness to escape God’s just wrath at our sin. Yet, the truth
is that, without the forgiveness brought by Christ’s sacrifice, we
continue under the wrath of God. John said it so well in John
3:36:
He
who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey
the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
We
do not agree with Mohr that all mankind are promised to be spared. We
must part with him on this stanza of his poem. Only those who believe
in the Son have been promised eternal life. After all, isn’t that
exactly what John 3:16 states?
For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
And
the two verses before it?
As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have
eternal life.
God
delays His just wrath at our sin in order to give us more opportunity
to accept His free gift of salvation. But most people ignore His
gracious offer of forgiveness in Christ Jesus. Which is why Jesus
told the Disciples, in Matthew 7:13-14:
Enter
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad
that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and
there are few who find it.
The
promise of redemption, of salvation, is available to all mankind,
Jesus died for all mankind. But forgiveness only comes to those who
put their faith in Jesus as their Savior.
In
the 6th and last stanza of his poem, Mohr brought us back
to the events of that glorious night of miracles. God gave a humble
group of shepherds the privilege of being the first to publicly hear
of God’s gift of a Savior. Why them? It is very likely that the
sheep they were watching over were destined for the Temple as
sacrifices. If so, God was graciously letting them know that the true
sacrifice, the Lamb of God, had been born into the world. Soon, they
would no longer need to provide a lamb that was unblemished because
the Holy, Undefiled, Unblemished, Son of God would offer Himself up
to God as man’s substitute. He would die for our sins.
As
a fitting close to Mohr’s message in poetry, he called for this
message to be sounded out both near and far, Christ the Savior is
here!
This
is truly a message for us. God Himself has called us to be His
ambassadors to this world to sound out that Christ the Savior has
come and offers, through His blood, forgiveness for our sins, peace
with God, love for God and for each other, and the privilege of
living in the Grace of God for eternity.
Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal
through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Christ
the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is here!
By Stephen Mitchell
by Charles Wesley (mostly)
Charles
Wesley was the hymnist of the English Revival. He was born
the
eighteenth
child and youngest son in
a
family of nineteen in the home of Samuel and Susannah Wesley. Father
Samuel was
rector of the poor and not too cultured town of Epworth. Charles
studied
at St. Peter’s College, Westminster, London; and in 1726 began
his
studies
at Christ Church, Oxford. While there
he
helped form the Holy Club, of which George Whitefield and his brother
John later became members. In 1735
Charles was
ordained
before he and John accepted the urgent invitation of General
Oglethorpe to go with him as chaplain and teacher to his colony in
Georgia
in the New World.
While in Georgia both Charles and John Wesley were witnessed to by
the Moravian leader August Spangenberg who taught them that they
needed a personal faith in Jesus Christ.
Dissatisfied and ill in health, Charles returned to England the next
year. We often hear about John Wesley’s salvation
experience at Aldersgate on May 24, 1738. Charles had a similar
experience,
on May 21st, 1738,
only three days prior to John’s experience. Charles’
greatest
contribution to the Christian church was over six thousand hymns,
four thousand of which were published. What
John Wesley preached, Charles Wesley sang.
Some of his greatest hymns are “Hark,
the Herald Angels Sing,” “Jesus Lover of My Soul,”
“Love Divine, All Love Excelling,” “O,
For a Thousand Tongues,” and “Christ the Lord is Risen
Today.” For a while Charles traveled with John in his preaching
tours. After 1756 he traveled
little, not having the iron constitution of his brother and having a
family of eight to provide for. From 1756 to 1771
Charles
preached at Bristol,
England,
and from 1771 until his death
in 1788,
Charles preached
in London.
[Copied
and emended from The
Wycliffe Biographical Dictionary of the Church]
“Hark!
The Herald Angels Sing” is a Christmas carol that first
appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. Its
lyrics were substantially been written by Charles Wesley. Wesley had
requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, not the
joyful tune we sing today. Moreover, Wesley’s original opening
couplet is “Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King
of Kings”.
The popular version is the result of alterations by various hands,
notably by Wesley’s co-worker George Whitefield who changed the
opening couplet to the familiar one, and by Felix Mendelssohn, whose
melody was used for the lyrics. In 1840—a hundred years after the
publication of Hymns and Sacred Poems—Mendelssohn composed a
cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg’s invention of movable type
printing, and it is music from this cantata, adapted by the English
musician William H. Cummings to fit the lyrics of “Hark! The Herald
Angels Sing”, that we sing as the carol known today. [Copied
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hark!_The_Herald_Angels_Sing]
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!”
Joyful,
all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with
th’angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Christ,
by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late
in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
veiled
in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’incarnate Deity,
pleased
as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
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.
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.
“What
John Wesley preached, Charles Wesley sang.”
Charles composed this song, originally titled “Hymn for
Christmas Day,” to express the identity and purpose of the
Incarnation.
In
its first verse, Wesley
wrote that the angels sang of the glory of the newborn child. While
the sacred
text states that the angels spoke, not sang, we fully understand the
urge to place song in the mouths of the angelic host. Singing praise
comes so naturally to mankind it is easy to suppose it does to the
angelic host as well.
And Wesley began with the need to “Hark!” Pay attention.
What the angels tell mankind is a very important message that needs
to be listened to.
What
was it that the angelic host proclaimed? Wesley
collapsed several mighty themes into three short lines:
“Glory
to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God
and sinners reconciled!”
What
glory did this newborn king possess? It
was not a glory that was apparent to human eyes. But it was an
eternal radiant glory. In John
17:5,
in Jesus’ high priestly prayer the night before He was crucified,
Jesus said to His Heavenly Father: “Now,
Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had
with You before the world was.”
This was a glory with which the angels were very familiar. After all,
from the beginning the angels had been proclaiming “Holy!
Holy! Holy! Is the Lord of Hosts,”
and
all along they had been including this person Who had entered human
sight that night in Bethlehem.”
What
about the concept of King? Looking back upon the completed text of
the Bible, we know that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To
honor His place as the newborn King, over a couple of months, God led
Magi from Babylon to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem to kneel before
this infant child. The Magi were the ruling party of the Parthian
Kingdom and they chose who was to be the kingdom’s next king. They
were, quite literally, king makers. And in the hundred years before
Jesus’ birth, the Parthian Kingdom had twice dealt the Roman army
its worse defeats of their history, totally annihilating more than
one Roman Legion.
These
are those who knelt before the infant child to worship because that
child was truly ‘the newborn king.’
And
ever
since the Fall, peace has been missing from this earth and from the
lives of its inhabitants. We have been at war with God, with others,
and with ourselves. Yet the angels brought the message of peace from
God the Father in that simple declaration of:
“On
earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
This peace is suddenly available because, as the angels said, “Do
not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which
will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has
been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
It
is only in the saving ministry of the Lord that we can find peace.
Peace with God, peace with others, and peace within ourselves. It
comes because of God’s great mercy.
Charles
Wesley was most likely thinking of 1Peter 1:3 when Peter wrote:
“Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
God’s
great mercy had
arrived on this earth in the person of a tiny newborn baby. A newborn
baby destined
to bring reconciliation between God and man. In fact, later on Jesus
was Himself described as the mercy seat, the place where God and man
meet together for peace.
In
Hebrews
9:5
it states about the Ark of the Covenant, “and
above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but
of these things we cannot now speak in detail.”
What is significant is that the word translated “mercy seat” in
Hebrews
9:5
is the same word translated “propitiation” in Romans
3:25.
Listen to the words of Romans
3:24-25:
“Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”
Do
you see it? The Mercy Seat, the place where the blood of the
sacrifice was sprinkled in the Old Testament when the High Priest
entered once a year to make atonement for the sins of Israel, is now
Jesus, the place where man’s sins are provided for to bring peace
with God. God
has
reconciled mankind to Himself through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus.
Listen to Paul in Colossians
1:20-22,
writing about what the Father has done in Jesus:
“and
through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace
through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on
earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated
and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled
you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before
Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
What
a lot of truth in three short lines.
“Glory
to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God
and sinners reconciled!”
Which
is why Wesley thought it fitting to call upon all the nations of the
earth to rejoice and joyfully proclaim:
Joyful,
all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with
th’angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
But
Wesley’s message, as
full as it already was, was not over.
Wesley
returned to the theme of the baby’s position as he began his second
verse.
Christ,
by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
First,
Jesus’ office of Messiah, Christ, Anointed, is mentioned as Wesley
that Jesus was adored in the highest Heaven, the abode of the Throne
of God. We love, because we are loved. The Apostle John wrote the “We
love Him, because He first loved us.”
Love is inherent within the nature of God. John wrote that “God
is love.
[1John
4:8]”
That love has been, is, and will be, eternally expressed between the
three Persons of the Trinity. Jesus told the Disciples, in John
15:9:
“Just
as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”
Jesus,
praying to the Father in John
17:26,
said: “and
I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that
the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus was adored by those that dwell in the highest Heaven.
But,
not only is He adored, but He is the ‘Everlasting Lord.’ Surely
Wesley had Isaiah
9:6
in mind as he wrote that line. “For
a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the
government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
The everlasting Lord. Father of Eternity. Mighty God.
Though
thousands of years passed before God gave the Redeemer, even though
in Israel’s eyes the Messiah was long in coming, yet, it was in
“the
fullness of the time”
that
“God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.”
As
Wesley wrote:
late
in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
Surely
referring to Galatians 4:4. That long-looked-for seed of the woman
had finally come. The offspring of a virgin’s womb.
But
that was absolutely necessary because the Redeemer, the Savior, could
never come of a human male. We are steeped in our sin. A Redeemer
could have no sin. So God gave His own Son,
veiled
in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’incarnate Deity,
And
we hear John’s statement:
“And
the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth.”
Which
is why He is called “Immanuel,
God with us.”
And we hear God’s ancient cry from Isaiah
59:15-16:
“Now
the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no
justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that
there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to
Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.”
God
provided the Lamb, His
own Son, to come to earth and take on humanity to provide the eternal
sacrifice for sins. As it says in Hebrews
7:26-27:
“For
it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy,
innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not
need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first
for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He
did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
Because
only God is without sin. Therefore, only God could provide a perfect
sacrifice for sins, Jesus the Righteous Son of God. Truly God in the
flesh. Immanuel, the Incarnate Deity. God in the Flesh.
And
because He could be our only hope, as Wesley wrote, Jesus was
pleased
as
man with men
to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Jesus
came willingly. He was not forced to do this. He came because He
loved us and it pleased Him to come as our sacrifice. As Jesus
Himself said in John 10:17-18:
“I
lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it
away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.”
He was truly pleased to come and dwell with us and then freely offer
Himself to God as our substitute. Jesus, our Immanuel.
And
so, with Wesley, we also say
Hail the heaven-born Prince of
Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
We
honor and praise this Prince of Peace. We honor and praise this our
Sun of Righteousness. The only One Who can take us out of the kingdom
of darkness and into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son. The only One
Who can give us of His righteousness while taking on our sin.
And
with the knowledge that we have been transferred to the Kingdom of
God’s beloved Son, we declare to the world:
Light
and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Jesus,
and Jesus alone, came to bring us light and to give us Life. Jesus
told Thomas, “I
am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but
by Me.”
Jesus came to bring healing from all of life’s ills. He is the only
solution to the Problem of Evil we all struggle with. He heals us of
all our diseases, both physical and spiritual. Only Jesus.
Wesley
finished his great message in poetry with:
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.
He
did not come as a conqueror. That is for later. He came as a wee
babe, tender, vulnerable, gentle, meek, mild. He came to woo us to
the Father. He laid aside His Glory before which no one can stand,
veiled it in human flesh, and came and lived as one of us in order to
give us these three things:
Victory
over Death!
A
resurrection to Glory!
A
new birth to make us new creations in Christ!
What
wonderful and mighty deeds to thrill each person’s heart. We no
longer have to fear death. He has conquered it for us through His
death.
We
no longer have to fear eternity. We have been guaranteed resurrection
to glory because of His resurrection. Because He lives, we live also.
We
no longer have to stay in chains to Satan. We have been born into the
family of God. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. We can have
victory over sin, over Satan, over Death.
Which
is why, as a company of the Redeemed, we say with our dear departed
brother,
Hark!
the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King:”
By Stephen Mitchell
In 1861, two years before writing this poem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s personal peace was shaken when his second wife of 18 years, to whom he was very devoted, was tragically burned in a fire. After Longfellow’s wife trimmed some of the length off their seven-year-old daughter’s curls on July 10, 1861, she decided to preserve them in wax. She failed to notice that some of the wax had fallen on her dress, which caught fire.
Henry first tried to put it out with a rug. It was too small, so he threw his arms around her. She died the next day, and he had suffered such severe burns to his face, arms, and hands that he couldn’t even attend her funeral. He grew his signature beard because it was too painful to shave.
Christmas of that year, he wrote in his journal, “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays.” On the anniversary of the tragedy he wrote, “I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace.”
On Christmas 1862 he wrote, “‘A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.” He made no journal entry at all on Christmas 1863—perhaps because his son, a lieutenant in the Union army, had recently taken a bullet that severely injured his spine.
In 1863 Longfellow’s oldest son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, had joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father’s blessing. Longfellow was informed by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after Charles had left. “I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but I cannot any longer”, he wrote. “I feel it to be my first duty to do what I can for my country and I would willingly lay down my life for it if it would be of any good”. Charles soon got an appointment as a lieutenant but, in November, he was severely wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church (in Virginia), during the Mine Run Campaign. Charles eventually recovered, but his time as a soldier was finished.
Longfellow wrote this poem on Christmas Day in 1863. Titled “Christmas Bells,” it was first published in February 1865, in Our Young Folks, a juvenile magazine published by Ticknor and Fields. References to the Civil War are prevalent in some of the verses but are not commonly sung.
It was not until 1872 that the poem is known to have been set to music. The English organist, John Baptiste Calkin, used the poem in a processional accompanied with a melody he previously used as early as 1848. The Calkin version of the carol was long the standard. [The above partially copied from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Bells_on_Christmas_Day]
The following are the original words of Longfellow’s poem:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
From Longfellow’s poem and his journal entries, there were two things that burdened his soul during the 1863 Christmas Season. These were his sense of profound loss and the burden of man’s hatred to man.
Christmas is a time of great sadness for so many. It is supposed to be a time of family gatherings and rejoicing together in the gift of God’s Son Jesus. Yet, it is also a time where losses in life are felt most intensely. That sense of separation where there should be fellowship and rejoicing is deeply felt and a sadness of heart creeps in. Longfellow felt it keenly. That first Christmas without his beloved wife, he wrote in his journal, “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays.”
But this Christmas of 1863, he not only felt the absence of his wife, he now sat beside the bed of his deeply wounded son as his beloved son struggled to recover. And Longfellow wrote of the sound of the cannons drowning out the sound of the bells ringing “Peace on earth, good will to me.”
Separation and cruelty. Death and evil. Longfellow hurt and mourned these circumstances of life.
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song,
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
These two things in our lives often bring us to despair, to sorrow, to a deep heartsick mourning.
This is nothing new. David, in his own song before the Lord, Psalm 18, cried out:
The cords of death encompassed me, And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me.
The cords of the grave surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.
Cords of death, and torrents of ungodliness. Death and evil.
In another of his poems, Psalm 22, David began:
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.
The struggles we have with the losses of those we love. The heartsickness we know when we see the cruelty of evil upon the innocent, these are age old. Even from the very beginning we hear Eve’s cry at Seth’s birth from the loss of her sons Cain and Able.
“God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
Eve lost two sons that day: Able from murder, and Cain from the punishment, for God banished him to wander the earth away from his family.
And God has not been deaf to our anguish at the empty places in our hearts because of loss. This is exactly why God sent His Son Jesus to take on humanity.
God knows very well the continuous pain of losing those we love to death. After all, it was exactly that consequence that God warned Adam would begin if Adam chose to disobey God.
Genesis 2:16-17 “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.””
Adam did not grasp the enormous consequences of his act of rebellion, but God did. And God immediately began the program of bringing a solution to death.
Genesis 3:14-15 “The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””
God had prepared from eternity past the solution to man’s separation at death. God had a remedy prepared.
Heb 2:9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
Jesus knew intimately the pain of losing a loved one. We assume that he lost his earthly father, Joseph, when Jesus was a young man since, by the time He began His ministry, Joseph was no longer around.
And we know He knew the pain of loss when his dear friend Lazarus died. In John 11, when Jesus went to see the family of His friend after His friend had died, Lazarus’ sister Mary went to meet Jesus:
“Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.”
Jesus knew the pain of the separation of death. But He also knew something Lazarus’ family had not yet realized. Jesus Himself was the answer to that pain. A little earlier in chapter 11 this event happened:
“So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.””
And right there is God’s solution to the pain of the separation of death. Not to bring the loved one back. But to bring us to our loved ones. If we have faith in Jesus, we will live, even if we die. Physical death cannot stop the eternal life we gain from faith in Jesus. This is why Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, in 1Thess 4:13-18:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
There is coming a resurrection day when all of God’s children will be reunited together in the presence of the risen Lord Jesus. It is this truth that is to bring us comfort in the pain of losing a loved one to death.
But what about the problem Longfellow specifically wrote about in his poem?
For hate is strong
And mocks the song
Of “Peace on earth, good will to men.”
This has troubled all of the descendants of Adam. We call this the Problem of Evil. How can a good God, who declares “Peace on earth, good will to men,” allow such evil as warfare, violence, suffering, and every other manifestation of the presence of evil in this world?
I do wish I could give you ‘Three points and a poem’ and solve the dilemma. I cannot.
This is an old dilemma with no human solution in sight. This is why we have the Book of Job.
Job lost his possessions and then his family through natural disasters and through evil done at the hands of men. And last of all he lost his health, suffering greatly physically. All of it ultimately at the hands of Satan, our great enemy and the ultimate cause of all the ills and suffering in this world. It was Satan who tempted Eve and Adam in the garden and who has been laboring to destroy mankind ever since. The Apostle Peter put it this way in 1Peter 5:8
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
But, as it is today, the opinion of society in Job’s day was that, if bad things, evil things, happened to you, it was because of evil things you yourself were doing. That is the accusation Job’s three friends, and Elihu, a younger friend of Job’s friends, brought against Job.
But Job maintained his innocence against all accusations. He knew that he lived in obedience to God, a claim that God Himself stated at the beginning of the book.
So while they accused Job of being evil, Job begged God for an explanation of why he was suffering the way he was. And God gave Job an answer in Job chapters 38-41.
Let me summarize God’s four chapter answer for you.
‘Job! You cannot possibly understand why evil happens to those who are good and/or innocent.’
That’s it. Not what we want to hear. Not what Longfellow wanted to hear. Not what we want to hear as we endure or see the innocent suffer. But it is all the answer we can handle.
In fact, God asked Job a very significant question right in the middle, in Job 40:1-2:
“Then the LORD said to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.””
Do we want to find fault with God’s handling of this world? That is what God asked Job. And it is often what we do when we see evil in this world. But that is not all. God continued to confront Job and his suppositions about justice done him. Job 40:6-14
Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said, “Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct Me. Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? Or do you have an arm like God, And can you thunder with a voice like His? Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity, And clothe yourself with honor and majesty. Pour out the overflowings of your anger, And look on everyone who is proud, and make him low. Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him, And tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them in the dust together; Bind them in the hidden place. Then I will also confess to you, That your own right hand can save you.”
How often do we see evil and want God’s power to attack and destroy it, as if we ourselves would clothe ourselves with the majesty and power of God and strike all evildoers and bring them low.
But, if we could do that, if we even had enough knowledge to do it right, then we could provide our own deliverance, which we, of course, cannot. That arrogance has no rightful place in our hearts.
There is a truth about the Problem of Evil we rarely consider. You and I are fully as much a part of the Problem as everyone else. We often act as if we stand outside of the problem demanding that God deal with the problem. But we do not stand outside of the Problem of Evil. We are fully a part of it. Paul put it this way in Romans 2:3:
But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
When we demand that God deal with Evil, never forget to include ourselves in that demand. Thank God that He does delay His righteous judgment of evil because that delay has given us the opportunity to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and to escape the judgment that rightly belongs to us.
Longfellow, in the last verse, actually gave himself and us the right answer to the problem of evil.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
God is not dead. God is not asleep. God has not lost control.
God will bring about justice. Evil will fail and be eradicated. Justice and Righteousness will win and be administered by God.
The prophet Amos wrote, looking forward to that day, “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
It is the knowledge that God is still in control and will bring about righteousness that brings us hope in the face of evil and suffering.
The answer to our struggle with the Problem of Evil is simply faith. We cannot, in any way, shape, or form, understand God’s handling of this earth. But God never asks us to. He simply asks us to trust Him and what He is doing.
This is what God said to Habakkuk when Habakkuk struggled with what God planned to bring down on the rebellious land of Israel. “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”
The proud one, the one who refuses to humble himself under the mighty hand of God, that soul is not right with God. There is a future promised to that one of eternal torment. But the righteous? We are to live by faith. Such a powerful statement. One so important, it is quoted four times in the New Testament. The righteous will live by his faith.
And that, my friend, is the answer to the problem of evil. Trust God that He knows what He is doing and live by that faith day-by-day, no matter what the day may bring forth. We cannot know what God is doing here on earth, but we will see when we gain Heaven.
The Apostle Paul wrote, in 1Corinthaisn 13:12: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
Accept that we cannot know fully why things happen until we gain Heaven and then we will praise Him for what He has done.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
And what about the peace on earth of which the angels spoke to the shepherds?
The last instruction recorded in the Gospel of John that Jesus gave His disciples before His greatest confrontation with the Problem of Evil is appropriate for us to remember. Jesus said, recorded in John 16:33:
These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
By Stephen Mitchell
This hymn was written by James Montgomery (1771-1854), who was born in Scotland of Irish parents. His father, John Montgomery, was a Moravian pastor—apparently the only Moravian pastor serving in Scotland at the time.
Montgomery’s parents felt a call to serve as missionaries on the island of Barbados, West Indies, in the Caribbean. When James was only five years old, his parents departed for the West Indies, leaving James with a Moravian group in County Antrim, Ireland. His parents died in the West Indies a few years later, so James never saw them again. One wonders how well he remembered his parents—and whether he resented them for abandoning him at such an early age.
The Moravians made it possible for James to enter Fulneck Seminary in Yorkshire, but that turned out to be a bad fit. James had the soul of a poet, and poetry was banned at Fulneck. In 1787, he apprenticed himself to a baker, which also proved unsuitable. He bounced from pillar to post during his late teens.
But in 1792 he began working for Joseph Gales, who published the Sheffield Register, a local newspaper. Gales supported a number of radical causes, and in 1794 was forced to flee to Germany to avoid prosecution. Montgomery, although still in his early 20s, was able to gain control of the newspaper, and changed its name to Sheffield Iris. Under his leadership, the paper continued its radical bent for more than three decades—advocating such seditious causes as abolition. Montgomery was twice imprisoned for his editorials, but his imprisonments only added to his popularity.
As a young man, Montgomery drifted from the faith, but as he matured he returned to the Moravian church and became an advocate for Christian missions.
On Christmas Eve, 1816, Montgomery was reading the second chapter of Luke, when these verses captured his attention:
“And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men’”
(Luke 2:13-14, KJV).
Montgomery was inspired to write this hymn, which he wrote quickly and printed in the Christmas Eve edition of his newspaper. Each verse of this hymn speaks to the nativity from the perspective of a different group of people.
• Verse 1 is about the angels, who are urged to “proclaim the Messiah’s birth.”
Angels from the realms of glory
Wing your flight o’er all the earth
Ye, who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth
Angels from the realms of glory: In Matthew 18, the Disciples asked Jesus who is the greatest in the Kingdom. After calling to Himself the weakest of the weak, a little child, Jesus said to the Disciples that they needed to have humility. Then, Jesus said something rather startling: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
It is from this statement that belief in guardian angels has come “their angels.” But Jesus never said that angels follow anyone around. Rather, pay attention to what Jesus actually said: “their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Rather than running around on earth, angels stay in the presence of God the Father waiting eagerly to be dispatched to earth on behalf of someone in need. Angels dwell in Heaven, in the presence of the Glory of God, looking directly into the face of Glory.
The Book of Job appears to tell us that angels were present when God created this earth and the Universe in which it dwells. Job 38:4-7 relates:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
This, by-the-way, is the only place where we find angels singing. While we read in the Scriptures about the unfolding of our Salvation through history from the Garden of Eden, the angels have been on hand to watch it down through the Millennium.
And as they sang at the foundation of the earth, they are suddenly called upon to proclaim the beginning of the final chapter in providing for the Salvation of mankind and the conquering of their ancient enemy, one of their own number, the mighty Cherub Satan.
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Angels are God’s Messengers and God’s agents whom He uses to accomplish His will among us. They are mighty but totally devoted to God their Creator and Master. These beings are so devoted to God’s commands, that they do nothing of their own will but only carry out the will of the Father in Heaven.
This is why Jude considered it such an offense of the false teachers to “revile angelic majesties.” Why? Because what they do they do by express command of God. What have they done? Specifically, they have been God’s messengers of truth, such as when they proclaimed the arrival of the Savior, Christ the Lord. To deny the message is to revile them, declaring that they do not know what they are saying.
But we owe great debts to these spiritual beings who have stayed faithful to God, far more than we realize. They were involved in the giving of the Law. They have been locked in a battle some 6000 years long, of which we get a glimpse in Daniel. They announced the coming of the Messiah. They ministered to Jesus in the Garden. They announced the risen Lord.
Angels are God’s agents and messengers. And that still night some 2000 years ago. They scared a motley group of smelly shepherds almost out of their wits to tell them: Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.
• Verse 2 is about “Shepherds in the fields abiding.”
Shepherds in the fields abiding
Watching o’er your flocks by night
God with man is now residing
Yonder shines the Infant light
If Jesus was born in the winter months, then the Shepherds abiding in the fields were those specifically watching over the sheep and goats destined for sacrifice. At least, that is the assertion of Alfred Edersheim, the author of the greatest biography of Jesus outside the Gospels themselves.
They kept the sheep and goats outside away from things that could scrape against them, cause a blemish, and thus disqualify them to be used as sacrifice in the Temple.
Recall that the brightest light at night, apart from the moon, was a fire, a torch.
When I was a teenager living in Pomona, CA, I liked to go for walks at night. I recall one time I was walking through a neighborhood. Occasional dogs barked. I could hear a helicopter overhead. Suddenly, that helicopter hit me with its searchlight. I had difficulty seeing where I was walking as the light was so intense. And talk about sudden. It was a definite shock. I stopped and looked up and was completely blinded.
Now imagine you are a shepherd out at night sitting around the fire, quietly chatting, watching the sheep. “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.” A sudden brilliance unlike anything they had ever seen? You better believe they were about scared out of their wits.
Which is why the angel first told them everything was OK. “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.” Why not? What possible thing could calm these men down?
“for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
The nation had been looking for the coming of the Messiah. Jewish writers and correctly figured out it was time for Him to come. But they were looking in the wrong place and for the wrong person.
Montgomery wrote God with man is now residing.
What never entered their heads is that the Messiah had to be God in human flesh.
They completely missed the truth stated so clearly in Isaiah 7:14. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel – God with us.
What the shepherds did not realize at the time was that that announcement of the angel was an announcement of a loss of a job. That baby, God with Us, was to be the “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Once the perfect sacrifice was made through the broken body and shed blood of the Messiah, animal sacrifice would no longer be needed. We would have the perfect sacrifice for sins.
An what about that last phrase: Yonder shines the Infant light? That is just a cultural myth grown up through the centuries. The baby Jesus did not glow. But one day His glory did shine forth and completely scared Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. And when Jesus returns? The glory of His holiness will shine forth and all evil will persih before Him. So I guess we can forgive a little cultural anticipation of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
• Verse 3 is about “Sages,” the Magi or Wise Men.
Sages leave your contemplations
Brighter visions beam afar
Seek the great Desire of nations
Ye have seen His natal star
We know the Sages, the wise men, did leave their contemplations to seek one of infinite greater wisdom, He who is born King of the Jews. They were drawn by a star. There have been many speculations and many natural phenomena have been suggested as that star. But, a star that leads to Bethlehem and then stops over a single home? That has to be of supernatural origin.
But they are seeking the Great desire of nations, as Montgomery wrote. This is a reference to Haggai 2:7 in the King James Version:
“And I will shake all nations,
and the desire of all nations shall come:
and I will fill this house with glory,
saith the Lord of hosts.”
While the KJV translation is not quite accurate in that verse, the sentiment is completely correct. Jesus is the Desire of nations. Only He brings forgiveness, Only He brings fellowship with God, Only He can bring genuine peace. As God told Abraham so long ago, speaking of Jesus, “In you shall all nations of the earth be blessed.” Only in Jesus do we find our deepest needs and desires satisfied.
And mankind’s contemplations, their philosophies, are mere speculation apart from the reality that God lives and He has sent His Son into the world to redeem sinners. Any worldview which ignores that truth is doomed to be empty speculation.
• Verse 4 expands the vision to “Saints”—a word that in the New Testament applies to all Christians.
Saints before the altar bending
Watching long in hope and fear
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear
Montgomery finished off in our version with the consequences of the coming of “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
The creation of Saints is owed entirely to the reality that Jesus came as Savior. He did not come as conqueror. Which is what the Jews were looking for. Mankind has always longed for a Savior, someone to deliver us from this mess of a world so polluted with sin.
Here in the US we long for political leaders who will bring about conditions that we hunger for, whatever they may be. The world loves the tales of mighty heroes who will deliver us. And Jesus is the ultimate deliverer. But, before He can deliver us politically, He must deliver us spiritually.
This is why Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” But the vast majority of people in the world refuse to recognize their hopeless condition before God. They think they can deliver themselves.
But it takes the Savior Jesus to actually make mankind Holy, Saints, who can dwell with the Holy, Righteous God for eternity.
As Saints, we bow our knee before our Savior. Montgomery is referring to Philippians 2:9-11:
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We are truly watching for the Hope. Paul wrote of this to his fellow minister Titus:
…looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
And we are those who, knowing our sinful condition and the holiness of God, bow before Him and walk daily with reverential fear. We do this because we know Jesus can return at any moment.
Montgomery referred in the lines Suddenly the Lord, descending, In His temple shall appear to one of the last promises in the Old Testament, Malachi 3:1:
Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.
This sudden return is the reason why we are told, “Now is the day of salvation.” You may not have another opportunity to trust in Jesus as your Savior.
Conclusion:
Montgomery concluded each verse with the phrases:
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King
Because His coming was important enough to send a host of angels to announce it, because His coming was to provide the sacrifice that made all other sacrifices obsolete, Because His coming makes all human wisdom empty, Because His coming creates those who are holy enough to be in God’s presence, we should bow before Him and worship. He is worthy of all praise and all worship.
Even though He came as Savior, still, He was and always will be the rightful King of this world. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let every knee bow before the Lord of all.
Come and worship, come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn King
