The Songs of Christmas

There are many traditions and forms of festivities which have clustered around the holiday of Christmas, some religious and some not so much. But to me, one of the most important parts of Christmas is the music. It would be easier to have Christmas without lights, without trees, without presents then without music. And while I do like a lot of secular Christmas music, I think there is a special value and meaning to the religious Christmas song, because they really show what Christmas is and why it is so special.

And the first thing to understand about Christmas is that the story begins long before Christmas. Since sin came into the world, man had always been looking for a Savior. That was the promise, but for years it was only a promise, an expectation.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel!
(Latin hymn; translated by John Neale. Sing to the Lord #163)

This song captures the picture of Israel longing for its promised Messiah. It was hope and hope set against the background of hopelessness. It was out of the dark times, out of the lonely exile, that they looked forward to this coming. It is people in the darkest night who most desire the light. We cannot understand the atmosphere of Christmas without this background of darkness and a passionate hope for coming light. But it wasn't just a hope for the Jews.

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free.
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art--
Dear Desire of ev'ry nation,
Joy of ev'ry longing heart!
(Charles Wesley. Sing to the Lord #157)

Notice the words Wesley uses to describe Christ. He is the one who was long expected one and not just expected but desired, the desire of every nation and the hope of all the earth. Jesus was the Messiah, a promise specifically given to the Jews, but He also the hope and desire of all mankind, even if all mankind wasn't aware of it. The Jews had a promise, but all mankind had a need. The Jews had a hope of light, but all the earth had the darkness. Sometimes advertisers have to create a need before they can sell you a product to meet that need; they have to make you want something before they can satisfy the want. But we needed a Messiah long before he ever came. From the first moment of sin, we had been waiting for a Savior. It was no exaggeration for Philip Brooks to say of Bethlehem at Christ's birth that “the hopes and fears/of all the years/are meet in thee tonight.”

But Jesus was not merely expected. He was very specifically, very concretely predicted.

Lo! how a rose e'er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming
As men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter
When half-spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright
She bore to men a Savior,
When half-spent was the night.
(German carol, translated by Theodore Baker. Trinity Hymnal #221)

The prophets (including Isaiah, whom the song mentions) not only declared that a Messiah would come, but they said specifically what his bloodline would be, when and where he would be born, gave details about his life and ministry, and about his death and resurrection. A very detailed program was laid out, hundreds and even thousands of years beforehand. This wasn't something that God thought of at the last moment. Just as we prepare our Christmases in advance, making preparations, getting down all our decorations, baking our cookies, carefully wrapping our presents; so God had been carefully preparing for the first Christmas since before the beginning of time. And finally, when the time was right, Christ came. Galatians 4:4: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” When the time was right, when the measure of time had been filled up to the brim, Christ came.

Through long ages of the past,
Prophets have betold His coming;
Through long ages of the past,
Now the time has come at last!

He is born, the holy Child,
Play the oboe and bagpipes merrily!
He is born, the holy Child,
Sing we all of the Savior mild.
(French carol)

Now the time has come at last! That is the keynote of Christmas.

So we have the prophecies of Christ. But the songs of Christmas also have something to say about the nature of Christ. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger, on a specific day in a specific year. That was his date of birth, but was that really the beginning of his existence? Not by a longshot.

Of the Father's love begotten,
Ere the world began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega--
He the Source, the Ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

O that birth forever blessed,
When the Virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bare the Savior of our race;
And the Babe, the world's Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face,
Evermore and evermore!
(Aurelius Prudentius; translated by John Neale. Sing to the Lord #164)

The author of this hymn links Jesus, the baby born to the virgin, with One who existed before the beginning of all things, the Alpha and Omega. In this, he is echoing the words of John at the beginning of his gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14)

What we have here is the fact of Pre-existence. Jesus did not come into existence that night in Bethlehem. He was the Word which was in the beginning. Something new began there, but it was not the beginning of his existence. And that's one of the things that make His birth so unique. Nobody has a choice about being born. We enter this world without our consent and against our will. But this baby freely chose to be born. It was a deliberate and conscious choice. Nicodemus asked if a man could enter into his mother's womb and be born again. The better question would be whether anyone would want to. Would any grown man consent to go back to being a baby? (Though a few grown men may act like babies.) And yet Jesus, who existed as something high above men, chose to be born. Philippians 2:7 describes Jesus's act: “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” He emptied himself, to become an ordinary, human baby.

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehm's home there was found no room
For Thy holy nativity.
(Emily Elliott. Sing to the Lord #193)

Jesus willingly left Heaven to come to earth; willing gave up the prerogatives of deity to be a human being. The Nicene Creed states that Jesus “for us and for our salvation came down from heaven.” Obviously that word 'down' it metaphorical, but it is a good picture of what happened.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly-minded,
For with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the pow'rs of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
(Liturgy of St. James. Trinity Hymnal #193)

Jesus willingly stepped down, emptying himself, to become man.

In speaking of this, we have already touched on the next point concerning the nature of Christ; and hat is that he was both God and Man. God has always existed and, by in large, man has always known it. Paul says that the existence of God is evident so that man is without excuse if he doesn't know it. And man has also always known that man existed. Neither of those facts is especially new or breathtaking. What was new and breathtaking was their conjunction.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning.
O Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv'n:
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
O come, let us adore Him.
O come, let us adore Him.
O come, let us adore Him.
Christ the Lord.
(Latin hymn; translated by Frederick Oakeley. Sing to the Lord #175)

There we have it. Jesus was born on that happy morning; born just like any other man was born; and yet He could receive all glory and adoration because he was Word of the Father. He is God and at that moment He also became flesh, that is, He became human. Another song puts the contrast in stronger words.

He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all;
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall.
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Savior holy.
(Cecil Alexander. Sing to the Lord #170)

This is what makes the really startling, really interesting thing about Christmas. God in Heaven is an inspiring thought. But what is shocking and memorable is God in a stable; God tabernacled in human form.

Why lies He in such mean estate
Where ox and [lamb] are feeding?
Good Christian, fear; for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
This, this is Christ, the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
(William Dix. Sing to the Lord #179)

I think this is a really underappreciated carol, and I especially love that phrase about “the silent Word.” The Word of God had become a speechless baby and that act was a silent plea for the salvation of man. That is the irony and the wonder and even, if you will, the magic of Christmas--that the word of God, that Christ the King could also be the babe, the son of Mary. If you take either side away from that, you are left with nothing special. The whole point and power of Christmas was that at Christmas, in that stable, in that baby, “God and man are now become/Like as one through Christ God's Son” as another carol puts it.

And all of that naturally leads us to the purpose of His coming; of what it was he came to do and to be. And the first thing is that he came to be Emmanuel, which means “God With us.”  That captures the idea we were just talking about. Jesus was both God and man, so that he could truly be God with us. But the important point is that this didn't happen by accident. Jesus didn't just happen to be God and man. There was a reason. Because Jesus was both God and Man and he could provide something which could not have been accomplished without this union.

Jesus is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day like us He grew.
He was little, weak, and helpless;
Tears and smiles like us He knew.
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.
(Cecil Alexander. Sing to the Lord #170)

Because Jesus was God, he lived a pure and holy life, but because he was man, his life was also human life. In other words, in Jesus, we have something we've never seen before or after--a pure and holy human life. It's not a new idea. Adam and Eve started out that way, but Jesus was the only one to pull it off completely. He is our example, our captain, our trailblazer, because he is Emmanuel; God with us.

But there's more to it than just an example. Because an example, while a good thing, can only go so far. But Jesus went further.

Celebrate Immanuel's name,
The Prince of life and peace.
God with us, our lips proclaim,
Our faithful hearts confess.
God is in our flesh revealed;
Heav'n and earth in Jesus join--
Mortal with Immortal filled,
And human with Divine.

Let the Spirit of our Head
Thro' ev'ry member flow;
By our Lord inhabited,
We then Immanuel know.
Then He doth His name express;
God in us we truly prove,
Filled with all the life and grace
And all the pow'r of love.
(Charles Wesley. Sing to the Lord #162)

God-with-us doesn't merely mean God-with-the-people-in-first-century-Israel, where Jesus lived His life. It means God-with-mankind. It means God-with-us-here-and-now. Irenaeus put it this way: “Out of his boundless love, he became what we are so that we might become what he is.” Something has changed for all humanity; or, at least, the possibility of change has been opened for all humanity. Gerard Reed: “As God's Son, sharing the very being of Yahweh himself, Christ Jesus salvaged human nature by refilling it with His divine presence--as if blood transfusion were given a dying patient, draining out the bad and replacing it with good. To fully redeem man, the eternal Word necessarily lifted unto himself, joined himself to, all that required redemption. Whatever needed sanctifying was assumed and transformed by the Incarnate Son. As Jesus Christ's brothers, join-heirs with Him, we share the nature He assumed and made holy.” (C. S. Lewis and the Bright Shadow of Holiness, 170)

And in saying that, we have seen the main thing that Jesus came to be: a Savior.

God rest you merry, gentlemen;
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ, our Savior,
Was born on Christmas day,
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy!
(English carol. Sing to the Lord #184)

The joy of Christmas is not something conventional; it is the joy of a sudden and abrupt change for good; it is the joy of deliverance. As Isaiah said, all we like sheep have gone astray. Because of sin, man had been corrupted and enslaved, falling under the power and dominion of Satan. The wages of sin are death; that is the natural and logical result of sin--death, both in this life and forever. That was the doom which lay over mankind and it was that doom which Christ came to shatter.

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice.
Now ye hear of endless bliss:
Joy! Joy!
Jesus Christ was born for this.
He hath opened heaven's door
And man is blessed forevermore.
Christ was born for this!

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice.
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save.
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain His everlasting Hall.
Christ was born to save!
(Latin carol; translated by John Neale. Sing to the Lord #182)

That is Christ came to do; to undo the works of the devil, to bring life and hope as a gift in place of the wages of sin. Once we lived captive to the fear of death, but now we can have hope beyond the grave because he is our savior.

But it doesn't just change the future.

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there.
(John Thomas McFarland. Sing to the Lord #176)

Note that last line: “Fit us for heaven.” That's present. Because right now, on earth, we can be changed and that change is what allows us to also have hope beyond the grave. We have a hope of heaven in the future because we have heaven in us now.

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.

Come, Desire of Nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
Bruise in us the Serpent's head.
Adam's likeness now efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Re-instate us in Thy love.
(Charles Wesley. Wesleyan Heritage Hymns #23)

Here Wesley pictures the hope we have in the future-- freedom from death--but also the hope in the present, that God will in us conquer Satan and give us a new birth in the image of God. That is what Christmas is really all about; a new life and a new nature that was provided by Christ. Once man sinned and brought a curse on the world. But by the death of one Man that curse has been reversed; the power of sin has been broken and the whole wheel of life is turning backward.

No more let sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make His  blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
(Isaac Watts. Sing to the Lord #173)

That is what Jesus came to do.

But that all came about with a price. Christ was not only born to be a Savior but a Sacrifice. We can never separate Christmas from Good Friday; we can never separate the manger from the cross.  Jesus became flesh, not just to live, but to die. And the point is that all this was intentional. Jesus didn't have to be born; he didn't have to live the life he lived; he wasn't forced into either life or death.

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing--
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing,
He surely could have it, 'cause He was the King.

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor, orn'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
(Appalachian carol; adapted by John Jacob Niles. Sing to the Lord #198)

Jesus willingly laid aside his privileges and prerogatives to live a poor life and die a terrible death. He was our Saviour by taking our sins and shedding his own blood. Though he was sinless, yet in his identification with man, he was able to become an atonement for sin.

Child in the manger,
Infant of Mary,
Outcast and Stranger,
Lord of all,
Child who inherits
All our transgressions--
All our demerits
On Him fall.
(Mary MacDonald; translated by Lachlan Macbean. Sing to the Lord #188)

There is a dark shadow that lies over the festivity of Christmas which reminds us of the price which was to be paid, the price for our sin. This isn't a song we sing in church, and yet it clearly shows us this picture.

The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good.

The holly bears a prickle
As sharp as any thorn
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas day in the morn.

The holly bears a bark 
As bitter as any gall,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all.
(Traditional. The Everything Christmas Book: Expanded Edition, 193)

But this bitter and even tragic note is not the final word of Christmas. Jesus did not merely come to be a Saviour and a sacrifice; he came as a king. We already mentioned a few hymns which refer to Jesus as Lord. The word Lord means master; one in authority. And it corresponds to the fact that Jesus is king; both as God and as Man, Jesus has an authority and a power over this world. He was the descendant of David and he came to establish a kingdom; not an earthly political kingdom, but a kingdom nonetheless.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a Child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit,
Rule in all our hearts alone.
By Thine all-sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
(Charles Wesley. Sing to the Lord #157)

The kingdom which Jesus reigns in is first of all a kingdom in the heart of his people. He told his disciples: The Kingdom of God is within you.  Because Jesus is the Saviour, is Emmanuel, He can give us new life. And that new life is His kingdom. But his kingdom is not merely internal. Because when he reigns in us, that should change the way we live and that in turn changes the world we live in.

Truly He taught us to love on 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.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise His holy name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim!
(John Dwight. Sing to the Lord #183)

Did you catch the picture? The writer is picturing a change in lives and a change even in society, but because of Jesus's teaching. Because Christ is Lord and has power and glory which we proclaim, that can bring a real change.

But while his kingdom may begin in the hearts of his people, it doesn't end there.

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, goodwill to men."
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Sing to the Lord #195)

Jesus is king and his kingdom will prevail. If not in this life, then in the next. There is coming a time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is lord.

For, lo, the days are hast'ning on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
(Edmund Sears. Sing to the Lord #168)

And at that time, the promise of Christmas will be fully fulfilled. That will be the time when peace on earth is truly triumphant. And then it will truly be the season to be jolly.