Why I Love "O Holy Night"
by: Will Dover
God has blessed me to be able to serve two different churches, over the past ten years, as their Song Leader. Over the years I have become much more particular about my song selections. While I know that we ought not to take our doctrine from songs, I’ve noticed some of our most beloved songs are more sentimental than Biblical. This is also true of some of our Christmas music. I love songs that are rooted in scripture. My favorite Christmas song is “Oh Holy Night”.
The first verse sums up the hopes and fears of many thousands of years recorded in the books of the Old Testament. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth”. By the time we reach the 2nd Chapter of Luke in the New Testament, we’ve seen the fall of Jerusalem (again) to the Romans. Four hundred silent years with no open vision. Israel had stumbled, repented, stumbled, and repented again. It was an unbreakable cycle until the “thrill of hope” arrived. According to history, we see the religious leaders were heavily influenced by Rome. Caesar had dethroned God in the hearts of the Jewish people (John 19:15). “The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn”. The birth of Christ was an event that the faithful had been waiting for since the fall of man. Since the birth of Seth, we see that man had been longing for just the “thrill of hope”. That thrill of hope had appeared many times throughout the Old Testament. Abraham, Moses, David, Elisha, and the list goes on – each one pointing to the way to when Christ would appear.
“Fall on your knees, hear the angel voices”. The coming of Christ meant so many different things to the Jews – restoring Israel to its former glory under David was perhaps what the majority would have liked. Certainly, the ordinary Jew did not prefer the Roman occupation of what God had given them and their fathers. The type of restoration God had intended however was going to be very different. This is evident by whom was told the good news first. Shepherds. Shepherds were among some of the lowest Jewish societies. Commonly through history shepherds are considered the low lives of society, in other words, sinners. God chose however to appear to these men first by sending the Angels.
The shepherds were probably in fear of their lives for a moment. Rarely when we see angels appear in the Old Testament is it a moment of joy (Genesis 3, Numbers 22). What a relief when the angels informed the shepherds that they have not come to destroy them but to announce their deliverance (Luke 2:14). Why appear to shepherds instead of the rich Kings of Earth? Why be born in a manager rather than the King? Christ, Himself, said that mysteries of God were sometimes hidden from the wise and the prudent (Mathew 11:25). God specifically did not want King Herod involved at the birth of Christ. Wickedness in high places was not uncommon in those days and Herod was no exception. God impressed the wise men not to return to Herod for this reason (Mathew 2).
“Christ is the Lord, Oh praise His name forever”. The herald angels that announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds, scripture says, were a “multitude” of the Heavenly host. Multitude is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the state of being many”. In other words, there were so many angels that announced the Lord’s coming that the shepherds could not number them all. Picture this for a moment- Shepherds thinking they have seen their final moments, surrounded by an innumerable number of Holy Angels, each projecting the holiness of the almighty God. One can only imagine the sight – for just one moment Heaven came down to Earth. What we as saved people would take as a moment of joy – the unregenerated would not. Relieved that the angel’s message was the Savior of the world has arrived. God, Himself, invited them to see the newborn King. Scripture does not say the angels told them of the prophecy so perhaps they knew of it? Perhaps the men had grown up with stories of one day the Messiah would come? We don’t know. The fact remains God does nothing by happenstance. The fact that the Holy Spirit brought this to Mary’s remembrance for Luke to write is also very important (Luke 2). (We have no way of knowing what Mary was thinking without Mary having told Luke.) The shepherds left their flocks to go see.
“Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease”. Israel would repent then stumble, repent then stumble again. Man was in a hopeless condition. In Genesis, just a few chapters after Adam’s fall, God repented He ever made man. There was clearly no fixing the flesh without the removal of man’s free will. Therefore, rather than continually “patching” man’s sin through burnt offerings, God planned to fix the problem once and for all, heal the soul of man. This could only be done through the blood of Christ, who was sinless. He came to break the rod of the oppressor (Isaiah 9).
He came not to deliver us through social justice or reform Earthly governments, He came to break sin’s hold on the heart. Christ’s own blood was the only thing strong enough to dissolve the bonds of sin. This hold separated us from God, but the dissolution of these chains allowed us to fellowship with our creator again. This is why even after being beaten and jailed, Paul and Silas could sing and pray in prison. While they were imprisoned physically, in conscience they were free. You notice that while Paul and Silas could have escaped, they stayed at the jail and stopped the Jailor from taking his own life. Once Christ sets your heart in order, you have no problem following the law of God – loving God, loving your brother, etc.
Remember Jacob Marley from “The Christmas Carol”, dragging his chains into the afterlife? While Charles Dickens was far from a theologian, the unsaved might be surprised to see how long and dreadful their own chains are. Those sinful chains, that so many drag around, seemly unaware. For those that love history as I do, they know Abraham Lincoln is often called the Great Emancipator. However, Christ held that title long before the United States ever came into being. To the outside world, a Christian life seems to be full of rules and regulations but for those that know the Lord – you just begin to see what life is all about. When there is peace between you and God, in your heart you can sing the words of the sacred song, “A prison a palace would prove, if Jesus would dwell with me there”.
