Thanksgiving is over…so I’m busting out the Christmas music!! Here is a breakdown of one of my favorite Christmas Carols…OH HOLY NIGHT
“O Holy Night” (“Cantique de Noël”) is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem “Minuit, chrétiens” (Midnight, Christians) by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), a wine merchant and poet. Cappeau was asked by a parish priest to write a Christmas poem.
O holy night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of Our dear Savior’s birth.
I wonder just how bright it was OR if like me I was so desperately looking for something…that any ray of light would seem bright and draw my attention…THIS night was set apart…it was holy…it was THE night….
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
The weight of sin…the bondage of our “freedom”…I love the word “pining”…the wording to me implies we were knocked down by sin and longing in weariness and hopelessness…almost like a helpless reaching out.
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
HE…HE APPEARED…the Blessed Hope…Christ…Christ was born…and HE made us feel of value…only His coming (for us/salvation) made us feel worthy…wanted…
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
Our souls rejoicing…thrilled…invigorated…revived from death…the emotions swell up in our soul and we can’t help but break out in praise.
For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn.
Like the sunrise after the dark of the evening…it is a new day…but not like other days…this one with our renewed Hope makes it a GLORIOUS day.
Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels’ voices!
As our praises turn to pure worship we are humbled by the realism and fact that God sent His Son for us. The act of falling to our knees is such a symbol of unworthy bowing to the Worthy ! The angel’s who foretold His coming now sang in the heavens that He has arrived. I often wonder if this same joyous singing by the angels was like the singing they must have done when Christ rose from the dead…OR as strong as the rejoicing of one sinner giving his life over to God.
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
Oh night divine…the word “divine” implies made “holy”, “sacred”, “hallowed” or “consecrated”…it is actually taken from a root word that means “of God”. And we know that God chose the perfect time for Christ to be born:
Galatians 4:3-5 And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
O night divine, O night, O night Divine. Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
Christ who is the LIGHT of the world…we follow…in faith…this Light…shining on us so that we may show our faith to all men…and then THEY can see the light of hope in their hopelessness.
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
With Christ in our hearts…our love is illuminated…radiating out…we stand before His cradle acknowledging THIS child is NOT like any other child…He is THE Christ Child.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, here come the wise men from Orient land.
How many of us have walked a journey…through what seemed like a desert…looking for…hoping for something…someone…anything…we follow in faith to find the source of that Light…Christ’s light shining in us is often the first light those without hope see…we become a lighthouse in the storm…
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger; In all our trials born to be our Friend.
King of kings…not simply “a” king…BUT the KING who is over ALL kings….the KING that kings bow to…HE came as a humble infant…in a bed of hay meant for animals feeding. No “pomp” no “circumstance”…an extraordinary Baby came in quite a very ordinary way if not lowly way…to level the playing field…quite the way He died…so that all men could relate…and see how a KING could make them of worth. But imagine…the KING wants to be our FRIEND?
He knows our need,
We know our “wants”…HE knows our “needs”…at this time of year, I will ask again as I asked before, what if for Christmas we asked for our NEEDS and not for our WANTS…what would be reflected on our list? Would they be the same or quite far removed?
To our weakness is no stranger,
Christ came to earth as an infant…lived His life as a man…was loved and hated by people…was tempted…betrayed…let down…He went through things that every man goes through…His Kingship gave Him no earthly privilege. Like us…He lived.
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
What I appreciate about this line is that it just portrayed Christ in His knowing weakness…that He understands hardships we face…I am picturing Christ at His beaten and betrayed state…and the writer “Bow to your KING…” Not in sarcasm as He was humiliated on the cross BUT for what Christ endured because of our worth to Him.
Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love And His gospel is peace.
The Prince of PEACE showed us that no greater love is there than laying your life down for a friend. The “golden rule”…BUT what better “law” than to LOVE. A law could turn a king into a taskmaster…harsh…strict…BUT His law is LOVE…WOW….imagine a law of LOVE…and the good news of PEACE. In this day and age…what is it we want for the world?
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother; and in His name All oppression shall cease.
In our BC state (before Christ) we were slaves to sin…OH, we were FREE as the world would consider it BUT really we were enslaved to Satan. Our “freedom” was our bondage. And like the chained Jacob Marley from a Christmas Carol we work on building our chain link by link as our sins increased so did the bondage.
I like the wording of this in the book and can apply it to our sinful state. “You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. “Tell me why?”
“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?” Scrooge trembled more and more. “Or would you know,” pursued the Ghost, “the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have labored on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!”
Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable: but he could see nothing. While in sin we don’t really understand or see how we are enslaved or bound by sin. That is until we understand our hopelessness without Christ. When we accept Christ we are set FREE…Our chains are broken! I love how the song says “And in His name…ALL…” While not scripture, but lyric….I love knowing this. Throughout scripture though we are told that the very name of Jesus IS sooo powerful. It is powerful enough to make demons tremble…to see answers to prayers…and to see every knee bow and tongue confess that HE is Lord!
Sweet hymns of joy, In grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us Praise His Holy Name.
We the hopeless now having Hope…US, the unworthy, now worthy…all that is within us…THRILLED…the “pining” now proclaiming PRAISE…what a sweet hymn of triumph…of JOY breaking forth…exploding…to join as one in Christ and gratefully, thankfully…Praise is Holy Name…JESUS…
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever, His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power and glory evermore proclaim.
Pastor Steve