Sing Unto the Lord

“Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day His salvation.  Declare His glory among the heathen; His marvellous works among all nations.  For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods”.  I Chronicles 16:23-25

One of the best things about celebrating the Christmas season is the sound of the many songs which were written for this time of year.  However, not every song that we sing throughout December is really about the reason for the season, which is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  After all, it is called CHRISTmas.  There are varieties of songs that are sung during this holiday season, including songs which have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ.  These are more about winter, snow, parties, get togethers, gift exchanges, and so on.  It has been said that the reason we exchange gifts at Christmas is because of the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that the wise men brought to Jesus (Matthew 2:11).  Some of the songs that exclude Jesus are Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Deck the Halls, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, and Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.  I like these songs, and they are very familiar for they have been sung for many, many years, but they are not about the real meaning of Christmas.

There are some songs that we hear on the radio, television, and are sung by choirs and individuals that are supposed to be about Christmas, but words in the lyrics are not Biblical.  I wouldn’t be afraid to say that there are folks who celebrate Christmas but rarely ever open God’s word and read it for themselves who believe that there was a little boy who came to see Baby Jesus in the manger and played his drum for Him.  That’s a sweet notion, but not Biblical.  Another song, “Do You Hear What I Hear” was written in 1962 as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  In the song, a shepherd boy tells the king, assumed to be Herod, that they should bring the Baby silver and gold.  Again, not in scripture.

The song, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, was written a few years before the Civil War.  In this song, there is no mention of Jesus Christ as a newborn Baby or as the Savior.  It was written by Edmund Sears who was a Unitarian, one who does not believe in the Trinity, but did believe that Jesus was a Savior of men and women, but he also believed that Jesus was not equal with God.  “Good King Wenceslas” was from a poem written by John Neal to honor a king who had a real concern for the poor.  “We Three Kings” was written by John Hopkins in 1857 as part of a Christmas pageant produced by the Seminary of the Episcopal church.  These men from the far east who followed the star to Bethlehem were not kings, but “magi”, thought to be astronomers or astrologers, hence the interest in the magnificent star they saw.

Church Christmas pageants usually portray the wise men as dressed in royal robes and crowns, but that attire would have made long distance travel very difficult, especially if they were on camels, which is assumed.  However, they weren’t kings.  The number of them is not stated as three, but because there were three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, it has been assumed that there were three of them.  In nativity scenes, they are shown as coming to the place in which Jesus drew His first breath as a Baby, but scripture says that they visited Jesus in the house where He and His parents were staying.  The King James Version states that Jesus was a young child at that time.  It was after their visit that an angel warned Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s threat to kill all children two years old and younger because that is how long it had been since the wise men enquired about the location of the One who had been born King of the Jews (Matthew 2:1-16).  The significance in the visit by the wise men was that they were the first Gentiles to worship Jesus as Lord.

One of the most Biblical Christmas songs written is “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” written by Charles Wesley.  It is filled with the doctrine of the gospel, the truth of the reason for Jesus’ birth and death, to provide salvation and reconciliation with God, to give men the opportunity for spiritual rebirth.  Another Christmas song is “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, which acknowledges that Christ came to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray.  Of course, there is “Silent Night, Holy Night” and “O Holy Night”.  There are several others that we sing to celebrate the first coming of Christ, but we always need to remember that He first came to suffer and die for our sins, but when He returns, He will come as a Conquering King who will rid the earth of evil and set up His glorious kingdom.  Just imagine the songs that will be sung then by all those who have given Him their lives.