Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

I apologize for my brief absence from the blog. Christmas Extravaganza has taken it’s toll on me. But, nevertheless, I am here today hoping to shed some light on this well-known Christmas Classic.

Here at First Baptist we believe in singing scripture-affirming songs. By that I mean that we do not go down many paths that lead nowhere. For example, while many churches like the tune, the song Days of Elijah is not one that is in the regular rotation at First because it is confusing at best, and flat-wrong at worst. I call this a ‘duct tape’ song. You take a little of this, and a little of that, and duct-tape it to some chords, and, voila, you have yourself a ‘worship song’.

Hark! The Herald Angles Sing is NOT a duct-tape song. We will end our music set on Sunday with this classic because it is truly a scripture-affirming, God honoring song.

We look at lines in the song like “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail incarnate Deity”, and we have, knowingly or not, affirmed the divinity of Christ. We are affirming John 1 and singing that God took on flesh and was God living among us. The verse goes on to say “Jesus, our Emmanuel”, which means Jesus is our “God With Us”. He is God. God is He. Hail incarnate Diety!

We could look at the lyrics to this carol all day and not exhaust their meaning, but I hope next Sunday you look at this song with fresh eyes. Not stopping your mind after the first verse, but through faith singing these lyrics from your hearts. Singing to our Savior who was born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

Angels We Have Heard on High

Silence. Absolute silence. After more than a thousand years of God speaking to his people through the prophets, there was nothing. The book of Malachi concludes the chapter of creation wherein God consistently sent prophets to speak his words. How silent? Over 400 years silent. While we see books like “Maccabees” in the “Catholic Bible”, they (by their own admission) were not written by the prophets. They are simply histories of the time period. In them, they ask where the prophets have gone.

During the period of time that God was speaking through the prophets, he constantly spoke of the One who was to come. The entire Old Testament points toward the day that God would not speak through prophets, but would come to earth himself. Be born of a virgin. Put the government on his shoulders. The scriptures point toward a day when the prophesies would no longer be promises of things to come, but they would be fulfilled. A glorious day that is spoken of throughout the entirety of the many books and centuries of the Old Testament cannon.

But, then, nothing.

Silence.

Generation after generation passed with no word from heaven.

The silence was deafening.

But then, one night “…there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good new of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger”. 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 among those with whom he is pleased!”

The silence was broken. Eternity split in two. God sent more than a prophet to speak on his behalf. He sent himself.

When we sing Angels We Have Heard on High, we remember the night that God came to us. We remember those that he first spoke to. We remember the birth. And we sing “in excelsis Deo!” (which means “Glory to God in the highest”) just as the angels did as they proclaimed the incarnation of God. As we sing these things, we remember that God is not silent or still, no matter what our perception may be, but, in the middle of our doubts and fears, is ready to split the sky and change everything. Glory to God in the highest!