On that first Christmas night, the skies above the shepherds’ field were filled with hosts of choiring angels. But even before Jesus lay in the manger, His miraculous story was being told in song. Mary sang about Him in the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-51), and Zechariah sang about Him in the Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79).

Throughout the Bible, singing was used to declare the goodness of God. And there are at least 50 commands from God to sing His message of grace and truth together. We have been created, compelled and commanded to sing. And Christmas is a wonderful time for us as Christians to sing traditional Christmas carols — songs that plumb the richest doctrinal depths, songs that help us absorb and reflect on the deep and transformative truth of Emmanuel, God with us. But it’s also a wonderful opportunity to express this truth to those around us.

Christmas can be the biggest evangelistic event of the year. The very act of singing traditional carols is a radical gospel witness; it reveals the hope of the world to those in our midst who are singing about Him or listening to songs about Him but have yet to believe in Him.

Here are some favorite Christmas carols that will help us revel in the mystery of the incarnation but will also help us share God’s heart with our friends and families, our colleagues and communities.

These carols are treasures that cause all of us, Christians and non-Christians alike, to pause and remember that hope has dawned, the promised Messiah has come, and the world will never be the same again.

O come, let us adore him — Christ the Lord!

— Keith Getty
Modern Hymn Writer

 

O Come All Ye Faithful

I always associate “O Come All Ye Faithful” with going carol singing in Ireland at Christmas when I was a child; it makes this carol incredibly special for me, and we always finish our Christmas concerts with it.

The carol, originally known as “Adeste Fidelis,” was most likely written by John Francis Wade, a Catholic artist. It remained a Latin masterpiece for 100 years before being translated into English by Frederick Oakley. For congregational and a capella purposes, this carol sings beautifully.

It’s a simple carol that tells the story of the Christ child and encourages us to join with the angels in celebrating and declaring the birth of our Savior:

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!

It’s an invitation to join in with the praise and worship of heaven — to remember that Jesus gave up His heavenly home to become flesh for us.

It takes us to the fields of Bethlehem, and reminds us that Jesus’ birth was proclaimed “by a great company of the heavenly host … praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:13).

The carol is full of snappy theological phrases like:

Word of the Father
Now in flesh appearing

Everybody knows this phrase; it’s such a memorable part of Christmas carol singing tradition. And yet, each Christmas, this phrase can mean something different to me and each person who sings it.

For me, this hymn has one of the best choruses ever written. The invitation to all is just to “come and adore ….” The repetition of this one line builds emphasis and a persuasion to forget what is holding us back, to let go of all else that might be occupying our minds, and to just “come.” To take a step from one place to another, whether physically or spiritually, where we can simply “adore Christ the Lord.”

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Charles Wesley’s vision for “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” was, ironically, for it to be a somber carol. Yet the wonderfully triumphant melody written by Felix Mendelssohn, a German-Jewish composer, turns it into a celebration.

Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled

In this Christmas carol, the lyrics don’t just focus on the birth of Jesus, but weave in the foundational purpose behind the incarnation — to reconcile people to God and bring them back into relationship with Him.

George Whitfield may have done an edit to this carol later on, but in essence it is Wesley’s brilliant lyrics that impart such timeless truths so powerfully. Wesley displays such skill in his lyric writing and achieves something that not many modern worship songs achieve. Everything sings off the tongue so perfectly. The way he constructs each line and his very exacting choice of words appeal to all the senses.

The other thing that Wesley does brilliantly — and this is something that modern hymn writer Stuart Townend does brilliantly, too — is knowing when to hit his home run. The last verses are always so climactic and take the singer to a new level of adoration and wonder.

Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born King!

It’s amazing to think how many millions of people over the last 280 years have sung the gospel and understood it on some level, thanks to the brilliant artistry of Charles Wesley.

It’s a hymn that, in just three verses, presents the gospel succinctly, yet very effectively. First, we exult at Christ’s birth and join with the angels as they worship the Christ child, the one through whom God is reconciling all people to Himself.

Then we are reminded of Jesus’ heavenly glory and His divinity, the precious incarnation — the one who “laid His glory by” in order to rescue and redeem:

Christ by highest Heav’n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord
And finally, to His resurrection:
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings

We are drawn to focusing our minds on what His birth, death and resurrection have achieved — new birth, new life and an eternal destination that is available to all.

The carol really does comprise a simple and engaging presentation of the gospel that makes it such a crucial part of our witness and declaration of God’s plan of salvation at Christmastime. It’s an invitation to anyone who will accept it to see beyond the baby in a manger and accept the new life and hope that, through Jesus, we can experience every day.

Angels We Have Heard on High

This is such a beautiful carol. It’s one of the most joyful and well-written choruses ever composed. The English version was written in 1862 by James Chadwick, a Roman Catholic bishop in the northeast of England, and is most often sung to the tune of a traditional French carol “Gloria.”

The lyrics are based on an original French song “Les Anges dans nos campagnes” (literally “the angels in our countryside”). It depicts the story of the nativity as told in Luke 2, where a whole company of angelic hosts appear to a small group of unassuming shepherds in the countryside.

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be?
Which inspire your heavenly songs?

As the angels gather in the night sky, they proclaim: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

This is where the song’s memorable refrain comes from — the line “Glory to God in the Highest heaven,” translated into Latin, becomes:

Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!

And it’s sung with that wonderfully prolonged “o” of Gloria, which is such a delight to sing and captures something of the joy and reverence of heaven.

My favorite verse is the fourth one:
Come to Bethlehem to see
Him whose birth the angels sing
Come adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord the new-born King

What must it have been like for the shepherds to witness a sky full of worshiping angels 2,000 years ago? It must have been incredible. With this carol, we are invited to join in with their worship and to add volume to the heavenly sound as we declare the birth of our King.

A great Christian life, or a great sermon, or a great song have a way of showing Christ to be so vast and glorious that our response can only be to humble ourselves, to bow down on bended knee and to acknowledge and be in awe of the greatness of our God. This carol enables us to do that really well.

Silent Night

Arguably the best-known Christmas carol in the world, “Silent Night” has been translated into 300 languages and dialects, and in 2011 was included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It’s clearly a carol that resonates with people everywhere.

“Silent Night’s” lyrics and melody combine to give it a gentle, almost lullaby-like quality. It’s also the most beautiful carol to sing in harmony.

Originally, it was a poem with six verses written in 1816 by Joseph Mohr, an Austrian priest. On Christmas Eve in 1818, Mohr asked the parish organist, Franz Gruber, to compose a melody for the poem. But, unfortunately, the church organ had broken down, so “Silent Night” has the distinction of being one of the first hymns ever to be accompanied by the guitar.

Mohr lived through the Napoleonic wars, which ended in 1816, and witnessed the suffering and oppression of his nation. In 1816, he was anxiously awaiting the liberation of his hometown of Salzburg from the Bavarian occupation. It is believed that Mohr wrote “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” as an expression of his longing for peace and freedom.

The repetition in each stanza of the line “Silent Night, Holy Night” evokes tranquility, stillness, mystery — a heart’s cry for the kind of peace that only Jesus can bring.

Alongside its origins as a carol born out of a longing for an end to division and turmoil in the 19th century, it’s also historically associated with the Christmas truce of the First World War. Although accounts differ, it is believed to have been the hymn sung on both sides of the trenches, in German and in English, as the soldiers briefly put down their weapons on Christmas Eve 1914.

Most hymnbooks include only three verses of Mohr’s original six: the first, second and last. But, for me, some of the little-known verses are actually the best ones. And I’m hoping to showcase these at our Christmas concerts this year.

The original middle three stanzas of Mohr’s poem focus on God’s love and salvation, His embracing of all people, and the wonder of the incarnation.

Silent Night! Holy Night!
Brought the world gracious light
Down from heaven’s golden height
Comes to us the glorious sight:
Jesus, as one of mankind
Jesus, as one of mankind

The fifth verse emphasizes God’s longing to draw all people to Himself. It reminds us that Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection is evidence of God’s love for all mankind. No one is excluded. His love breaks down all the man-made barriers, divisions and prejudices that are found at the heart of all conflict. Anyone can receive God’s love and salvation because God’s ultimate purpose is to draw all people to Himself.

Silent Night! Holy Night!
Long ago, minding our plight
God the world from misery freed
In the dark age of our fathers decreed:
All the world is redeemed
All the world is redeemed

Today it is still sung, often by candlelight, to close Christmas Eve services around the world. Whether we sing the familiar three-verse carol or sing it in its entirety, “Silent Night” really is a celebration of the peace and reconciliation we can experience through Christ becoming flesh for us.

Joy to the World

“Joy to the World,” one of the nation’s most popular carols, celebrated its 300th anniversary last year.

Written by Isaac Watts, an English minister and renowned father of English hymnody, it wasn’t originally intended to be a Christmas carol, it was meant to be sung all year-round. Much of it is based on the Psalms, particularly Psalm 98:4: “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.”

Watts was a prolific songwriter and introduced a new way of rendering the Psalms for church services as an alternative to the more Presbyterian and Reformed singing of the Psalms. He was a Free Church man who wanted to sing the Psalms in light of Christ’s return. So, for example, the second verse is based on Psalm 33:

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy

This carol is unusual in that the words do not simply focus on the joy we experience as we look back and celebrate the incarnation; they also encourage us to look forward, to discover the joy we can find by reflecting on our future hope, the second coming of Christ.

One of the reasons the song has become a Christmas classic is because the first verse announces the birth of Christ: “Joy to the world; the Lord is come!” What a wonderful proclamation!

And then, in the line, “Let every heart prepare him room,” we hear an echo of the innkeeper who had no room for Mary when labor was near (Luke 2:7). We rightly sing this lyric to our own hearts and to others’ as an invitation to prepare room in each of us for the good news of the Savior’s birth.

The third verse is perhaps unfamiliar to many of us, maybe for good reason as the imagery of “the curse” doesn’t fit well with our Christmas festivities.

No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found
Far as,  far as the curse is found

But without the presence of the curse (Genesis 3:16-19), the promise of deliverance loses its power (Genesis 3:15). These lines point us to the day when God’s blessing (Genesis 3:17) flows as “far as the curse is found.”

In the final triumphant verse, we are reminded that while the sting of sin is great, there is a hope that is greater: Jesus Christ, who rules the world with truth and grace. It is this grace that causes hearts dead in sin to come alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:89). The final two lines of our hymn call us to continue marveling in “the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love.”

No Christmas concert or Christmas Eve service would be complete without it. It is an undeniably joy-filled declaration of God’s goodness.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

The very first talk I gave in the U.S. was at Harvard University — I had been asked to give a talk on hymns at Phillips Brooks House, a rather stately-looking building on the campus named after an influential mid-19th century preacher and overseer of Harvard.

Brooks was also a hymn writer and the author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” which he was inspired to write after a visit to Bethlehem in 1865. He wrote it three years later for a Sunday school class, and neither he nor Lewis Redner, the composer of the original melody, thought it would last beyond Christmas 1868. But the powerful simplicity of the carol’s lyrics has ensured its longevity.

There are now two main melodies — the original U.S. version by Redner and a British version by Vaughn Williams. At our Christmas concerts we alternate the melodies; we do two verses of each in our arrangement.

This carol takes us on a wonderful journey from the past to the present. We start by looking down on the town where Jesus’ birth takes place, with the line, “How still we see thee lie.” It reminds us that Bethlehem barely stirs as the most significant event in the history of the world unfolds beneath its starry sky. It emphasizes the almost stealth-like appearance of Jesus as a baby, born in humble circumstances, born “while mortals sleep,” with only the angels and a group of unsuspecting shepherds as witnesses to this momentous occasion.

And then we are reminded that this event is about so much more than the birth of a baby in a small, seemingly insignificant town in a Middle Eastern country; it’s about the Light of the World overcoming the darkness.

Yet in the dark street shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

The last two verses move us on from that historic moment and lead us to the present. Now we consider how this baby, this gift of God has changed history and how His birth, and ultimately His death and resurrection, have enabled us to be reconciled to God.

My favorite verse is the third one:

How silently, how silently
The wondrous Gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in

In the midst of the often chaotic Christmas season, a season that can be one of celebration but also one of regret, disappointment and guilt, the beautiful words of this verse remind us that in the midst of all this, in the middle of our strivings, Jesus is longing to meet with us, but He humbly waits for us to welcome Him in, “where meek souls will receive Him still.” Still, even today, He enters in. What an amazing offer!

It can be easy to forget the potency of the words of this carol, yet it is essentially an invitation for people to receive and experience the new birth and new life that Jesus offers. “Be born in us today” — this new life is available to anyone who will receive it. As we sing this song in our Christmas church services, we can be sure that there will be people who need to hear this, who need to know that Jesus’ birth isn’t just a historical fact but something that can make a difference in their lives today.

Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
Oh, come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Immanuel!

Finally, the last verse finishes on the triumphal note of hope and assurance that God is with us. That He has chosen to abide with us. That He is not distant but close. That He is Immanuel.

It’s incredible!