“He who sings prays twice.” You may have heard that old proverb before. It’s often attributed to St. Augustine, though many scholars today actually dispute whether he said it or not. Still, it’s a lovely sentiment. And yet, it’s not just lovely. It’s also true — “he who sings prays twice.”
In other words, singing adds something to our praise and worship of God. And it does so in this way: Singing engages us. It engages our minds, our hearts, even our wills — much more so than just simple spoken words or even thoughts. Yes, there is a power in song — particularly in song as an expression of worship.
Well, if that’s true of worship songs in general, it is especially true of our singing during this time of year. Indeed, if there was ever a time of year that lends itself most to Christians worshipping through song, it’s this most worshipful time of the year that we call Christmas.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year for Singing
Yes, Christmas is indeed a time for Christians to sing. It’s the reason we go caroling. It’s the reason our churches have Christmas programs. And it’s also the reason that we Christians have actually written songs throughout the years to, in fact, sing at Christmas.
On Spotify, for instance, there are almost a million different Christmas tracks that one might sing during the Christmas season. A million. That represents some 180,000 unique Christmas songs, produced by more than 63,000 unique artists — anyone from Aaron Neville all the way down to some musician named Zuma the King. So, yes, as Christians, we do love to sing at Christmas. And frankly, we always have.
For instance, depending upon the scholar you read, the very first Christmas carol ever sung by the church perhaps dates back all the way to AD 129 — about 30 years after the death of the Apostle John.
At that time, the bishop of Rome — a man named Telesphorus — decreed, “In the Holy Night of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, all shall solemnly sing the ‘Angel’s Hymn.’”
And what was this “Angel’s Hymn”? As you might guess, it was the words of the angels themselves that they sang on that very first Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14).
But this hymn began what would become a long-standing church tradition of communicating through song the profound theological realities of the Incarnation, of the Word becoming flesh, of the Son of God entering into this sad, old, broken world.
Yes, as the church of Jesus Christ, we have a rather long and rich tradition of communicating these Christmas realities through the medium of song.
Communicating Truth — Beautifully
Many of our carols even today still do that. They still communicate well the beautiful and biblical truths of the Incarnation. Think, for instance, of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” and “Joy to the World.” Each of these wonderful Christmas carols are full of biblical truths — of scriptural allusions, even quotations.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
Perhaps no traditional Christmas carol has more of these scriptural citations than my very favorite Christmas carol of them all — “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
This hymn goes back many centuries — its roots extend to a sixth-century evening prayer book that contained what are called the O Antiphons — “The Great O’s.” These O Antiphons consist of seven different antiphonal chants, traditionally sung during the last seven days of Advent leading up to Christmas Eve. Even today, these are still sung during Advent in some Christian traditions around the world.
As the name suggests, each of these “O” Antiphons begins with the emphatic expression, “O,” and then they are each followed by a biblical title or name of Jesus. And all these names derive from the Old Testament — from OT prophecies of Christ. They include titles such as: O Sapientia (“O Wisdom”); O Radix Jesse (“O Root of Jesse”); O Oriens (“O Dayspring”); O Rex Gentium (“O King of the Nations”); and of course, O Emmanuel (“O With Us is God”).
An Anglican priest and hymn writer named John Mason Neale in the 19th century adapted and compiled some of these O Antiphons into one hymn in 1851. After several further revisions, we now have, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
I don’t think you will find a deeper or more biblical or more beautiful reflection on the Incarnation of the Son of the God than this one carol. For this reason, for Christmas last year, I actually used several of the verses as a guide for my Advent sermon series at New Prospect Baptist Church in Anderson, where I serve as preaching pastor. We reflected on several of the “O” titles of Christ as found in this hymn, through the lens of an OT text.
It was certainly a rich time of reflection for us all. I returned time and again to the first “O”— the “O” from the title of the hymn — ”O Emmanuel” — a name that means “God with us.”
Indeed, no greater comfort is available for God’s people today than that profound truth. In a way, that title is the story of the Bible itself.
The title “Emmanuel” is old, dating to the prophet Isaiah — who lived some 700 years before Christ.
Isaiah 7:14 prophesies that God will give His people a sign, and this sign will be a virgin who will give birth to a Son, and this Son will be called “Emmanuel.” In Matthew 1:21–23, the evangelist explains that this Son, this Emmanuel, is, of course, Jesus.
Rescue Mission Accomplished
And what an amazing thing it is for God to be “with us.” But, as this hymn suggests, God is not just present among us in some passive way — as some kind of removed, inactive presence. No, God the Son came to be among us to actually accomplish something for us.
And what was that? The rest of that first verse tells us: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appears” (emphasis mine). Jesus came to be among His captive people to rescue His captive people — His wayward, wandering people, separated from their Sovereign King by sin.
As R.C. Sproul wrote, “God just doesn’t throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea, and pulls a corpse from the bottom, takes him up on the bank, breathes into him the breath of life and makes him alive again.” Yes, Emmanuel came to do just that.
And what should be our response to this unfathomable redemptive work? Again, to use the words of the hymn: Rejoice!
Or to quote the text I used for my sermon in that series, Zephaniah 3:14–17:
“Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
Yes, God came and rescued us. And He is still in our midst. A victorious Warrior. Our Emmanuel. That’s a truth for us not just to think about and reflect upon this Christmas. It is something to sing.
— Bryan H. Cribb serves as professor of Christian studies and associate dean of the College of Christian Studies at Anderson University (www.auministry.com). He also serves as preaching pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C.