... because I love Christmas!
I love Christmas so much in fact, that from the minute I'm allowed to listen to Christmas music (the morning after Thanksgiving), I listen to it almost non-stop until Christmas. End result, is that I know Christmas songs inside and out. Sometimes, when we know songs that well, we kind of, forget what they really say. I was listening to a well-known Christmas song the other day, and a light bulb came on as I realized... hey! this is a really great song! So here it goes... me unpacking a well known Christmas Carol.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Now, I'm not going to unpack the whole song... just a verse that I thought was good food for thought. Let's take a quick look at the second verse of this well known song:
Christ by highest heav'n adored
(credit to carols.org.uk)
Wow! I love this verse so much, but let's take it one piece at a time.
The first two lines emphasize how great Christ is.
"Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord."
Jesus is adored by the highest heaven... who abides in the highest heaven! Well if we're talking "highest" as in "in most authority", that would be God the Father Himself! And that makes sense, since He's the "everlasting Lord." These verses establish who we are talking about, the everlasting Lord who is adored by God the Father Himself... and that's what makes the rest of the verse so amazing.
"Late in time, behold Him come. Offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail incarnate Deity."
The everlasting Lord came to earth and was born. That in itself is amazing, but the line that really struck me was "veiled in flesh the Godhead see". Let's rearrange that into modern English, shall we?
"See the Godhead veiled in flesh."
Woah... the eternal Godhead, three on one, mysterious, holy Trinity... veiled in flesh! Like us. That is why the incarnation is so incredible! This God that we can't even wrap our minds around (have you ever tried to understand the Trinity? it's mind blowing...), this God, veiled Himself in the same earthen flesh as us! It's such a beautiful mystery...
Okay, next part...
"Pleased, as man, with men to dwell. Jesus our Emmanuel."
This part reminds me of that verse in Philippians 5:2-8:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
This everlasting Lord, adored by highest heaven, God Himself... was pleased to dwell with us as a man. Rather than hold onto the Lordship He so rightly deserved, He humbled Himself... even to die. Though, as we see later in the same passage, God has now exalted Him, but for His time on earth, He dwelled with us, like us, in our midst. And the passage neatly packs the punch by reminding us that He is our Emmanuel... God with us.
I love that phrase. I love taking it one word at a time.
God - holy, perfect, merciful, gracious, just, seated in highest authority, served by angels, creator of all, in whom all things consist, whom highest heaven cannot contain...
with - among, near, accompanying, alongside, in our midst
us - you, me, and all of mankind, just us normal people
God. with. us.
Emmanuel.
It's so incredible. Next time you sing this song, don't just focus on getting the harmony right. Focus on getting what it's saying. It's a song that's jam-packed with truth, mystery, and awe.
Hark the Herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king:
Listen, the angels are singing... glory, to the newborn king...
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Now, I'm not going to unpack the whole song... just a verse that I thought was good food for thought. Let's take a quick look at the second verse of this well known song:
Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
(credit to carols.org.uk)Wow! I love this verse so much, but let's take it one piece at a time.
The first two lines emphasize how great Christ is.
"Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord."
Jesus is adored by the highest heaven... who abides in the highest heaven! Well if we're talking "highest" as in "in most authority", that would be God the Father Himself! And that makes sense, since He's the "everlasting Lord." These verses establish who we are talking about, the everlasting Lord who is adored by God the Father Himself... and that's what makes the rest of the verse so amazing.
"Late in time, behold Him come. Offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail incarnate Deity."
The everlasting Lord came to earth and was born. That in itself is amazing, but the line that really struck me was "veiled in flesh the Godhead see". Let's rearrange that into modern English, shall we?
"See the Godhead veiled in flesh."
Woah... the eternal Godhead, three on one, mysterious, holy Trinity... veiled in flesh! Like us. That is why the incarnation is so incredible! This God that we can't even wrap our minds around (have you ever tried to understand the Trinity? it's mind blowing...), this God, veiled Himself in the same earthen flesh as us! It's such a beautiful mystery...
Okay, next part...
"Pleased, as man, with men to dwell. Jesus our Emmanuel."
This part reminds me of that verse in Philippians 5:2-8:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
This everlasting Lord, adored by highest heaven, God Himself... was pleased to dwell with us as a man. Rather than hold onto the Lordship He so rightly deserved, He humbled Himself... even to die. Though, as we see later in the same passage, God has now exalted Him, but for His time on earth, He dwelled with us, like us, in our midst. And the passage neatly packs the punch by reminding us that He is our Emmanuel... God with us.
I love that phrase. I love taking it one word at a time.
God - holy, perfect, merciful, gracious, just, seated in highest authority, served by angels, creator of all, in whom all things consist, whom highest heaven cannot contain...
with - among, near, accompanying, alongside, in our midst
us - you, me, and all of mankind, just us normal people
God. with. us.
Emmanuel.
It's so incredible. Next time you sing this song, don't just focus on getting the harmony right. Focus on getting what it's saying. It's a song that's jam-packed with truth, mystery, and awe.
Hark the Herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king:
Listen, the angels are singing... glory, to the newborn king...
I really like this awesome post, Rachel! Thanks for talking about and dissecting that verse of the song! That's so cool! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool post! I love going through music bit by bit by bit! I'm going to be doing this on my blog as well :) I love doing that to all music! Wonderful exposition on this song! And I need to add . . . guess who composed the music for this piece? Any takers? Felix Mendelssohn! Yes, THE Felix Mendelssohn! It was Charles Wesley who, years later, had written the lyrics, and William H. Cummings adapted those lyrics to fit Mendelssohn's tune. Now, a word on Mendelssohn. His grandfather was Moses Mendelssohn, a very distinguished Jewish philosopher. Felix was born in to a historically Jewish family, but later converted to Lutheran. And so, a Jewish-Lutheran composer's music is now ringing with "Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
ReplyDeleteWow! I didn't know that...
ReplyDeleteAnd we all know how amazing Mendelssohn is. ;)