Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
The Songs of Christmas • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today we continue our series of messages where we examine a traditional Christmas song, see what scripture has to say about it and how we can grow in our faith with the lyrics of the song. Today we are going to look Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
Before we do that, how about some interesting facts about Christmas...
Christmas was not a national holiday until 1870. In fact, Congress was in session on Christmas day 1789, the very first Christmas under the new constitution.
In 1822, the US Postal service suggested outlawing Christmas cards because of the strain the surge of mail caused on the service.
In 1649, in England under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the singing of Christmas carols was was abolished by the Puritan Parliament. The effect of this was that few Christmas carols and hymns were written in the late 1600’s and into the 1700s...
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing written in 1739 by Charles Wesley was one of the few written during this time. The song originally had the title A Hymn for Christmas Day. The song started different than we know it today. The opening line was: Hark! How all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings. If you are like me, you are wondering what a welkin is. Welkin is an old English term meaning sky or more specifically the firmament of heavens. It is a reference to the place where angels reside. If someone from that day mentioned how all the welkin sings, they would be referencing the angels singing.
As happens from time to time, some of the great theological songs and hymns are changed to be better understood by those who sing it. So, just a little while later George Whitfield altered the lyrics of this song to be what we know of the song today by changing the first line to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and then he repeated the first two lines as the chorus or refrain.
Not only did Whitfield change some of the lyrics, but a young man by the name of William Cummings changed the tune as well. The tune that we sing today was written by Felix Mendelssohn for a secular cantata. His wish was for the tune to not be used for sacred purposes, but young Cummings did not know this as he adapted the song to the tune.
Even though we typically only sing three verses, Wesley wrote 5 theologically rich verses. He starts with a perspective from Luke 2. We read this last week, but it is worth reading again...
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Just like last week, we have something in the song that is not mentioned in scripture. The song says that the angels sing, but scripture says that they merely said. Does that mean that they didn’t also sing…no. The song takes a bit of liberty to use the word sing because it rhymes with king. Except for this, this song is filled with great theological truths. Let’s read through it verse by verse.
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Right out of Luke 2. Wesley starts with the word Hark. It is a exclamatory phrase that tells us to pay attention. Wesley is saying, “Hey, Look at this”....there is a King - the Christ He’s come. He’s here in Bethlehem.
The first line here was used as a refrain or chorus in between the verses. This was one of the changes Cummings made to make the song work with Mendelssohn’s tune.
I am going to come back to the second line after we go through the rest of the song...Let’s look at verse 2
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 th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
The focus in this verse is the fact that God came in the flesh. This Jesus is God in fleshly form as a baby, but no less everlasting Lord - no less God. God came in flesh as Jesus to make himself know to us. The verse ends with the name Emmanuel which simply means God with us.
Think about that for a moment. God came as Jesus to be with us, with his Creation. Wonderful! Let’s read the next verse...
Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.
Now Wesley gives us the reason that Jesus came. He came to rise again. There is death on the cross implied, but Jesus rose with healing. He rose again so that man no more may die. He was born to save us, to raise us to be with him. To give us second birth.
Today we celebrated and acknowledged that this week two people accepted what Jesus did for them. They were born again…given a second birth! What a wonderful truth!
Now let’s read the fourth verse. Most of the time, when this song is sung, these next two verses are omitted...
Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving pow’r, Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.
Wesley brings us back to the beginning of the Bible in Genesis. The serpent deceived Adam and Eve and they made the choice to sin. A result of that sin was banishment from the garden of Eden and death. They ruined a perfect union in the garden with God by choosing sin.
Genesis 3:15 God said this to the serpent..
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Jesus is the offspring that would ultimately crush the serpent’s head. Jesus acme to join us in union with him, to restore the relationship that was fractured at the fall.
Finally the last verse...
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface, Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain, Thee, the Life, the inner man:
Oh, to all Thyself impart, Formed in each believing heart.
The final verse celebrates all that God has accomplished in sending his Son Jesus. We regain the lost relationship. So beautiful.
Ultimately it is within our heart that God imparts himself. We need only believe.
While we were in Florida recently, we saw a wonderful choir sing this song while telling the story of Jesus’ birth. When they sang the song, the phrase from the first verse just kept ringing in my ears. That phrase was this:
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
God and sinners reconciled.
To reconcile is defined: to restore to friendship or harmony.
In the garden, Adam and Eve had friendship and harmony with God. There was a separation as a result of sin. Friendship was no more. We, humans, were in disharmony with God. Jesus came to reconcile God the Father with sinners like you and me.
I don’t know about you, but when I have a relationship that is in disharmony something is also just not right in me. I think there is a world of people walking around feeling like something is just not right within them, but they don’t know how to make it right.
It’s up to us to help people find this reconciliation with God. It starts with us sharing with others what God has done in our own lives. What is God doing in your life that you can celebrate? How has God reconciled you to Him? When was the last time you told someone about that?
I am going to close with a passage from 2 Corinthians…if you have your Bibles open there with me. 2 Corinthians 5 starting with verse 17.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
In Christ, you are a new creation in Christ. If you’ve come today and you are not yet in Christ and Christ in you, today is a good day to welcome in the new.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
Once we are reconciled, we now have the ministry of reconciliation. This is both a ministry of us reconciling ourselves with others as well as helping others be reconciled to God. That is a ministry he has given all of us!
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Did you catch that…you are an ambassador for Christ. An ambassador is a representative sent to be the voice and face of the one who did the sending. God is making his appeal to others through us. The message as an ambassador of Christ… “Be reconciled to God!”
In just a moment, we are going to sing this wonderful Christmas hymn again. As the worship team gets ready, I want to bring attention again to the first verse...
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
God has reconciled us to himself through Jesus.