O Holy Night
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 7:14, Luke 2:1-20
O holy night the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth
O Holy Night…. this song is just another classic Christmas song we always sing. I never really thought deeply into its lyrics until a good friend of mine mentioned how the Gospel is literally in every line sung.
We have heard it a million times that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and that reminder has turned into yet another cliché. Christmas is so much more than that though. Long lay the world in sin and error pining; just think about that one line. The world was and is a place of sin and darkness.
“for at one time you were darkness” Ephesians 5:8a
There is no need to even prove this point because if you even do as much as scroll on Facebook, man’s depraved heart screams through even our fingers as we post things on social media. But praise God the song does not stop there.
The song continues, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. The soul felt its worth. Jesus Christ is our Savior and his birth is more than a Christmas song or any gift we could ever receive. The birth of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift to humanity; it gave our soul worth. It saved our souls from that very same darkness that rotted out any life in our hearts.
“but now you are light in the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8b
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new glorious morn
Fall on your knees
The first and second line to this second stanza get me. If anyone has ever seen a weary person rejoice it is an incredibly touching scene. I often think of the scenes in movies where danger and death are right on the horizon. The people have fought all night long to survive and some have even given up. As dawn approaches so does death. There is NO hope. But then, help comes and destroys the darkness and causes a celebration to be brought forth and dawn is no longer a symbol of death but of life. There is now HOPE. That is the emotion that those two lines stir in my heart, but not for some movie scene but the actual reality of my life because of the birth of that little baby, Jesus Christ.
“For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; shall not be greatly shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2
Now, fall on your knees. While I am typing this I am completely in awe of our Savior, but when I get up tomorrow will I still be? If I am being honest probably not, I will be in a terrible mood that I have to go back to work. Praise God that his redemption or providing my soul with worth came before the falling on my knees otherwise I would still be lost.
O night divine
When Christ was born
As I conclude this, let those words sing like a chorus of angels in your mind. What truly a divine and holy night it was; the night our Christ was born. I pray that as we celebrate Christmas, we look out to the horizon that once screamed cries of trouble, pain, and death to rejoice and fall on our knees in adoration, as it now is a beautiful reflection of our hope and the Gospel, because of that little baby’s birth on that holy night.
