O Holy Night

One of my favorite Christmas songs is O Holy Night. It evokes so much emotion in me that I struggle to make it through the song without crying. Read the words of the first verse:

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,
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night divine.

All of creation had been groaning under sin (Romans 8:22) for some 4,000 years when Jesus was born on earth. Because Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and because we are all descendants of Adam and Eve and born with a sin nature, Jesus Christ came to earth to pay for the price for our sins so we could be redeemed. Jesus is the “thrill of hope” that makes the “weary world rejoice”!

It truly is “a new and glorious morn” because with Jesus’ birth and death and resurrection, the new covenant begins! This is why we should “fall on our knees” and rejoice with the angels because “Christ was born.”

May God richly bless you all this Christmas season, and amid all the hustle and bustle may you remember the true reason for the season.