Holy Night
As in the night when a holy festival is kept…Isaiah 30:29
O Holy Night, lyrics by Placide Cappeau; music by Adolphe Adam, dates back to 1847. The first chorus expresses our heart this time of year: Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born. O night, O holy night, O night divine. The song captures our hopes and desires for this year. The song explains why this night is holy: the arrival of Christ our King. Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is Love and His gospel is peace… This poem was written on the eve of the French Revolution, February 1848. A revolt that spread across Europe. Crop failures, popular liberalism and socialism moved among the lower classes to revolt. The world has not changed much.
Jesus is born into a world hostile to all that is divine, including Him. In fact, the passage from Isaiah 30 is ray of hope in a warning against Assyria; one of the enemies of Israel. In the midst of His warning, God has Isaiah reveal: You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel, 30:29. Such are the words of the angels who announced the birth of our Savior in the City of David on that holy night.
Before His birth the night was like every other night; dark. This night was made holy by the arrival of Jesus. His birth was announced by the arrival of the angel of The Lord, Luke 2:9-12: And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger.”
The song continues to lead us in His praise: He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger! Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend! Behold your King! Before Him bend! Christ is the Lord, then ever, ever praise we!
