We all have our favorite Christmas songs. From classic ones like "The Christmas Song" to modern hits "All I Want for Christmas is You" to hymns like "Away in a Manger," one of the best parts about the Christmas season is, undoubtedly, the Christmas songs. They instantly get us into the holiday spirit, and they are a unique selection of songs that men and women across the country know no matter where you are from. The way we celebrate Christmas in America, in particular, would not be the same without these yuletide carols being sung by a choir.
While all Christmas songs have some sort of merit (even if that merit is just to entertain listeners), I want to focus today on the theology of some of these numbers. Christmas is, indeed, the time we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, so I thought it would be appropriate to think about which songs teach us the most about the true reason for the season. Now, of course, there are plenty of potential nominees for the most theologically rich Christmas songs out there, but for today's purposes, I only want to rank my top five. Before proceeding with the list, I want to specify that I only thought about hymns when considering nominees for this ranking. There are a lot of theologically rich modern songs as well, but to make life simple, I stuck to the classic Christian Christmas songs we all know and love. You may quibble with these picks or with these rankings, but I do not think you can quibble with the theology of the songs.
So, without further ado, let's get started...
5. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
Key Lyric: "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."
This song does a magnificent job of putting us into the shoes of God's chosen people as they awaited the arrival of the promised Messiah. In the intertestamental period between the end of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew, four hundred years had passed where God was allegedly silent, and it is during this timeframe that I anticipate the nation of Israel was intently petitioning God to send Emmanuel. In these lyrics, you can feel a desperate longing for God to finally send the Messiah to rescue and redeem humanity and to not forget the countless promises He made to His people in the Old Testament. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" highlights for us the mission of the Messiah (to ransom Israel and eventually the whole world) and emphasizes that we should respond to His arrival by rejoicing. Now, just as God's people declared prior to Christ's first coming, we declare in anticipation of His second coming, "O come, O come, Emmanuel."
4. "Joy to the World"
Key Lyric: "No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found!"
"Joy to the World" is a unique Christmas song because it speaks just as much to the reign of Christ as it does to the birth of Christ. The opening verse clearly speaks to the joyful arrival of Jesus as all of Earth is invited to receive her King, but as the song continues, Isaac Watts shows us that Christ did not come into this world nonchalantly. Jesus came to rule and reign, and because of that, we, as His followers, should be joyful and repeat the sounding joy. He can rule and reign because, as the key lyric indicates, He has come to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. These words remind me of Paul's words in Romans 5:20 as he writes, "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Born-again believers are no longer slaves to sin but are slaves to righteousness in Christ, so rid yourself of your sins and sorrows and find your joy in the salvation of God brought down by His Son, Jesus!
3. "O Holy Night"
Key Lyric: "Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name, all oppression shall cease."
As a bit of a disclaimer, I must admit that this is my personal favorite Christmas song of any variety, but I do believe its theology just so happens to be rich as well. An alternative pick for the key lyric comes from the first verse as carolers sing, "Long lay the world is sin and error pining, 'till He appeared and the soul felt its worth." It is such a beautiful way to describe the "thrill of hope" that entered the world whenever the King of Kings was born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. We were all sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore until Christ appeared and set us free, because at the name of Jesus, all oppression ceases to exist. "O Holy Night" is a powerful song filled to the brim with words of hope and encouragement, and then, at the end of the third verse, we are rightfully beckoned to praise His holy name because Christ is, in fact, the Lord of all, worthy of all the glory. This song takes humanity on a journey from hopeless to hopeful, and to me, that expertly encapsulates the biblical spirit of Christmas.
2. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
Key Lyric: "Hark! The herald angels sing, 'Glory to the newborn King: peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.'"
God and sinners reconciled. If that does not perfectly summarize the incredible message of Christmas, I am not sure what does! Jesus came into this world so that we, through Him, might have a personal relationship with Creator God. Being reconciled simply means to be restored, and since we have all been born estranged to God and considered His enemies due to our rebellion, our relationship needs to be restored. We need to be reconciled to Him, but the bad news is that we are powerless to restore ourselves. We are cursed with sin forevermore, and because of that, we are doomed to spend eternity separated from God if left to our own devices. Thankfully, though, Jesus has come to reconcile us to God through Himself. By dying a sacrificial death on our behalf, He paid the price for sin that we could not pay and made a way for us to be reconciled to God. By believing in Christ crucified and resurrected, we can be saved and our relationship with God can be restored. Glory to the newborn King, indeed!
1. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"
Key Lyric: "Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free!"
A running theme throughout this post has been that Jesus came to set us free, and this wonderful Christmas song makes it clear that breaking our chains of sin was Christ's chief mission. The theological richness of this hymn is rooted in lyricist Charles Wesley incorporating biblical language throughout this song, identifying Jesus, for example, as Israel's consolation and the hope of all the Earth (both taken straight from Luke 2, among other passages). At the heart of this short yet profound carol is the longing for Jesus to come and set sinners free. He was "born thy people to deliver," and upon our profession of faith, He is invited to "rule in all our hearts alone." This song is, in essence, the gospel message in a Christmas song. We were sinners in need of saving, Jesus came to set us free, and now He is the Lord of our lives as believers in Him. This Christmas and in every season for the rest of time, we must never get over the fact that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, came to save us from our sins. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
From my family to yours, I hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
For His glory,
Cody Fleenor
