Listen

 

Oh come all ye faithful,

Joyful and triumphant

Oh come ye, oh come ye

To Bethlehem

Come and behold him

Born the king of angels

Oh come let us adore him

Christ the Lord.

 

Sing choirs of angels,

Sing in exaltation,

Oh sing all ye citizens of heaven above.

Glory to God,

Glory in the highest

Oh come let us adore him

Christ the Lord.

 

(Oh he shall be called Emmanuel...)

 

Ye, Lord we greet thee,

Born this happy morning,

Jesus, to thee be all glory here.

Word of the Father,

Now in flesh appears,

Oh come let us adore him 

Christ the Lord.

 

 

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (Luke 2:9-15)

 

“O Come All Ye Faithful” is a gift to each of us, for it calls us to the very thing our hearts were made for – adoration. Our hearts were made to adore God. We were made to see Him for who He is and enjoy Him because of it. Augustine, a theologian from the 4th century, prayed “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”[1] Further, a famous catechism simply states “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”[2] We are made to enjoy God and adore Him.

 

We all know what it is like to adore something. It is when our hearts and minds get lost in the enjoyment of something outside of us. We feel complete, we feel whole, and we feel satisfied. In 2020, our hearts have experienced many different things, and words like complete, whole, and satisfied probably are not the first things to come to mind. More than likely, things like anxiety, confusion, heaviness, uncertainty, anger, heartache, depression, and weariness may have ruled your hearts in 2020. These things can weigh us down (Proverbs 12:25) and easily hinder us from adoring Christ. But let us heed to the call of this song, and come and behold. Even though darkness and defeat may surround us, let us seek to come joyful and triumphant because of the one who was born in Bethlehem and who won our victory. Jesus is the King of angels, the eternal Word of the Father who has always existed and through whom all things were created (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-20). He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God promised long ago. He is the Lord Jesus; the One to whom all glory is due.

 

“O Come All Ye Faithful” reminds us of our identity in Christ, that we are citizens of heaven above. Our hope and identity is not in this world and the many trials it faces, for we have a King and a kingdom that will not fade. In this trying season that has brought a lot of suffering, let us take to heart that Jesus and His kingdom will endure forever (2 Samuel 7:13-16; Luke 1:33). As Paul states “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). Let this song call us back to a place of adoration and enjoyment of our God. This Christmas, let’s take heed to the exhortation of the apostle Paul, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1-2). Let’s set our hearts upon Christ and see Him in all of His beauty. By doing this, we will find rest and peace, joy and contentment. Our hearts will be full and satisfied because we will have beheld afresh “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) This Christmas season, come let us adore Him!

 

 

[1] Saint Augustine, Confessions (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 3.

[2] Westminster Shorter Catechism, The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, accessed December 8, 2020, https://www.opc.org/sc.html