Hymns4Him

In Revelation 4 and 5, we are privileged to read the actual words that are continuously being sung in heaven by the saints and angels, gathered in concentric circles around the throne of God.  The song, in three slightly different variations, is found in 4:11, 5:9-10, and 5:12. In all three, the common denominator is the word “worthy” as a description of Jesus, the Lamb of God.  The Greek word for worthy, axios, is a word that indicates not only value, but also authority, majesty, and power, as well as of great importance and influence. 

The scroll that the apostle John saw in that amazing Lord’s Day vision was written on both sides, likely symbolizing the full details of all that God has planned from eternity for the history of redemption, both in this life and on into eternity. John observed that it was sealed with seven seals (seven being the number of total fullness), implying that its contents – God’s plans – were sealed, awaiting someone who would be found “worthy” to open its seals, and therefore accomplish these divine redemptive plans.

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In past generations, our ancestors found great joy and benefit in being reminded about heaven’s magnificence.  It’s not the appearance (as beautiful as it will be) or the conditions (as blissful as those will be) that should be most enticing to us.  Neither will it be the loved ones with whom we will be re-united or even just the new condition of our hearts, no longer carrying the guilt and embarrassment of our sinful nature.  No, the best part of heaven will be seeing our Savior, no longer through a glass darkly, but face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). What a tremendous thing for us to look forward to!

When we review literature of the godly writers of years gone by, even centuries before us, we find them speaking not infrequently about “the beatific vision.”  Put most simply, that means the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise in the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount that the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8).  Sadly, we tend to read that too figuratively, when we should read it more literally: that in some way, we will actually see God!  And since God the Father is a spirit and does not have a physical body, this clearly means that we will see God in the person of the Son Jesus Christ.  As Jesus Himself said to Thomas in John 14:8-9, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father; for I and the Father are one.” 

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The hearts of Christians beat with passion for the Lord Jesus, and for the Great Commission.  In a sense, that passage at the end of Matthew 28 could be called Jesus’ “last will and testament.”  But that wouldn’t be entirely accurate, since He still lives among us and dwells within us. His resurrected, glorified body was received into heaven at His ascension, but He promised that His spirit would be with us to the end of the age.  And in issuing this Great Commission, He assured us that we would not be carrying out that commission in our own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One of the marks of a healthy church is that there be a widespread missions mentality.  This means more than simply assigning a portion of the church budget to support for missionaries and mission agencies.  That can and does happen, but then members of the church have little knowledge of it, and receive no encouragement to become emotionally and prayerfully engaged in missions.  In contrast, there are churches that promote missions by having a separate missions budget to which people are regularly invited to contribute, by praying for missionaries by name in morning worship, by including brief missions reports in Sunday announcements and monthly newsletters, by holding a missions conference (annually) with guest missionaries speaking to share their ministry reports and visiting at meals and in members’ homes, and by enlisting members to go on mission trips to spend a week or two with missionaries in the field to experience that foreign culture and see first-hand what church planting is all about.

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Pastor Joe wasn’t sure what to do about the Christmas Eve service.  It was always a highlight for the musicians and congregation of his church in their little mountain village.  But the electricity had gone out, which meant that not only was there no heat and no lights, but also no power for the organ.  They didn’t have a piano, and no one played the accordion. So he consulted with Frank, their organist and choir director.  Pastor Joe could play a few things on his guitar, but he only knew three chords.  But with Frank’s help they came up with something at the last minute that they could use for the service.  It was simple enough for the singers to learn quickly, and which the congregation could pick up easily.  Joe wrote the words and Frank wrote a melody that would work with the three guitar chords.  And with candles, people could see well enough to sing along.  It actually went quite well.  When the repairman came later to fix things, they played what they had written to show him how they had managed.  He was so impressed by the song and by their ingenuity in coping with the disaster, he copied it down and shared it with others.  Soon it was being sung in churches all over every Christmas.

Well, that’s not exactly how “Silent Night” came to be written and sung 202 years ago, but that’s how it would have been told if a similar thing had happened this year (not to mention how the COVID-19 pandemic would have altered the scenario!).  Here’s the actual story.  It was Christmas Eve, 1818 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Oberndorf, a Bavarian village in Austria.  The young priest, Father Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), had come to the church the year before.  He had written the poem “Stille Nacht” two years earlier in Salzburg where he worked as an assistant priest in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.  The organ at St. Nicholas church was not functioning and could not be repaired until Karl Mauracher, the organ builder who serviced the instrument, could get there weeks later.

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Once again we note that Luke is the only Gospel writer who includes what we’ve come to refer to as “the four nativity songs” or “canticles:” those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.” How wonderful to note that the same Jesus who is hailed in song in heaven right now (as we read in Revelation 5:12: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and power and honor and glory and blessing”) was hailed in song as His coming into the world in His incarnation.

This fourth of Luke’s “Nativity Hymns” is known by the opening words in Latin, “Nunc Dimittis,” which means “now depart.”  That was the essence of the prayer offered by Simeon when he was privileged to see the infant Messiah.  Though the Bible does not say that he sang this prayer, it is entirely possible to describe it as a song since, like Zechariah’s “Benedictus” and Mary’s “Magnificat,” all three bear the unmistakable characteristics of a Hebrew psalm with the poetic style of the lyrics.

There are many places in Scripture where we would like to have been given more details.  What did Moses look like when he came down from Mr. Sinai? How big was the stone in David’s sling?  What did the angel’s voice sound like in Isaiah’s ears?  Was Daniel able to “pet” the lions in the den?  How many angels appeared in the sky to the shepherds of Bethlehem?  What did it look like to see the loaves and fishes multiplying as they were distributed?  Such curiosity can lead (and has led) some to miss the important central truth in each incident.  If we needed to know these things, God would have revealed them to us.

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Luke’s Gospel narrative is unique in many ways, and among them is the attention he gave to the presence and role of angels in his nativity account.  It is from the mouth of angels that we have the third of Luke’s nativity hymns, their “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” (glory in the highest to God).  This Latin phrase has been featured in many choral settings, like Antonio Vivaldi’s 1715 twelve-movement “Gloria,” often performed by choirs at Christmas time. Luke’s four nativity carols are those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.” 

There are quite a few hymns about angels in the Christmas sections of our hymnals.  Among them are “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Angels from the Realms of Glory,” “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “The First Noel,” and Martin Luther’s hymn, “From Heaven High (or Above) to Earth I Come,” which puts the whole nativity story into lyrics as spoken by the angel.

 Another of those hymns in which we sing about the angels is “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.” It is the earliest American Christmas carol or hymn that is included in the repertoire of most hymnals and congregations throughout North America. Written on a snowy December Day by Edmund Sears (1810-1876), a Harvard graduate and Unitarian minister, it was first printed in 1849.  He wrote this text while serving as a pastor in Wayland, Massachusetts.

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The Gospel of Luke is the one that gives us the most information about the birth of Jesus.  It is also the only one which includes what we’ve come to refer to as “the four nativity songs” or “canticles:” those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.”  We call them songs, even though the Bible simply says these words were spoken.  But their lyrical, poetic style lends validity to our traditional description of them as songs.  If that is so, then they were probably “sung” in a style similar to chant, as were also the Psalms.

In each of these four, we can’t help but wonder how Luke knew about them: the circumstances of their initial utterance, and the text of what was said/sung.  He does tell us in the introduction in the opening verses that he had examined what others had written as well as interviewing witnesses.  That leads to the very likely conclusion that all four of these accounts came from Luke’s having talked with Mary, listening to and recording her memories. Of course, all this occurred under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, ensuring that we have the record as God’s own revelation.  According to some ancient traditions, Mary spent the latter years of her life in Ephesus under the loving care of the Apostle John, as directed by Jesus in one of His “Seven Last Words from the Cross” (John 19:26-27). Perhaps Luke interviewed her there at some point.

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There are a number of things about Luke that make him stand out as very special among the four Gospel writers.  He is traditionally believed to be the only Gentile author of a New Testament book.  He was a partner with Paul on the latter missionary journeys, as indicated in Acts 16:10, where the narrative shifts to the first-person plural “we,” signifying Luke’s presence with Paul at that point.  More than any other, Luke stands out as a historian in the way he was so precise in connecting the narrative to contemporary events and in providing the precise, accurate titles for government officials.  That carefulness is also evident in the fact that he tells us in the opening paragraph that he has researched these matters to be able to record them accurately, which explains how he knew what Mary said, having almost certainly interviewed her.  We talk about Luke as “the beloved physician,” which is interesting to see that among the reports of the woman healed from her 12-year hemorrhage, he is the one who doesn’t mention that she had spent all she had on doctors who didn’t help, but only made her worse, perhaps in deference to his fellow physicians!

For the purpose of this study, however, the additional factor in Luke’s life that makes him quite special is that he is the only one who includes what we’ve come to refer to as “the four nativity songs” or “canticles:” those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.”  Of course, the Bible doesn’t actually call these “songs.”  In fact, it describes the words as having been spoken.  But each is so “poetic” and lyrical, that to describe them as songs does not seem at all out of character.

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