At some point before Christmas last year, I gave attention to a verse in “Silent Night! Holy Night!” which states: “Radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.” Likewise, many Christmas cards show Jesus as a baby on the hay in a feeding trough with light radiating from Him, especially His face. But that is not stated in the Bible. There could have been some supernatural light such as when “…the glory of the Lord shone around [the shepherds]…” as stated in Luke 2:9, a subject I addressed in my Easter message this past year. Yet whether or not there was a glow from that baby, the song and the cards use physical light to express a unique nature of this baby, the One who was Immanuel.
The final verse of “Silent Night! Holy Night!” is an incredible conclusion: “Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.” That baby in a manger was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He was God the Son (see I John 5:20). And after Jesus fulfilled His mission in this world, Jesus went from death to being resurrected back to the person He was from all eternity.
Thanks to Kenneth W. Osbeck, I learned of the story about the creation of “Silent Night” about two decades ago from his book, Stories of Favorite Hymns. (1) In my own words: The spark for composing the hymn: Soon before Christmas of 1818, a church organ broke. That organ was in Church of St. Nicholas (seriously) in Obernorf, Austria, and no organ meant no Christmas hymn singing. (A cappella was more challenging for hymns back in the day.) Reverend Joseph Mohr, an assistant priest, and his friend Franz Gruber, the town principal and church organist, had previously discussed the need for a new Christmas hymn. Reverend Mohr acted swiftly when this occasion arose, and he wrote the lyrics. Then Franz broke out a guitar and wrote the tune. The result was the classic song which beautifully illustrates the biblical Christmas story. What a beautiful example of God bringing goodness beyond measure in the wake of things in a church going haywire.
“Silent Night! Holy Night!” has a verse repeated in both stanza two and stanza three: “Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born!” Salvation was the mission of Jesus, as proclaimed by an angel to Joseph in a dream: “[Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). And an angel told the shepherds, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you….” (Luke 2:11).
Jesus offers people salvation. Being Immanuel, He was the only person who could be the sacrificial atonement for the sins of all people. And Jesus was the atonement, dying on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone. Now the decision is yours. If you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life.
Merry Christmas!!
love, Hunter
(1) Kenneth Osbeck, Stories of Favorite Hymns
(Grand Rapids: Family Christian Press, 2002), 93.
