Christians have sung Christmas carols for hundreds of years. It is said that Ambrose, bishop of Milan, wrote an early Christmas carol in the late 300s. The Spanish poet Prudentius penned the words to “O the Father’s Love Begotten” sometime before A.D. 417, the year of his death. In the 13th century, many believe the words to “O Come All Ye Faithful” first appeared.
Today who can imagine Christmas without the sounds of “Joy to the World” by the father of English hymnody, Isaac Watts; “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” written by Charles Wesley; or “Silent Night,” which was first performed Dec. 24, 1818?
Practically everyone loves Christmas carols, but many overlook the Christmas carols of the Bible. Specifically many regular readers of the Christmas story never notice the five Christmas carols recorded in the first two chapters of Luke. Remember a carol is a song that reflects a theme of Christmas and is sung during the Christmas season.
Elizabeth is the singer of the first carol appropriately called “The Beatitude of Elizabeth” and recorded in Luke 1:42–45. Elizabeth, the mother of John, was “filled with the Spirit” at the sound of her cousin Mary’s voice and sang what some call “the first Christian hymn.”
“Blessed are you among women,” she sang to Mary because “you” would be the human instrument through whom the Eternal came in human form. “Blessed is the child you will bear,” for He was the fulfillment of God’s promise. “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished,” a reference to the angel’s visitation and message to Mary in Nazareth.
Elizabeth, the daughter of a priest of the old order and wife of a priest of the old order, became the first to sing about the High Priest of the new order.
Zachariah, her husband, also sang a carol to celebrate the new thing God was about (Luke 1:68–79). The circumstances of his carol are almost miraculous in themselves. For months, he had been mute, unable to speak. But after he surprises the crowd gathered for the circumcision and naming of his new son by confirming that the boy will be named John, the mute priest became a singer.
Like his wife, Zachariah sang when he “was filled with the Spirit” (Luke 1:67). Scholars conclude that his words are structured like Old Testament prophecies and his is “the last prophecy of the Old Dispensation and the first of the new.”
The first part of Zachariah’s carol, called “The Benedictus” — Latin for the first word of his song, focuses on the role of Israel’s Deliverer. God has visited His people, the old priest sang, and this time, His purpose is redemption. The Deliverer is a powerful deliverer, symbolized by the horn, the weapon of powerful animals. And the Deliverer comes from the house of David, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham.
Zachariah may have thought in terms of a political deliverer, like most people of his day. But the tone of his song changes in verse 75 with the emphasis moving from the political to the spiritual and universal purpose of God’s Deliverer. The Deliverer comes to make it possible for people to live before God in holiness and righteousness forever.
John would “go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him.” But it would be the Deliverer who provides forgiveness of sin and light to shatter the darkness and bring God’s peace to earth.
The best known of the five carols is “The Magnificat,” Mary’s song recorded in Luke 1:46–55. The title is the Latin word for the first word, magnifies or glorifies.
The opening verse gives voice to Mary’s personal emotions and experience. They reflect her personal devotion. Indeed God had done great things. He had allowed the bride of a peasant carpenter to be the mother of the Son of God. The child she would bear would reveal God’s truth and make His grace available to all.
The second stanza continues the theme of God’s greatness and grace. He has brought down rulers but lifted up the humble. He has sent the rich away empty but filled the hungry with good things. God has kept His promise to Israel just as He said He would.
The final carol belongs to Simeon, who had been promised that he would see the Messiah before his death (Luke 2:25–32). The song is titled “The Nunc Dimittis of Simeon,” Latin for “now depart” (Luke 2:29–32).
The writer does not say Simeon was filled with the Spirit but does affirm that “the Holy Spirit was upon him” and “moved by the Spirit, he went to the temple courts.” It was there he saw Jesus. By this time, the child was probably six weeks old. He had been circumcised on the eighth day, and now 33 more days had passed for Mary’s purification to be complete.
Mary and Joseph were there to make sacrifices in accordance with the Old Covenant but Simeon saw something new. Simeon sang that he saw the One who would bring God’s salvation. This salvation was for all people. It was a “revelation to the Gentiles” and “glory to your people Israel.”
After such a wonderful sight, Simeon was ready to depart in peace. He could die knowing that the goal of his life had been fulfilled. He had seen the Savior.
His words seem to echo another Christmas carol — the one sung by the angels to the shepherds watching their flocks on a lonely Judean hillside (Luke 2:8–14). An angel announced a Savior had been born, an announcement Simeon repeated. The angel said the Savior’s birth was good news “for all people.” Simeon declared salvation had been “prepared in the sight of all people.”
The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest.” Simeon said Jesus was for the glory of God’s people.
“Peace on earth to men on whom His favor rests,” the angels sang. And Simeon demonstrated that peace as he walked into eternity confident that his life’s goal had been fulfilled because he had seen the Savior.
It is unlikely the angels sang the same notes or rhythm as Handel’s “Messiah,” which borrows the angels’ words for its text. But the celebration is unmistakable in both. Who can fail to sing “Glory to God in the highest” for the Son of Promise has come? Elizabeth could not. Zachariah could not. Mary could not. Simeon could not. And neither can anyone who believes that God came down and dwelt among us in Jesus, the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
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