Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Writers can be a sensitive bunch, even when they are famous leaders of the church. One of these was Charles Wesley. Most people know him from church history as a founder of the Methodist movement, but what you may not know is he also wrote over 6,000 hymns. He was always happy when people published his hymns because it helped them to spread, but he had one request, never, under any circumstances change the words. Wesley seemed to think his words were just fine and didn’t need any help, and for the most part he was probably right. 6,000+ hymns should have thought him a thing or two about writing. One of his close associates, his dear friend, evangelist George Whitefield, broke Wesley’s rule once and for that we can all be grateful.
Wesley wrote: “Hark how all the welkin rings.” Welkin is an old English word that means the vault of heaven. Whitefield changed the lyric to the first line of the song we know and love. “Hark how all the welkin rings” was changed to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and the rest, as they say, is history.
Angels play an important part in the Christmas story. From Gabriel appearing to Zechariah preparing him for the birth of John the Baptist, and then appearing to Mary and telling her about God’s plan to make her the mother of the Messiah. From there he went to Joseph in a dream explaining that the fantastic story Mary was telling, was the truth. Later, Gabriel also warned Joseph to take Jesus to Egypt to save him from the wrath of Herod, and then warning the Magi not to return to Herod for the same reason. The word “angel” means Messenger and they were clearly living out their life’s purpose on that day.
Of course, the most amazing appearance of the angels in this story was probably when the angel went to the shepherds shining with the glory of the Lord on the night of Jesus birth, giving them the good news and telling them what to look for, followed by the coming of the heavenly host saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
These messengers brought good news of great joy for all people. It was Good News then and it still is today.
Consider these words from the third verse of the hymn:
Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace
Hail the Sun of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings
Risen with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
born that men no more may die
born to raise the sons of earth
born to give them second birth.
What a beautiful picture of the coming of Christ. He was born to give us peace with God. He is a shining example of perfect righteousness. As John wrote He is light and in that light is the life of all men. He came to heal the nations. He laid aside the glory of heaven to live with us here, so that we could place our faith in Him. He was born to lay down His life and in the process defeat the greatest enemy, death itself. He was born so we could be born again and receive eternal life. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but Wesley’s song reminds us, the purpose of Christmas is Good Friday, and the purpose of Good Friday is Easter. Jesus is God’s greatest gift. Glory to the newborn King.