Day 3 | Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

Scripture to Ponder: John 3:1-8 & Ezekiel 36:22-28

Charles Wesley penned this Advent classic with later contributions from George Whitfield. Is there another song packed so rich with exuberant Christology as this one? And yet, Hark the Herald Angels Sing! is so popular and pervasive in culture, Charles Wesley has an IMDB page with almost 200 television and movie credits, with titles such as:

• It’s a Wonderful Life - 1946

• A Charlie Brown Christmas – 1965

• Episodes of MacGyver & Matlock – 1989

• Jumanji – 1995

• House ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ – 2008

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine ‘Captain Latvia’ – 2016

• Zombieland: Double-Tap – 2019

Hark the Herald Angels Sing! is my favorite Advent song. In the final triumphant stanza, we sing about the glory Jesus laid aside that we might be born again. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, asked Jesus how to go to Heaven. Jesus told him that only those born again by the Spirit have eternal life. Confused, Nicodemus pondered how he might accomplish re-entering his mother’s womb before Jesus interrupts him to ask why a teacher of the law would not be familiar with the New Birth, calling our attention to Ezekiel 36.

There God told Ezekiel that he would remove sinner’s cold dead hearts and replace them with beating hearts of flesh. These are spiritual hearts that keep on beating long after our physical, mortal hearts stop. These are hearts bought by the Heaven-born Prince of Peace. Jesus was born so that we would stop being dead and come alive. The Advent signaled the death of death in birth, life, and death of the new-born King.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing! | Charles Wesley – George Whitfield
1739

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled."
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic host proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem."
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King!

Christ, by highest heaven adored:
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the virgin’s womb
Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail, Incarnate Deity:
Pleased, as man, with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King!

Hail! the heaven-born
Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the son of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King!"