Day 9 | Go Tell It on the Mountain

Scripture to Ponder: Luke 2:8-21 + Romans 10:14-17 + Philippians 2:4-11

Go Tell It on the Mountain is an African American spiritual which John Wesley Work Jr. adapted and combined with his poem, While Shepherds Kept Their Watching. It would have seemed a great mystery that our Lord’s incarnation as a child would be first shared with humble shepherds unless you had been keeping up with the story. One of the chief analogies God uses to describe his relationship with us as our Great Shepherd.

While the Wise Men still followed the star, the shepherds bowed before the Christ who did not count hesitate to humble himself to take on our flesh and ultimately die on the cross. The shepherds went to worship him at the manger, then they went back to glorifying God and telling all that they had seen and heard. How beautiful were the feet of those shepherds who preached the good news over the hills and everywhere?

Go Tell It on the Mountain | John Wesley Work Jr.
1900 – Published with appearances dating back to 1865

While shepherds kept their watching
O'er silent flocks by night
Behold throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light

Go, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born!

The shepherds feared and trembled
When lo! Above the Earth
Rang out the angel chorus
That hailed our Savior's birth

Go, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born!

Down in a lowly manger
Our humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn

Go, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born!