I really like going Christmas caroling. One among my favourite components of the vacation season is after we get to sing the previous hymns in regards to the beginning of Jesus. If we take note of these previous songs, the wealthy language shares necessary messages for us. Sure, we are able to have enjoyable with songs like “Jingle Bells,” however the ones celebrating the incarnation and Savior coming to earth raise our spirits and declare the Gospel.
“Angels from the Realms of Glory” is a rousing hymn many congregations sing at Christmas. Even some carolers would possibly embrace it of their repertoire. The older, non secular language of the tune could cause us to disengage the phrases from piercing our hearts. But after we discover this tune deeper, we discover a declaration of hope for these within the midst of battle.
Who Wrote “Angels from the Realms of Glory?”
James Montgomery wrote “Angels from the Realms of Glory. He was born in Scotland on November 4, 1771, and he grew up in a Moravian household. His missionary dad and mom left him in a Moravian group whereas they traveled to the West Indies. As a result of hazard and troublesome journey, many missionaries in these days would depart their youngsters with household. Nonetheless, James’ dad and mom died on the sector when he was a toddler. Now orphaned, Montgomery discovered a ardour in poetry. Regardless of his temporary formal schooling, his love for writing and religion grew collectively.
After leaving faculty, Montgomery wrote for a newspaper in England, The Sheffield Register. The proprietor needed to go away the nation due to a political controversy, so Montgomery took over the paper and renamed it to The Sheffield Iris. He defended freedom of speech and Christianity, which really landed him in jail greater than as soon as. James continued to write down about social points, abolition of slavery, and the hope of the Gospel.
Montgomery wrote “Angels from the Realms of Glory” as a Christmas poem and first printed it in his paper on Christmas Eve in the identical 12 months. The poem explores the attractive and superior second of the angelic announcement of Christ’s beginning. At first, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” gained reputation as a poem. From its fame, somebody later paired the verses to a melody by Henry Sensible, “Regent Sq.,” in 1867. The hymn may then be sung in church and rose to higher reputation, though step by step throughout time. Via being sung at revival conferences and inclusion in hymnals, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” turned established as a traditional Christmas carol by the 20th century.
Montgomery wrote over 400 poems and hymns, however “Angels from the Realms of Glory” stays his most well-known.
What are the Principal Themes of “Angels from the Realms of Glory?”
The primary verse begins with the angelic proclamation of Christ’s beginning.
“Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all of the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story,
Now proclaim Messiah’s beginning!”
Angels from the Realms of Glory – The Piano Guys- Peter Hollens and David Archuleta from on GodTube.
The opening strains join with the announcement from Luke 2:13-14: “And all of a sudden there was with the angel a large number of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God within the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards males!’” In context, shepherds took care of their sheep close to Bethlehem. The sky splits and the heavens come to earth to announce the beginning of Jesus. The approaching Christ is greater than an abnormal beginning. The heavens themselves erupt with reward that spills over into this world. These angels witnessed creation (Job 38:7) and overflow with worship and pleasure for the beginning of the Messiah.
The refrain (or the chorus) says, “Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the new child King.” This repeats by the hymn as a kind of name to motion. Every major verse invitations totally different folks to reply in worship—shepherds, clever males, saints, and sinners. The message of the refrain may be present in Matthew 2:2, the place the Magi requested, “The place is he who has been born King of the Jews? For now we have seen His star within the east and have come to worship Him.” The shepherds additionally reply in worship. “Allow us to now go to Bethlehem and see this factor that has come to go … they usually got here with haste and located Mary and Joseph, and the babe mendacity in a manger.” (Luke 2:15-16)
Worship is due to this fact not passive however an lively and intentional response to God’s grace and selection to come back close to for our salvation.
Montgomery additionally expresses salvation as being for all folks. Jesus was the King of the Jews, sure, however he introduced salvation for all folks. As humble and considerably marginalized, the shepherds symbolize widespread humanity. The clever males symbolize the educated, the educational, and influential. The later stanzas embrace the saints, Christians, who await the return of Jesus. This common name to salvation from the hymn connects to the well-known John 3:16 and Paul in Romans 10:13. “For ‘whoever calls on the identify of the Lord shall be saved.’” Each individual, no matter standing, background, or schooling, has entry to the Father by the Son’s Gospel.
This Gospel by a Messianic little one was promised in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Baby is born, unto us a Son is given; and the federal government shall be upon His shoulder. And His identify shall be known as Great, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” The angelic pleasure and worship level to God fulfilling the Previous Testomony guarantees to convey a deliverer, a Messiah by the road of David. Montgomery’s poem and hymn urges us to hitch the angels to acknowledge Jesus because the centerpiece of God’s redemptive story.
How Do Congregations Use “Angels from the Realms of Glory” Right this moment?
For a lot of church buildings, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” has change into a standard tune throughout Introduction and Christmas Eve companies. The concentrate on worship, the hovering melody, and the phrases taken from Luke 2 match completely throughout this time. In conventional settings, church buildings would possibly sing this hymn throughout “Classes and Carols” companies, the place Scripture readings narrate the Christmas story with hymns as responses. The development by several types of folks (shepherds, Magi, sinners, and saints) supplies an important construction for storytelling and worship.
Choirs over time have additionally popularized “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” Church and group choirs carry out the tune throughout vacation concert events. Some use orchestra performances and handbell choirs to again up the hymn. Many church buildings have Christmas pageants or cantatas, and the hymn works effectively for key moments within the nativity story.
In up to date church buildings, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” has been given new life with extra fashionable preparations. Worship leaders and youthful artists have reimagined the hymn, incorporating guitars, keyboards, and percussion. Trendy medleys embrace the hymn with different carols like “Come and Worship” or “O Come, All Ye Devoted.” Standard bands and artists like Paul Baloche have tailored the hymn to reintroduce it to new audiences.
The scriptural foundation and name to worship in “Angels from the Realms of Glory” permits it for use throughout all denominations, types, and generations. Whether or not in a cathedral with an organ or a smaller church with acoustic guitars, the message resonates. “Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the new child King.”
What Can We Study from the Hymn “Angels from the Realms of Glory”?
Whereas the world focuses on huge political occasions and energy, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” reveals God’s perspective. And heaven celebrates the work of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Within the days when Jesus was on earth, the world had no scarcity of main occasions. The Roman Empire had conquered a big space and Caesars dominated with power and typically insanity. Nonetheless, heaven celebrated the beginning of a child in a bit of city in Judea. The hymn references the angels with, “Ye who sang creation’s story, now proclaim Messiah’s beginning.” Whereas our world at this time focuses on wars, elections, and celebrities, heaven’s consideration is on God’s work by Christ and his folks.
God may have despatched these angels anyplace on the planet to make such a spectacle. Why not open the sky to heaven over Rome? Or Jerusalem and the Temple? As an alternative, God selected to discover a small group of working class males in the midst of the night time, within the discipline, to declare salvation being born for all folks in close by Bethlehem. God’s first concern isn’t political energy however the salvation of his folks. The biblical narrative occurs amongst phenomenal world occasions, but Scripture tells us of God working with and thru his folks: Israel and the Church. We regularly change into distracted by huge occasions of the world, however God needs us to recollect the transcendent awe and marvel of redemption by Jesus.
Once more, God may have introduced the angelic announcement to Caesar or the Jewish Excessive Priest. As an alternative, he engaged shepherds, which teaches us God’s coronary heart for the lowly and neglected. The Shepherds lived on the fringes, lonely, and infrequently neglected. However he introduced the best Good Information to them first. “For there may be born to you…a Savior, who’s Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). God values the common-or-garden and weak, flipping over human concepts of who’s necessary. James writes, “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be wealthy in religion and heirs of the dominion which He has promised to those that love him?” (James 2:5) In a society that highlights cash and energy, God’s message of salvation comes first to the forgotten and marginalized. As disciples of Jesus, we should additionally worth the poor, caring for the outcast. God forgets nobody.
The shepherds had been simply doing their job. They didn’t sit round anticipating an indication from heaven. They tended their sheep within the fields. The angels interrupted their life and work, altering their priorities. They ended up leaving the fields and going into the town to see Jesus and inform others about him. When God exhibits up, he interrupts our lives. His reality is rarely handy. Jesus didn’t come to earth from heaven as a result of we had all of it found out. Quite the opposite, Christ arrives and upends our priorities, difficult us to reside the proper approach and with the proper focus—himself and others. Worshipping Jesus requires us to go away behind our previous lives and make him the middle of a brand new and considerable life.
After assembly Jesus, the shepherds glorified God and went round in the midst of the night time sharing the Good Information with different folks. After we encounter Christ, a part of the change contains reaching out to declare Jesus because the Son of God and Savior of the World. On this approach, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” exhibits us tips on how to act—in worship and proclaiming the reality to others. Not simply on Christmas however each day of the 12 months.
Peace.
Photograph credit score: ©Thinkstock/mastapiece
