Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, "Glory to the Newborn King!"

As people of faith we have wondered and wandered the past four and a half weeks of Advent discerning God’s coming into the world. Two thousand years ago God came in a most unexpected way that we celebrate today, in the form of a vulnerable infant. The birth of the Christ child ushered us into witnessing God’s Kingdom on earth and the conquering of death. Yet, what was still more unexpected was that Christ went to the cross of death to free us from sin and give us eternal life. Such is God’s radical and wonderful Kingdom, where love knows no bounds and will go to any length for God’s creation.

Yet after Christ died on the cross and was resurrected, we have found ourselves in a world that continues to bear witness to God’s activity.  But it is one that is not completely conformed to the ways of the Lord. This life is one that the royal psalms write of and prepare us for the coming again of God.

The royal psalms as a genre within the book of psalms speak directly about the human Davidic King during certain times such as celebrating military victories, weddings, and times of mourning. As the Israelites adopted the governmental form of a monarchy they hoped that they might be saved by this king. However, they were not. King after king continually disappointed the people of God as well as God, never fulfilling their vocational calling.

During the compiling of the psalms into an enduring collection of songs and prayers, the editors found it important for some reason to keep the royal psalms despite the fact that the monarchy had been disestablished. That reason was hope that the King, not the flawed kings of old, but that the ideal and anointed King from God would come to redeem Israel. The royal psalms were kept because they offered this hope.

Such a confidence kept the faith alive that God would fulfill the covenantal promises of long ago made with our ancestors. Theologian James Limburg writes, “Even though there were no more kings, no more coronations, no more celebrations involving the monarch, the royal psalms were still used. Now they expressed the people’s hope for an ideal ruler who would come…a messiah” (Limburg, Psalms, 7). This messiah came, this messiah was born away in a manger.

Let us sing together with the saints and angels that God has indeed kept the ancient promises of salvation and redemption. Let us proclaim to all the world that God is with us. Let us go to Bethlehem to honor the Christ child, the newborn King!

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christmas Blessings,
Tom