December 23, 2025
- Dutch Sheets
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
The Unintended Christmas Carol
We are only a couple of days from Christmas. Many believers, like myself, are unhappy with much of the commercialization of Christmas. However, it is also true that there is no other time of year when Christ’s name and the glory of His birth fill the airwaves with such frequency. If we allow it, the season can be a great reset for us each year as we consider Christ’s great gift to us. As you listen to the Christmas Carols, here is some interesting information to consider about three of our favorites.
Carol #1
In 1719, Isaac Watts wrote what has been the most-published Christmas hymn in North America. However, it was not written as a Christmas carol but as a poem about the reigning King Jesus, based not on the birth of Christ, but on Psalm 98. “Stanza three…alludes to Genesis 3:17-19…speaks of Christ’s blessings extending victoriously over the realm of sin…Stanza four celebrates Christ’s rule over the nations…called to celebrate because God’s faithfulness to the house of Israel has brought salvation to the world.”(1) Here are the words to this famous hymn:
Joy to the World
“Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let Earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns; Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains;
Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.”(2)
Carol #2
“Phillip Brooks was a distinguished man of faith and intellect. A Boston-born Episcopalian preacher, he’d earned a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Oxford, taught at Yale University, and publicly advocated against slavery during the Civil War. But he’s best known for penning a famous Christmas carol after a life-changing journey.
“In 1865, Brooks rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where he participated in the Church of the Nativity’s five-hour-long Christmas Eve celebration, complete with hymns. Returning home, this experience proved so profound that he channeled it into the song sung in churches to this day. Its first public performance was held three years after he wrote it, performed by the children’s choir of his church [The Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia] on December 27.”(3)
Until then, this musical was still only a poem. Brooks asked his organist, Lewis Redner, to write the music. Here is Redner’s interesting explanation of how the music came to him:
“As Christmas of 1868 approached, Mr. Brooks told me that he had written a simple little carol for the Christmas Sunday School service, and he asked me to write the tune to it. Mr. Brooks came to me on Friday and said, ‘Redner, have you ground out that music yet?’ I replied, ‘No,’ but that he should have it by Sunday. On the Saturday night previous, my brain was all confused about the tune. I thought more about my Sunday school lesson than I did about the music. But I was roused from sleep late in the night, hearing angelic music whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper, I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church, I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas of 1868.”(4) How wrong they were!
O Little Town of Bethlehem
“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light;the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary; and, gathered all above,while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wond’ring love.O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth,and praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv’n!So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n.No ear may hear His coming but in this world of sin,where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell;O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!”(5)
Carol #3
Do you know what is the world’s most-recorded Christmas song, with more than 137,000 known recordings?(6)
In 1818, “Father Joseph Mohr, in Austria, is preparing the music for [Christmas Eve] midnight mass and asks his friend Franz Gruber, a schoolteacher, to write a guitar accompaniment for a poem that he had written two years earlier. That night, the two men sang their brand new song at St. Nicholas church, and one of our best-loved Christmas carols was born. A version of the song recorded by Bing Crosby in 1935 sold a whopping 30 million copies.”(7)
What prompted the song? “The words were written in 1816…not long after the Napoleonic wars had taken their toll. The priest went for a walk, and he looked out over a very quiet, winter-laden town. He was inspired...the town was at peace.”(8) And this provoked the classic, “Silent Night.”
Silent Night
“Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child,
Holy Infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.”(9)
Do yourself a favor and use the link below the prayer to listen to Chris Tomlin’s version of Silent Night. You’ll be glad you did.
Pray with me:
Jesus, we thank You, along with Isaac Watts, for coming to earth and making Your blessings flow, far as the curse is found. Your right hand has gained the victory for You (Psalm 98:1), and You have made known Your salvation and revealed Your righteousness to the nations (verse 2). You tell us to “shout joyfully,” breaking forth with praise (verse 4); that the seas roar, the rivers clap, and the mountains sing for joy (verses 7-8) because Christ is coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity (verse 9).
As we ponder the wonder of Your great gift to us, Father, we thank You, along with Phillip Brooks, for the everlasting light that shone in the dark streets of Bethlehem. In that quiet town, on that night so long ago, the hopes and fears of all the years met in the birth of our Savior. Thank You for this great gift.
Link to: Silent Night, sung by Chris Tomlin
Click on the link below to watch the full video.