When the shepherds came to Bethlehem, they found Mary and Joseph, along with baby Jesus lying in a manger (Luke 2:16). The shepherds’ response, according to Luke 2:15, was to go to Bethlehem to find this Christ-child that the angel talked about. The angel’s message is the same that we tell each Christmastime, that a Savior was born in Bethlehem: Christ the Lord. These lyrics draw from events recorded in Luke 2:8-12. Embracing Christ brings us comfort and joy (Matthew 11:28-30). The news described here is the birth of Jesus, who would save us from our sins (John 1:29). Part of his works is to tempt us away from God so that we would incur eternal separation from Him (Matthew 18:8, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43, Jude 1:7, Revelation 14:11, and Revelation 20:10). Whatever day that was, that is Christmas Day, even if we happen to celebrate it on a different day.Ĭhrist came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). The important thing is that Jesus was born (Matthew 1:25 and Luke 2:6-7). The Bible doesn’t tell us which specific day He was born. So, when we sing “born on Christmas Day”, we’re not claiming that Christ was born on December 25th. Yes, we celebrate Christmas on December 25th However, the date comes from Roman Catholic attempts to ease the conversion of Pagans, who believed that their god Mithras was born on December 25th. The whole song either agrees with the Bible or contains portions that are not Scripturally supported, but plausible.Ī prayer offered to God for us Christ-followers would keep our away from our problems and towards Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture? An invitation to us to join the shepherds, worshipping Christ and remembering the reason for the season.A retelling of Luke 2, where the shepherds receive the message in mood 1 from an angel and visits Bethlehem to confirm it.The good news, that Christ was born to save us from the power of the Devil.Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review. It contains Verses included in most variants we sing today. It’s a variation of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen published as part of Carols Old And Carols New in 1918. Since we don’t know the original version, I picked the one I grew up with.
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We’ve been singing the 1961 edition ever since. The song has gone through many changes and eventually settled on Carols for Choirs’ version, published in 1961 by Oxford University Press. A fuller version was published in 1775 by The Beauties of the Magazines, which contained five Verses. The earliest version on record comes from Three New Christmas Carols in 1760, which only contained the first Verse and Refrain. Not much is known about God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’s origins.