O Holy Night

In yesterday's post I received a comment asking what I knew about "O Holy Night" so that is going to be my carol for today. The only thing I really knew about the carol is that its one of my all-time favorites, especially when sung by Mark Wills or David Phelps. So I had to dig to find out something about it.
To be honest the history itself was a bit dull. A priest asked Placide Clappeau, a wine merchant and mayor Roque­maure, France, to write a Christmas poem. Now Clappeau was known to write poems for his own enjoyment, so I guess this request wasn't all that unusual. So Clappeau wrote the poem, which he had a friend put to music, and his duty was done.
No the excitement over the song isn't in the history. It's in the words:
O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth Long lay the world in sin and error pining Till He appeared and the soul felt His worth A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices For yonder beams a new and glorious morn Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born! O night divine! O night, O night divine!
This is just the first verse, but it says so much. Christ brought hope to a world full of sin. Such hope that it was still felt by a wine merchant in 1847. Such hope it can still be felt today.
Christ is the hope of glory. Colossians 1:26-27 says: 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Christ made the riches of glory available to all, both Jew and Gentile. He deserves our praise. As the writer told us, "Fall on your knees!"
This Christmas season is a time to remember the hope that Christ brought to this world!