‘O Holy Night’ has meaning
The Christmas Hymn, “O Holy Night” was written by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877) and then translated from French to English by John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893).
Cappeau, a wine merchant of Roquemaure, France wrote poems for his own enjoyment and was asked by the church to write this poem.
It was later put to music by Composer Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856).
The composer encourages the reader to close their eyes and imagine what the world would have been like before the birth of Jesus. In the third stanza we find the words “long lay the world, in sin and error pining.”
We don’t use the word “pining” today but it means “the wasting away of the human spirit as it grieves and endures pain.” In other words, before Jesus came into this world, there was no hope for the human spirit. We were lost in our sins and on our way to a devil’s hell. Then…”He appeared.”
Jesus was born in the still of that night and everything changed when He appeared. Notice what the song says, “the soul felt its worth.” Because God so loved the world, (you and me) He sent His son into this world to die on the cross to pay for the penalty of our sin. Jesus paid the price.
Without a cradle, there would not have been a cross.
So thank God for the birth of Jesus, our Savior on that first Christmas night.
Mary actually wrapped the first Gift when she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.
Now…why was Jesus’ birth so important? Because He was the only one who could have been born and lived a sinless life in order to pay for the sin debt of mankind.
Jesus became God in the flesh and dwelt among us the Bible says.
Jesus lived for the express reason to die.
He knew, coming into this world, that He was going to be the propitiation for our sins. In other words, His death paid a debt that we could not pay.
No amount of good works that we do could have paid our sin debt. But Jesus’ death on Calvary’s cross did.
The Bible teaches us that “if we shall confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10: 9-10;13)
Salvation is a free gift. But it has to be received by each one of us on an individual basis.
It doesn’t matter what you have believed or to what denomination you belong, you must be saved in order to go to Heaven. That’s what God’s Word tells us.
I hope before this Christmas season ends, you will receive the gift of eternal life by asking Jesus to save you from your sins.
It will be the best gift you could ever receive.
Remember, God loves you just like you are, but He loves you too much to leave you like that.
Pastor Thad Gifford is the founding and lead pastor of the Crossroads Community Church, 62 E. Second St., London. He can be reached at (740) 852-7800, e-mail him at sermon8er@aol.com or at their website www.3c-church.org.
