Because Christmas is coming, I’ve decided to take a break from my daily review of modern worship songs and focus on Christmas hymns for a month. I’ve started with Advent.
Advent hymns emphasize waiting, longing, and preparation, while Christmas hymns celebrate fulfilment, joy, and Christ’s birth.
Today’s hymn is Hark! A Herald Voice is Calling:
Hark! A Herald Voice Is Calling is an ancient Advent hymn, originally Latin, later translated into English. It’s one of the oldest hymns still sung today, with roots in the 5th century.
I never see such hymns in evangelical hymn books. They tend to be associated with traditional churches that focus on ritualistic worship. I just noticed in the lyrics video, the world “herald” is replaced with “thrilling”. The title has two words that we rarely use in everyday life. For Hark, I think of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Hark Hark, the Dogs do Bark.” A few other traditional hymns begin with the word.
And Herald? I remember the Triumph Herald Car from the 1960s, and newspapers such as the Christian Herald. We even used it for our newsletter in our Christian Union in Limerick back in 1985 – The Plassey Herald. It was just a little booklet that I used to produce, print and distribute. I don’t think I kept any copies.
Anyway, what about the hymn? All these traditional hymns put me into a worshipful state even before I look at the lyrics. It’s hard to know whether they just do what beautiful music does to you or whether it’s a genuine spiritual experience.
But perhaps, when our minds associate something with God, then that thing reminds us of God. People who aren’t Pentecostal don’t regard “speaking in tongues” as speaking in the language of angels as Pentecostals do. But why do Pentecostals feel a benefit from it? Well, maybe they associate it with intimate worship, so whenever they do it, it puts them into that mode. Perhaps sacred music can do the same thing for others. But at the Reformation, the radical wing sought to rid the church of all the props that create artificial spirituality. Then, you’re in a greater position to know where you really are spiritually. And why shouldn’t you be able to worship God with others in a simple hall or home – as was the case with the early church.
Anyway, let’s get to the lyrics of the hymn. There are probably various translations, but I’ll use the first one that I found.
Angels feature throughout the nativity story. This first verse seems to me to be more about the Holy Spirit speaking personally to us in our current lives, drawing us near to God, not in words but in our minds and hearts.
1. Hark! a herald voice is calling:
'Christ is nigh,' it seems to say;
'Cast away the dreams of darkness,
O ye children of the day!'
This reminds me of a 1970s chorus that we used to sing.
“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”
2. Startled at the solemn warning,
Let the earth-bound soul arise;
Christ, her Sun, all sloth dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.
John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And by dying on the cross, Jesus did just that. But for salvation to be applied to us, we need to repent and believe. It’s only then that we are forgiven. We mightn’t shed tears, but it must be genuine repentance.
3. Lo! the Lamb, so long expected,
Comes with pardon down from heaven;
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiven;
This verse seems a bit cryptic to me, as does poetry in general 😀. But it just seems to be pointing to the second advent when Jesus will come as judge. For many, this will be a terrifying experience. But if we are on His side, we look forward to his return, because we have already crossed over from death to life.
4. So when next he comes with glory,
Wrapping all the earth in fear,
May he then as our defender
On the clouds of heaven appear.
Again, this isn’t the sort of language that we normally use, and it’s not the sort of language we use in modern worship songs. God already has honour, glory, virtue and merit. We don’t need to give them to him, but we do need to cultivate a sense of awe within our own minds.
5. Honour, glory, virtue, merit,
To the Father and the Son,
With the co-eternal Spirit,
While unending ages run. Amen.
Many of the modern hymns don’t seem to cultivate that sense of awe and sense of mystery. Perhaps there’s a place for different styles of music and worship. I find that sense of awe when I read the Book of Revelation. For many, it’s just a book of puzzles to be solved about the sequence of events for the future. But I always think of it primarily as a book that provokes me to worship. I don’t worry about what every symbol means. It’s just a celebration of the ultimate victory of God over Satan and His church over all the forces that sought to crush it.
In theology and evangelism, we try to make everything simple for people. But we shouldn’t forget that there’s much that’s always going to be way beyond our understanding.
Isaiah 55:8–9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Romans 11:33
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Revelation 1:17
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
That last verse brings to mind one relatively modern song that makes me feel that sense of awe. But if our hearts are in the right place when we prepare for worship, all hymns should be sung with that sense of awe.
And here’s another hymn that I mentioned earlier in this article.
Hibernia Gospel 