Caroling, Caroling: Angels from the Realms of Glory

Here's the thing about this carol, it is so not worthy of the tune that we've been singing it to all these years! It is a great song, with words that are theologically rich as well as emotionally deep. I would definitely encourage you to listen to the version of this song from Steven Curtis Chapman's All I Really Want for Christmas. It'll definitely awaken you to the greatness of the truth in this little song.


Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
(I just love the imagery here of elements of Heaven coming down to earth, and the fact that the angels were there singing in Creation and now are here, singing in the hope that Creation may be reborn with the coming of Christ to earth.)

Refrain
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
(Perhaps one of the most powerful lines in the history of song-writing. Just try and reflect on this fact for a moment, and see if your head doesn't come close to exploding. In an instant, just like that, he's here.)
Yonder shines the infant light:
Refrain

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
(A great reminder that the things we strive so hard for and spend so much time on at this season and most others, really, aren't the things we should be thinking about and using our resources on. Something better's out there. Seek it.)
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen His natal star.
Refrain

Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear;
(This is a cool image, because it seems like the saints here are those that are already dead. Those who's faith was credited to them as righteousness. They now know that the Christ is coming to justify them in "real-time." What a concept: the Incarnation from the perspective of believers in Heaven!)
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear.
Refrain

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.
(Wow! If you can get through these two lines without tearing up, then you don't feel the weight of what you deserved and what you've been given. Not us, not what we did, but Justice revokes its own sentence. Amazing! God sends his Son to provide a way for his own justice to be done.)
Refrain

Though an Infant now we view Him,
He shall fill His Father’s throne,
(We should always have one eye on Bethlehem and one eye on Golgotha. And both of these should be within the backdrop of Heaven.)
Gather all the nations to Him;
Every knee shall then bow down:
Refrain

All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To th’eternal Three in One.
Refrain