It’s Thursday, the second week of Advent. Among the many Christmas carols, one of the most famous is “Angels From The Realms of Glory”. Scripture reminds us of a heavenly host of beings who serve God’s purposes, including watching over we humans. I don’t know (from Scripture) that I will meet the Angels who have watched over me. It’s a fascinating thing to ponder.
I have met people who have had encounters with Angels. One thing I’ve never heard is that they looked like Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life”! We have more mystery than we do facts to go on with Angels. Yet one thing is clear, they played a prominent role in the birth of our Savior.
Luke’s Gospel says it this way in 2:8-14:
8. “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
One Christmas song that captures that is “Angels From the Realms of Glory”.
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:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
Shepherds, in the fields abiding,
Watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant Light;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great desire of nations,
Ye have seen His natal star;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
Saints before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
The author was a Scotsman turned Irish turned English - James Montgomery. By all accounts Montgomery’s early life was difficult. His parents were Moravians and thus his beginning was in the Moravian church. It was the late 1700’s and Moravians were the most Missionary minded of the Protestant churches. Montgomery’s parents place their 7-year-old son in a boarding school in Ireland and left for the Caribbean to carry the Gospel to the people in the West Indies. James didn’t do well alone and struggled to learn. When he received news that his parents died over there, he quit school and for several years wandered from job to job, even being homeless for stretches of time.
The one love of James Montgomery was writing. He took what money he earned and spent it on pencil and paper and wrote...poems, stories, ideas. Largely unnoticed, one of his stories came across the editor of the Sheffield Newspaper, and he hired Montgomery to write. Interestingly, the editor got in trouble with the English government and had to flee the city, turning the newspaper over to Montgomery to run!
James took the lead in two significant areas that were full of tension and almost always got the wrath of the government to come down on those who promoted them. The two issues were freedom for Ireland and freedom for slaves. Montgomery wrote against both and became a leading Abolitionist voice in the news. That, along with his editorials calling for freedom for the Irish, twice put him in prison for a period of time. Yet he was undeterred in his writing.
During his two prison stays Montgomery began to read his Bible again. He began reading Scripture in order to understand why his parents left him to do what they did. The more he immersed himself in the Gospels and the book of Acts, the more he saw the heart of Missions - to proclaim the Gospel that God has invaded the earth with his Son that mankind might know and worship God in truth.
Montgomery was a favorite of the Irish and English non-conformists, and so they were surprised on December 24, 1816, to pick up the newspaper and read a poem that described all people coming together to worship Christ the Lord.
The original poem was much longer than the one we traditionally sing today. Besides the beginning verses above he also wrote these verses in the original:
It’s Thursday, the second week of Advent. Among the many Christmas carols, one of the most famous is “Angels From The Realms of Glory”. Scripture reminds us of a heavenly host of beings who serve God’s purposes, including watching over we humans. I don’t know (from Scripture) that I will meet the Angels who have watched over me. It’s a fascinating thing to ponder.
I have met people who have had encounters with Angels. One thing I’ve never heard is that they looked like Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life”! We have more mystery than we do facts to go on with Angels. Yet one thing is clear, they played a prominent role in the birth of our Savior.
Luke’s Gospel says it this way in 2:8-14:
8. “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
One Christmas song that captures that is “Angels From the Realms of Glory”.
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:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
Shepherds, in the fields abiding,
Watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant Light;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great desire of nations,
Ye have seen His natal star;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
Saints before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!
The author was a Scotsman turned Irish turned English - James Montgomery. By all accounts Montgomery’s early life was difficult. His parents were Moravians and thus his beginning was in the Moravian church. It was the late 1700’s and Moravians were the most Missionary minded of the Protestant churches. Montgomery’s parents place their 7 year old son in a boarding school in Ireland and left for the Caribbean to carry the Gospel to the people in the West Indies. James didn’t do well alone, and struggled to learn. When he received news that his parents died over there, he quit school and for several years wandered from job to job, even being homeless for stretches of time.
The one love of James Montgomery was writing. He took what money he earned and spent it on pencil and paper and wrote...poems, stories, ideas. Largely unnoticed, one of his stories came across the editor of the Sheffield Newspaper, and he hired Montgomery to write. Interestingly, the editor got in trouble with the English government and had to flee the city, turning the newspaper over to Montgomery to run!
James took the lead in two significant areas that were full of tension and almost always got the wrath of the government to come down on those who promoted them. The two issues were freedom for Ireland and freedom for slaves. Montgomery wrote against both and became a leading Abolitionist voice in the news. That, along with his editorials calling for freedom for the Irish, twice put him in prison for a period of time. Yet he was undeterred in his writing.
During his two prison stays Montgomery began to read his bible again. He began reading Scripture in order to understand why his parents left him to do what they did. The more he immersed himself in the Gospels and the book of Acts, the more he saw the heart of Missions - to proclaim the Gospel that God has invaded the earth with his Son that mankind might know and worship God in truth.
Montgomery was a favorite of the Irish and English non-comformists, and so they were surprised on December 24, 1816, to pick up the newspaper and read a poem that described all people coming together to worship Christ the Lord.
The original poem began with the verses above, but it included a few other verses that did not make it into the hymnal. They represent his heart and mind as he wedded the coming of Christ into a world that so desperately needed a Savior:
Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.
Come and Worship, Come and Worship
Worship Christ the new-born King
Though an Infant now we view Him,
He shall fill His Father's throne,
Gather all the nations to Him;
Every knee shall then bow down.
Come and Worship, Come and Worship
Worship Christ the new-born King
All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To th'eternal Three in One.
Come and Worship, Come and Worship
Worship Christ the new-born King
20 years later a musician, organist, and composer, Henry Smart, came across Montgomery’s poem and put melody to the verses. Soon “Angels from the Realms of Glory” was sung in churches across the globe.
James Montgomery lived until 1854. He eventually quit the newspaper business and returned to the Moravian church and spent his final years in promoting Missions - the legacy of parents lost long ago. There’s more info on the blog page, but this song is almost always a part of the Hymns of Advent season. I love this rendition by Three Strand:
https://youtu.be/xXnrBlTfkhM
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