It is December. The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone and Christmas is now coming into broader focus. With the season comes the Christmas carols, now being played regularly over the airwaves. Soon will come the television specials, many of which will feature current talent performing more carols. As a matter of fact, for most of this month our entire nation will be inundated with the songs of the season.

Do you know what these songs are saying? Hear just a few of the words from some of the most popular, time-honored carols….

Joy to the World! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy To The World - Isaac Watts, 1719

Now there’s a gospel message! Jesus is Lord and King and His coming brings great reason for rejoicing. All are encouraged to make room for Him in their hearts.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem - Phillips Brooks, 1867

Jesus is the light who shines in the darkness of this world; a world that lives in fear, yet hopes for something better. That hope is answered in the Son of God.

Mild he lays His glory by, born that men no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Charles Wesley, c.1739

God became man in order to save man. Jesus was born into this world of death that we may overcome death and live forever. He is the God not just of rebirth, but of the new birth… the author of the second opportunity

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the babe the Son of Mary.

What Child is This - William Chatterton Dix, c.1867

Here is the singular message the apostle Paul preached to the lost; Jesus, and Him crucified. The Word of God, that is the Son of God, took on flesh for the express purpose of offering up that flesh as a sacrifice to cover the cost of your sin and mine.

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, breathes a life of gathering gloom. Sorrow, sighing, bleeding dying, sealed in a stone-cold tomb.

Glorious now behold Him arise, King and God and Sacrifice. Alleluia, alleluia sounds through the earth and skies.

We Three Kings of Orient Are - John Henry Hopkins, 1857

There is gloom, but it is gloriously dispersed by the resurrection. Our King has become our sacrifice and proven His power to raise us even from death.

This season, these songs and many others will be going into the homes of those who may have little other opportunity to hear the gospel. May God speed them to ears that will hear.