Heritage Hills Baptist Church December 30, 2007
Title: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Text: various
Introduction:
I have one more message to give you in the series on stories behind the writing of the Christmas carols and the message in the song themselves. Today we will study “O Little Town of Bethlehem”.
Turn in your hymnal to page 86.
I. History of the song
At the bottom of the page you see the name Philip Brooks. Brooks was an Episcopal Priest in Philadelphia. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1865. It was Christmas Eve and he was headed to the Church of the Nativity for a worship service. While heading to Bethlehem he stopped to watch dusk envelope the town. He was inspired by the view of Bethlehem from the hills of Palestine especially at night.
Interestingly, Brooks kept these memories to himself for three years. Later he was motivated to share his memories with a church gathering and what he did was write a five stanza poem and he gave it to the church organist, Lewis Redner, who gave the poem its musical background. The song was born and heard for the first time on December 27, 1868.
II. Message in the song
A. Prophesy
Let me first focus on the significance of the town of Bethlehem in the prophesy of God’s Messiah.
The prophet Micah gives to us the clear message of where the Messiah would be born. Micah 5:2 READ
In this prophesy a specific city is given --- Bethlehem. Just in case you need confirmation that Micah’s prophesy refers to the Messiah notice the phrase “out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over my people Israel”.
You may remember when the Wise Men came to King Herod the advisors to the King knew this prophesy and told the Wise men where to go.
This passage is the one quoted in Matthew 2:1-8 READ
The devout Jews knew this promise of where the Messiah would be born; they just didn’t believe the time was now.
How God got Mary and Joseph to go to the city of Bethlehem at that particular time was through the census by the Roman governor. Luke 2:1 READ
Through what appears to us to be a series of circumstances, are in reality God’s divine working out of His will and the fulfillment of the prophesies of old.
I have asked Ruth Baker to give us some details about Bethlehem and particularly about the birth place of Jesus. Some of you may not know it but Ruth has a passion for Biblical archeology and is organizing a trip to Israel --- see her if you want to go.
Thank you Ruth.
We have studied how the song “O Little Town of Bethlehem” came to be written, and we have learned about the prophecy of the town and some of its history. Let us now study the message in the song itself.
B. Stanzas
1. The first two lines are part of the setting for the song. Remember Philip Brooks was out on the Judean hillside looking down on the village from afternoon until dark.
The last line of the first stanza is particularly striking to me, “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”. Since we are a people who are on the other side of Christ’s birth, we may have trouble understanding the emotion people of that day must have felt as they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. The hopes of this special night had finally come to be. To help you try to conjure up the emotions of this anticipation, for those of you with children, you have nine months to anticipate the birth of your child. You dream about what will she/Julie look like… what color hair … eyes …who will he or she favor … what will he/Jeremy do for his life vocation … all kinds of hopes feelings of anticipation. Try to imagine the emotion of the promise fulfilled?
The line in the song describes “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”. Fears? What kind of fears?
Fears --- that the promise of a Savior would never come to fulfillment.
Fear that all those sacrifices and religion was a waste of time.
In the birth of Jesus all the hopes were fulfilled and fears were laid to rest.
2. “For Christ is born of Mary” makes it crystal clear this is a song about the birth of Jesus. I applaud Philip Brooks for the accuracy of his song to scripture. In Jesus we have the birth of Christ. Liberals suggest Jesus was a prophet or a great teacher. Jesus is more than that --- He is the Messiah or Christ. The word Messiah is the Jewish word and Christ is the Greek language word. I use them interchangeably for the title and person of who Jesus was and is.
3. “How silently the wondrous gift is given.” Silently? Where was CNN? Where was the High Priest? Where was King Herod? These people should have been here to honor the birth of the Savior!
Yet, God is in wisdom gave us the Savior silently, quietly. If it were not for the angels inviting the shepherds, no one would have attended the birth.
Some people miss the message of God because they think it ought to be different from what it is. Some people think if the gospel is so wonderful why don’t the followers of Jesus live differently? They reject the message because of fallen messengers. Don’t miss what God is trying to say to you because it comes differently than the way you expect it to.
Another way people miss the message God has for them is because they expect or are requiring dramatic signs and wonders. Are you requiring the Lord to give you some kind of sign before you will agree to get saved or before you will join the church or before you will take a certain position of leadership? Depending on signs can limit the working of God in your life. God is speaking, are you listening?
Other people miss the message of Jesus because they can’t get over the idea it is by grace. They feel they ought to do something to earn it or receive it. If God required some great thing of you, if you had to make a trip to Bethlehem and kiss the place where He was born you would do it. God is not requiring that of you. He does want you to believe that Jesus is His son and to confess your sins and ask forgiveness. Would you do that? Simple faith. Simple grace.
Conclusion:
Maybe the decision you need to make today is to trust Jesus as your Savior.
Maybe for someone else your decision is to allow the peace of God to come to your troubled heart.
Maybe for another person you need to come and make this church your church home.
Come!
Prayer
