The Truth About Christmas Carols

The Truth About Christmas Carols

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we’re starting to hear Christmas carols everywhere. Radio stations have them on 24/7, we hear them in movies and on TV; it’s getting harder and harder to find some sort of media that doesn’t have Christmas carols on at some point. Some of these carols have an obvious message that pertains to the Christmas season -- songs like Away in a Manger, Silent Night, and O Holy Night all proclaim proudly the true reason for the season. But what about other songs that we all enjoy singing at this time of year? What about the songs that have no obvious spiritual meaning?

There are a lot of these, aren’t there? It seems like there are more and more every year, too. These aren’t necessarily bad songs, and there’s nothing wrong with singing them -- they just don’t proclaim the glory of Christ like the others do, right? Songs like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman just don’t have the same scriptural base as Angels We Have Heard on High.

Or do they?

What if I told you that God cannot be limited by the words of a song we sing? What if I told you that even these so-called “secular” or “commercial” songs proclaim the glory of God, reference the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and even talk about Christ’s return at the end of the world? Would you be interested in hearing about something like that?

I thought you might.

One of the words we use to describe God is “omnipresent”, which is just a $20 word that means “always there”. God is everywhere, always. Jeremiah 23:24 says, “‘Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.” Filling heaven makes sense; after all, heaven is perfect, right? But filling earth means that God is present even in situations and areas where it’s not obvious that He’s there -- otherwise, He wouldn’t be filling it, would He?

With that being said, let’s look at our first Christmas carol -- Frosty the Snowman. There are several lyrics here that reference Christ and His life. Let’s start with the second verse:

Frosty the Snowman is a fairytale they say

He was made of snow but the children know

That he came to life one day

Let’s replace “Frosty the Snowman” with “Jesus Christ” and see what happens. First, we see “Jesus Christ is a fairytale they say”. With as much disbelief that we see in the world today that’s not hard to believe that people see Him as a fairytale. But there is actual scriptural basis behind this as well -- Matthew 28:12-15 discusses a conversation between the chief priests and Roman guards concerning Jesus’ resurrection.

“12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”

So, according to the Bible, Jesus’ resurrection has been spread as a story by people who don’t believe. Sounds like a fairytale to me!

The next line also references Jesus’ resurrection: “He was made of snow but the children know that he came to life one day”. This pulls in two pieces of scripture and ties them together very nicely. First, the snow. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus was made of snow, right? It says that He will wash our sins white as snow, but that’s not really the same thing. But look in the book of Revelation. Chapter 1:13-14 says, “13and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.” Jesus repeatedly referred to Himself as the Son of Man; so it’s obvious that John saw Jesus during this vision into heaven. John’s description of Jesus is white like wool, as white as snow.

The second part says “but the children know that he came to life one day”. In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus is preaching and answers the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Starting with verse 3, “And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He repeats this again in Matthew 19:14, “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”