“Angels from the Realms of Glory”
was written by James Montgomery and was first published on Christmas Eve 1816
in the Sheffield Iris. The
hymn has a sense of urgency and excitement, magnified by the use of imperative
verbs throughout, especially in the refrain: Come and worship . . .
The original final stanza is
usually omitted in hymnals:
Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes your sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains . . .
While such language seems harsh to
modern ears, and indeed seems to end the Christmas hymn on a bit of a “downer,”
it completes a thoughtful progression from the first to the last stanzas. The
Angels song (stanza one) leads to the Shepherds’ adoration (stanza two), and to
Sages’ gifts (stanza three), and to Saints’ praise in heaven (stanza four), and
finally, to the Sinners’ repentance on earth (stanza five).
The themes of justice and mercy as
well as the image of broken chains are also appropriate in the context of the
poet’s life. His newspaper denounced the social evils of his day, especially
the slave trade.
Even though the original final
stanza may seem to put a damper on unbridled Christmas joy,
As many texts from Isaiah and the
prophets remind us, the Incarnation was an event celebrating the liberation of
oppressed peoples by a just and merciful God taking on human form. Let us
celebrate, in the words of
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,
What to do:
✞ During the Christmas season, let’s not forget to come and worship Jesus.
Are you Saved? | Get These Devotions By Email
