As we prepare for Christmas, we are diving into one of the most theologically rich Christmas carols ever written: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
December not only brings the celebration of our Lord’s birth, it often brings sickness. Just this week our daughter got hit with the flu. It’s appropriate that many of us might be a little needier this time of year as we are reminded that Jesus alone can bring healing. Do you need healing today? Does someone you love need healing?
Heavenly glory
As Hark! The Herald Angels Sing builds, in the third stanza John Wesley moves us from the scene in Bethlehem to consider the cosmic impact of this child’s birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Refrain:
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th'incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.
Healing every disease
Everywhere Jesus went, he brought a wake of healing. 33 times the gospels record accounts of Jesus healing. Matthew reports, “And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel” (Matthew 15:30-31). Clearly, the stories the gospel writers share are a fraction of Jesus’ healing ministry. Matthew shares, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction” (Matthew 9:35). Jesus’ ministry was not just a ministry of words, it was a ministry of healing.
Judgment and healing
Jesus’ ministry of healing was the fulfillment of the prophet’s promise of the Messiah. The line, “Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings,” comes from the prophet Malachi. Malachi contrasts the judgment to come and the one who will bring promised healing.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 4:1-3)
Malachi contrasts the fiery day of judgment with the warm sun of righteousness. One comes and torches the stubble of the world’s works, the other brings joy to those who are in God’s care. Jesus’ ministry of healing wasn’t just a ministry of niceness, it was a ministry of transformation and a ministry that simultaneously brought judgment on the wicked.
Light and life
In penning the hymn, John Wesley highlights the connection between light and healing in Malachi’s prophecy: the sun (the source of light) brings healing. “Light and life to all He brings, ris’n with healing in His wings.” The “wings” in Malachi 4:2 are the rays of the sun. As the first rays of a sun rise kiss the landscape, so the light of Jesus transforms all that it touches. In the introduction to his gospel, John picks up on this, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). Jesus declares this truth about himself later in John’s gospel, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
The healing rays Jesus brought to those placed in his path in first century Israel are just the precursor to the healing he would bring to all of us who follow him. Can and does Jesus heal us physically? Yes. But his healing is far greater than the healing of limbs and eyes. Jesus brings healing to our hearts.
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
You may also appreciate:
Hark! Peace on Earth
Hark! Veiled in Flesh
Hark! Ris’n with Healing
Photo by Ante Gudelj on Unsplash