Image by Joe Ciciarelli from Unsplash

Since it’s Christmas this week, we had our weekly rehearsal on Monday night instead of Thursday, so the words of this song have been bouncing around in my head since then. And boy are there a lot of them! “It Came Upon the (or “a”) Midnight Clear” is over 170 years old, and the poetry is pretty opaque. It . It’s easy to let classic hymn texts, and especially Christmas carols, fly under the radar unexamined, and it occurred to me that I wasn’t 100% sure what this one was saying, so I wanted to figure it out! There are also a bunch of different versions and covers of this carol, so instead of reviewing one of them, I’m just going to focus on unpacking the lyrics and let you pick whichever version suits you best. (…though we’re singing the MercyMe version this week and it’s a banger!)

Focus

The theme of this song is the “song” of the angels who announced Jesus’ birth: “peace on earth, goodwill to men.” It traces this song of peace from his birth through our present age, to the future new creation.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
Here, the author sets the scene from Luke 2, when the angel announces Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. The only details we have from Scripture regarding the setting is that it was night and they were in a field. So the author is taking some poetic license in adding details like that it was midnight, or that the skies were clear, or that the angels were carrying golden harps (angels are never portrayed with harps in Scripture, though the elders in Revelation 5:8 carry them, so heavenly harpists are not entirely alien to the Bible). We also have no reason to believe that the world was literally waiting in solemn stillness to hear the angels’ message, but I think this line points to what Paul says in Romans 8:20-22, that all of creation is desperately longing for its redemption from sin and corruption.

The actual words of the angels’s song are the pivotal line of this carol, so I want to take extra care in examining them. They are mostly taken from the KJV translation of Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” But modern translations agree that this is based on a transcription error. ESV has, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” and most other translations carry this same sense. The peace belongs to those who have God’s goodwill; they aren’t two unconditional gifts, but a gift and a condition. So how do you please God and qualify for the peace the angels are declaring? Faith in Jesus (Hebrews 11:6). God is eminently pleased with his son Jesus, and through the work of Christ, he takes on our sin, and we take on his righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). And of course God is the gracious (Ps. 116:5) King of Heaven (Dan. 4:37), though this title is not present (that we know of) in the angels’ message to the shepherds.

To sum up, the message of the angels, around which the rest of the song revolves, “Peace on the earth, good will to men // From heaven’s all-gracious King,” is not exactly what the angels said to the shepherds in Luke 2, but it is a reasonable paraphrase, as long as one understands the caveat that the peace is available to all, but will not necessarily be received by all.

VERSE 2
Now we jump forward to present day. Or 1849 if you like. The author envisions the heavens as still open (“cloven” means split apart), and the angels as still proclaiming their message of peace over a sad and weary world. The word “angel” means messenger, and Hebrews 1:14 describes them as “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” So while we don’t know much about the mechanics of how angels function in our world, they are certainly serving the spread of the Gospel of peace, the substance of their song as envisioned by this carol’s author.

I am very impressed by the line “ever o’er its Babel sounds.” The building of the Tower of Babel represents the peak of man’s pride and arrogance, and the result was a confusion of language that prevented mutual understanding and divided and scattered the people. This is such a rich and concise image of the strife and disunity in our present world, and a reminder that it is a result of our own sin and pride.

VERSE 3

This verse restates ideas from verse 2. Mankind has continued to engage in sin and strife, even though angels are singing love and peace over them. Clearly Mr. Sears was bad at math, because at the time of this song’s writing, it had only been 1,845ish years since the angels announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds, not 2,000. Fortunately, enough years have elapsed since then that we may now sing this line truthfully.

VERSE 4

In the final two verses, Mr. Sears urges us to look towards Christ’s second coming. He addresses the listener, toiling under the painful strain of living and working in our present world, and urges them to find peace in the promised rest of God. This rest is to be found now by looking forward to its total fulfillment in the age to come (Heb. 4:0-11).

VERSE 5

Now we focus fully on the future age when all believers will be united with Christ in the recreated and restored earth. The author calls this time the “age of gold,” and is correct in saying it is predicted by prophets, many of whom wrote in poetic forms. This is the time when peace will truly cover the earth (Isa. 65:25, Rev. 21:4, 22:22-27). Peace is ancient because it is the state in which creation existed before the fall (Gen. 1:31), and the specific message of peace through Christ is nearly as old, having been first hinted at all the way back in Genesis 3:15. In the new creation, the redeemed creation will finally perfectly reflect the divine vision of God and Man at peace.

Accessibility

I think most people who hear this song (and listen) will understand that it’s about Jesus’ birth, and the song of peace that the angels sang that night, and continue to sing over our struggles today, and that will be perfected in heaven. Many of the other theological gems in this song are hiding behind archaic language and require some heavy thinking to tease out. When singing this in church, I would stress that the peace the angels are singing about is the peace with God and Man that can only be found through Christ, not just a generic feeling of peace and goodwill untethered to the Gospel.

Conclusions

Will it worship? I hope so! But I have to give it a maybe. The message of peace on earth, now in part, fully in the age to come, all through the work of Jesus and his Spirit, is timeless and an essential part of the story of God. But this song is a little heavy on the peace and the angels singing about it, and a little light on mentions of the God who provides that peace. I pray that we present this and other classic Christmas carols in a way that points people toward the meaningful Gospel truths they teach, rather than letting people hear only nostalgia and holiday spirit.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.