“Manger Throne” is a new Christmas worship anthem from songwriters Phil Wickham, Jonathan Smith, and Tony Wood. The lyrics juxtapose Christ’s glory with his humility, his throne with his manger. The music paints those words with epic, sweeping accompaniment that feels like a return to the soundscapes I loved on 2010’s Heaven & Earth.
“Manger Throne” got lots of radio play in the 2023 holiday season, but is it a worship song? Are the words theologically sound and biblically accurate? What even is a manger throne? Do you sit on it or in it? And does Jesus still have one? Let’s find out!
Focus
The main idea of this song is the humility of Christ’s Incarnation. Phil explores this theme through the paradoxical image of a manger throne and by exploring the connection between the Christmas story and the story of Christ’s death and resurrection.
This song is fully Christ-centered. It is all about the person and work of Jesus, calling him by name and exalting him for his victory-through-humility.
Lyric Analysis
VERSES
(WARNING: I’m going to jump around a little bit to unpack this song thematically rather than in order. If that stresses you out, I apologize.)
The two verses of this song portray the same idea. Jesus had all power and authority at his disposal when he entered into our world, but he chose to come meekly, humbly, fully embracing our humanity by being born as a baby.
Jesus could have come into the world with a pillar of fire as in the Exodus (Ex 13:22) or perhaps the consuming fire that destroyed the blaspheming priests Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-3). The same heavenly host that came to sing a song of peace at Christ’s birth might well have brought a sword instead (Lk 2:12-14, Gen 3:24). Jesus could have come as a conqueror to overthrow the oppressive yoke of Rome, force the submission of all the nations, and establish Israel’s political ascendancy as many expected him to do during his earthly ministry (Ac 1:6-7).
But, as verse two says, the story God wrote through the Incarnation is so much better! Rather than conquer through overwhelming force, Jesus humbles himself, emptying himself of his divine power. He becomes fully human, allowing himself to be embraced by common, lowly people—a carpenter, his wife, some shepherds—so that he might fully embrace all of our humanity (Phil 2:6-8).
PRE-CHORUS 1
“But You chose meekness over majesty//wrapped Your power in humanity”
These two lines are a perfect summary of the verses. It’s a succinct expression of Christ emptying himself to take on the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-8, again).
PRE-CHORUS 2
This section identifies the culmination of Christ’s humility. As we read in Philippians 2:8 (for the third time), Jesus’s humility did not merely extend to being born as a man. He submitted himself even to a humiliating, torturous death for our sake. Jesus’ blood redeems us to God and forgives our sins (Eph 1:7). And his resurrection is the power and the guarantee of our resurrection with him (Rom 6:5). I appreciate that this bridge views Christ’s work through the lenses of substitutionary atonement and his victory over sin and death.
BRIDGE
Here, we see the full arc of the Incarnation. Jesus was enthroned in heaven from eternity past, and then he willingly humbled himself to be born in a stable, cradled in a feeding trough. From the beginning of his life on earth, he lived humbly, and he did not refuse to submit to death on the cross. If we read just two more verses from Philippians 2, we see the result of all of Christ’s humility and submission: exaltation.
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth“
Philippians 2:9-10
Jesus’ reign and glory are achieved through self-sacrifice, humility, peace, and bringing all of humanity together in himself (Eph 2:14), not through violence, political maneuvering, manipulation, or any other scheme of man that has supported every other throne in human history.
CHORUS
“Glory be to You alone//King who reigns from a manger throne”
God alone is holy, worthy of worship, his name glorified forever (Rev 15:4). Jesus is both God and King (Heb 1:8, Phil 2:9-10), so it is right and good to offer him this glory.
It is also good to offer him our lives and our possessions, as we are called to be living sacrifices (Rom 12:1). This line is an expression of surrender. It’s aspirational in a sense, because I don’t know anyone whose life and possessions are fully surrendered to Jesus, but that doesn’t make it untrue. In singing this line, we call ourselves and one another to be more wholly devoted to our Servant King and his Kingdom of servants.
But what about the titular Manger Throne? Are we saying that Jesus was actively reigning over his kingdom from the manger even while he was a pre-verbal infant? That doesn’t quite make sense if he emptied himself and took the position of a servant (Phil 2:7). Or are we talking about Jesus’ present reign at the right hand of God? Does that throne need to be manger-shaped? Or maybe it’s made of reclaimed wood from the manger? Or maybe this is the future millennial reign?
Fortunately, we don’t need to tie ourselves into such knots over this song. The manger throne is a visual illustration of Jesus’ character and a symbol of his reign and kingdom, not a literal piece of furniture. Getting hung up on whether Jesus could be said to “reign” as an infant misses the point of the song because we’re not talking to tiny baby Jesus; we’re talking to the resurrected King Jesus who is present with us today as we worship him. This Jesus is fully God and sits enthroned, and he is also fully human, still characterized by the love and humility that led him to be born in a manger.
(Thank you to Vince and Neal on The Berean Test for some stimulating thoughts on this section of the song, and the image of the manger throne in particular!)
Accessibility
This song uses plain language to express the deep mystery of Jesus’ glory and humility, his Godhood and his humanity, perfectly one in the incarnate Son. It does a great job of making these heady theological ideas accessible through description and imagery, especially the key metaphor of the manger throne. I don’t see any room for misinterpretation.
Singability is ok, not great, not terrible. The range is an octave plus a 3rd, not bad. The rhythms of the verses are a little tricky, especially since no line starts quite the same way. The bridge also has a different melody on the repeat, so the congregation doesn’t have an opportunity to learn it and then repeat it the same way. That said, the chorus is very straightforward. It’s got a high note, but it can be sung an octave lower by the basses in the room.
Music
As I mentioned above, I love how this song feels like classic Phil Wickham. The use of synth and choir is lush, beautiful, and impactful. If you have those tools at your disposal, use them! I also appreciate that even though this is a Christmas song, it doesn’t slap you in the face with holiday cheer. It’s not all sleigh bells and minor 7ths and snow and reindeer. This song is perfectly appropriate to any Sunday of the year, especially if Christ’s incarnation is being discussed. We just played it this past Sunday, in June, and nobody batted an eye. (…but we did have to swap out some of the glittery Christmas backgrounds in ProPresenter!)
This is a great song for teaching dynamics to a worship band. It follows the typical structure of a quiet opening building to some bigger choruses and a huge ending. The way the instruments layer in gradually through the song is easy to replicate and makes this song flow naturally and in an engaging way. (Just don’t let anybody play when they’re not supposed to!) The chord changes come pretty quick in a few places, so it might be worth it to work through those together once or twice in rehearsal. If your lead singer isn’t a tenor, you may need to bump it down a step, and they will want to practice the entrances on the verses; those are tricky.
Conclusions
Let heaven and nature sing! “Manger Throne” definitely worships. It links Christ’s birth to his death, resurrection, and eternal reign. It teaches the theology of the Incarnation in a unique and valuable way through imagery. It’s also beautiful, emotional, and fun to sing and play.
10/10 would recommend!
Image by Pro Church Media on Unsplash
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.
Will It Worship? 
I love, love, love the music of this song. I’ve been listening to this for 2 or 3 months and I’ve been really excited about singing it at Christmas time.
But yes, just all of a sudden this week, the central image of the chorus hit me. I can’t help it. What is that about? I understand the idea of poetic imagery. But in singing songs of praise, we proclaim truth. Glory be to God alone, the King Who reigns on His throne. Yes and amen.
Is His throne a manger, though? I mean. No. No it isn’t. Then in what poetic sense might His throne be like a manger? I can’t say. I have a hard time making that leap.
Now, alternatively—you discussed the idea that we are singing to Christ in the present. I do wonder, though, if a lot of our Christmas songs are… “worship as a snap shot.” Think of O Holy Night. We paint a scene of the night of our Savior’s birth. Then we say “fall on your knees, o hear the angel voices. O night divine.” Like, we are reviewing the events of the nativity, and through our remembrance of that nativity, we use a *historical* sense of awe to praise God—today—for what He did in the past.
Perhaps that’s what this song’s writers intended? Historical awe? That Jesus, born as a babe and laid in a manger, was still King?
But that does bring up Vince and Neal’s point, then. Was Jesus still reigning as King from the manger? I’m inclined to say Jesus was still King. But perhaps more importantly, was He reigning? (“King Who reigns from a manger throne.”)
Well, I certainly don’t mean to confuse the matter. But as you can tell, I am, myself, quite undecided on it all.
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Hey Ben! Thanks for your comment! I especially appreciate your insight into the character of most Christmas songs. They do often paint a picture of a particular moment, the birth of Christ. While Jesus is still fully human, he is no longer an infant, so why do we picture him that way in our Christmas carols and worship songs? I love the way you worded it: “we use a historical sense of awe to praise God—today—for what He did in the past.” I’m going to remember that turn of phrase! I think that’s certainly part of what the authors intend in this song: evoking a sense of awe at the wonder of the Incarnation, “fullness of God in helpless babe,” as another song puts it.
For me, the phrase “manger throne” is really about the character of Jesus and his reign. The throne represents his rule over Creation, and the manger represents his humility and his union to our humanity. So the manger shows us what kind of king we have: one who knows us deeply, humbled himself to become human and even die for us, one who is not arrogant or domineering but gentle and patient. The more that we allow the manger to characterize the throne, the more we understand about the mystery and paradox of the Incarnation.
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