The WORD is the Song

Not often thought of as Christmas carols are 5 songs from Scripture. Dr. John S. Barnett, http://www.dtbm.org/ in his excellent devotional on the Book of Revelation, entitled Living Hope for the End of Days, has this to say:

"Did you realize that at that first Christmas God introduced New Testament believers to the songs of heaven? Christ's birth was surrounded by the songs of the saints. Since Luke continued with the record of the early church in Acts, and Paul told us that Spirit-filled saints sing, we can be sure that the early church sang much and often.
Luke recorded a series of five Spirit-prompted songs:

1) Elizabeth broke into song at Mary's arrival. This was the first song of the New Testament, which is known from the first words of the Latin Vulgate as the 'Exclamavit'. (Lu. 1:42-45)

2) Mary followed with her marvelous 'Magnificat' (Lu. 1:46-55), in which she quotes over twenty different Scriptures!

3) Zacharias broke forth into his famous 'Benedictus' (Lu. 1:68-79) which means 'good saying'.

4) Angels broke into the night sky over the shepherds' fields of Bethlehem with 'Gloria' (Lu.2:14)

5) While holding the infant Jesus in his arms, Simeon lifted his eyes to God and sang his 'Nunc Dimittis' (Lu. 2:29-32).

And some day, when we at last enter into Christ's presence, Revelation says that we will be forever singing that He alone is worthy!"
(Living Hope, page 615)

As we move into the new year and have the opportunity to share the Gospel and join in Christian fellowship and study His Word, let's listen for the Spirit prompted songs in our own hearts. And let's learn to sing them. Begin singing the words of these 5 songs from Scripture during a personal worship time and begin preparations for the time when the redeemed will sing forever the glorious song that Jesus Christ alone is worthy!

May His grace, His peace and His joy be with you.