O Holy Night

VIEW VIEWPOINT

O Holy Night

Written by Kerby Anderson December 22 - 2023

Kerby Anderson

This is Christmas week, and so I thought we might reflect on the hymn, “O Holy Night” by John Dwight.

“O holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”

Jesus came into the world to save us and so we feel valuable and our soul feels its worth. Perhaps the most quoted verse in the Bible is John 3:16. It tells us that Jesus came because “God so loved the world.” He came so that our souls would feel their worth to God.

This hymn also asks us to consider the fact that the King of kings was born as a human infant and placed in a manger. “The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our Friend. He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger. Behold your King, before Him lowly bend.”

Isn’t it amazing that there were some who were willing to worship him even while merely a babe in a manger? The hymn then talks about how we should respond to one another in humility.

“Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, And in His name, all oppression shall cease.”

We no longer have slavery in this country, but many people are still enslaved to various forms of sin and need Jesus as their Savior. And we as believers are to model the humility that Jesus demonstrated when He stepped out of eternity into time and gave up His rights as God.

This is a message we not only need at Christmas, but every day.

Listen to this Viewpoint

Open audio link

Viewpoints

View All

Climate change protesters march to us capitol

July 14, 2026

Kerby Anderson

Defining Words

Yesterday I talked about “defining woke.” Today, I want to talk about defining words. Noah Rothman recently explained “How We Know That Woke Is Losing.” He begins by explaining that the media has been...

Listen

July 13, 2026

Kerby Anderson

Defining Woke

For decades, the left has been willing to redefine terms to win a debate and convince the public of their views. Tomorrow I will provide some examples of that linguistic sleight-of-hand. But today, I...

Listen

July 10, 2026

Penna Dexter

Judge Hensley’s Win

Eleven years ago, the United States Supreme Court issued the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision that brought same sex marriage to every state. This — despite the fact that 31 states had specifical...

Listen