Christmas music shortage

This week as I prepared for our regular Wed. bible study I struggled finding Christmas music to play.  With Christmas music everybody has their favorites like Hark the Herald, Joy to the World, or Silent Night.  Which songs are most Christ-centered?  Which preserve biblical fidelity?  There are so many classic good Christmas songs but I wanted more. 

Enter Sovereign Grace Music.  Mark Altrogge, Stephen Altrogge, and Bob Kauflin have put together a wonderful Christmas CD entitled, Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man.  While I plan on giving this CD a fuller review, one song I would like to highlight is a song called, “How Sweet the Day” written by Stephen Altrogge.  The song is wonderfully crafted, easy to sing, and most of all theologically Christo-centric as are all the songs.  It speaks of the sweetness of Christ birth, hope, and return.  The great emphasis of Christmas is the incarnation of God in Christ, God of very god becoming man.  However this song goes beyond not just his arrival but also His return as he takes His children home.  Read the lyrics and notice how the crescendo is in the return of Christ and our eternal worship of Him as we see just as He truly is!

How sweet the day when Christ was born
When God Himself took human form
He came to wash our sins away
Our death to die, our debt to pay

How sweet the day when Hope appeared
The One who frees us from our fears
He came to break the power of sin
And give us power to follow Him

Chrorus
Oh sing for joy, lift up your voice
Let us sing for joy, the whole earth rejoice
Let us sing for joy to the Son
For Jesus our Savior has come

How sweet the day when Christ returns
We’ll see the One for whom we yearn
Then we’ll look full upon His face
Our hearts will burst with songs of praise

Come, Lord Jesus, come

The ending tag, “come lord jesus come” is a plea for Christ to return!  I really love that last verse because its true that we yearn for His return and when we see Him will stand in confidence fully seeing Him and yes our hearts will burst with songs of praise!

I’ll plan on introducing it tonight at our nightly bible study — hopefully others will enjoy the song as much as I do!

Listen to the sample here.