There is something about Christmas that makes people want to sing. Yesterday we hosted our first Christmas Gala here at Messiah. We invited the musical group Koine to come and sing Christmas songs to us and with us because we know there is something about Christmas that makes people want to sing. And it is not just professional musicians who like to sing. There is something about Christmas that makes average everyday people want to sing. In public places like office buildings, elevators, and shopping centers, where people can hear us, we hum along with the Christmas music but as soon as we are in a secure and secluded place like our cars or showers, we like to belt out Christmas songs like we are auditioning for the Mariah Carey Christmas special. Who here hasn’t held the shampoo bottle in the shower like it was a microphone and sung, “O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining ”? If you haven’t, you must try it. But make sure you start low. That songs spans over an octave and a half and if you start too high by the time you get to “oh night de-VIIIIINE!” you’re likely to make the dog howl.
There is something about Christmas that makes God’s people want to sing and this is not just a recent occurrence. Read through the Gospels and you will hear Mary singing, you will hear Zechariah singing, and you will hear Simeon singing. But I think one of the cool things about Christmas is it isn’t just everyday average people who like to sing. The angels like to sing. Famously, during the first Christmas, the angels sang to the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks at night, “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”. But I suspect that was one of many songs the angels sang at Christmas. In the book of Revelation, heaven’s curtain is temporarily pulled back to give us a sneak peak of what goes on up there and what goes on is a lot of singing. It has been estimated there are over 25 songs recorded in the 22 chapters of the book of Revelation and a lot of those songs resemble the songs we sing at Christmas.
There is something about Christmas that makes people want to sing. Which is why in Zephaniah 3:14-17, which is full of Christmas themes, it is not at all surprising to read about people singing. In verse 14 Zephaniah writes, “14 Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!” Verse 14 describes people singing, that is not surprising. It is, however, surprising to read what Zephaniah writes in verse 17. There we read, “17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” He will rejoice over you with … singing. Apparently, there is something about Christmas that not only makes men and angels sing, but there is something about Christmas that makes the LORD God sing. I am trying to think of other places in Scripture where we read about the LORD God singing. I can think of a great many places where the LORD God is speaking, but I can’t think of any other place in all of Scripture where the LORD God is singing. There are references to Jesus singing hymns and Jesus is God so in the Word made flesh we hear God sing, but other than that we just don’t read about the LORD God singing.
I can’t help but wonder what His singing sounds like. Is He a tenor, a baritone, a base or, as the LORD God is a triune God, is He somehow a blend of all three? When He sings does He sound like a harmony of rolling thunder, rushing water, and blowing wind? Is His singing pure and peaceful or is it powerful and exciting? When the angels sing it is so awesome that it often fills man with fear. If the songs of angels overwhelm man, what does the singing of the LORD God do to man? There are so many questions! Perhaps most intriguing of all the questions that could be asked is, what is it that cause the LORD God to sing? What cosmic force, what transcendent thought, what object of beauty could inspire the LORD God to sing? Zephaniah gives us the answer to that question and to say the answer is surprising is an understatement. The answer is you. The LORD God delights in you. The LORD God rejoices over you. You are the reason the LORD God sings.
WHY??? What is it about you that is song worthy? Since you are the subject of song there must be something about you that makes the LORD God sing. What do you think it is? If you were going to write a song about yourself, what kind of song would you write? Would you write a ballad that boasts of your accomplishments? Would you write a love song that accentuates your form and features? Would you write a country song about the strength of your character? Do you think any of these songs would cause the LORD God to sing? If you exaggerate the facts, you might get your buddies to belt out your ballad about your accomplishments, if you embellish the description you might convince your spouse to croon on about your form and features, if you omit some details you might get your neighbors to twang about your character, but there is no exaggeration, no embellishment, no omission you can make about yourself that should make the LORD God sing.
He knows you too well. He knows you better than you know yourself, and what He knows about you is not good. The LORD God knows when you are kind and compassionate to your spouse you are doing it mostly because you love them, but there is also part of you that is looking to get something in return. The LORD God knows that when you volunteer to be a coach or room mom you are doing it mostly because you want to spend time with your kids, but there is also part of you that likes the recognition and respect you get from the other parents. The LORD God knows when you help a coworker get a project done you are doing it mostly because you are trying to be supportive, but there is also a part of you that hopes the boss notices and gives you a pay raise or promotion. The LORD God knows when you are friendly to your classmates it is mostly because you want to treat people the way you want to be treated, but also because you want to be popular. Most songs sung about people exaggerate the facts, embellish the description, and/or omit some details. But that doesn’t work with the LORD God. The LORD God knows that even when you want to do song-worthy things, sin sours the song.
There is no reason you should inspire the LORD God to sing, and yet you do, and He does. The LORD God delights in you. The LORD God rejoices over you. You are the reason the LORD God sings. In verse 15 the prophet Zephaniah tells us why. There the Prophet writes, “15 The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.” The LORD God is singing about your punishment being taken away, He is singing about your enemy being turned back, and He is singing about your fear being removed. In the days before Christmas, we hear The LORD God singing this song because Christmas is the first verse of this song. At Easter the song the LORD God sings builds to a victorious crescendo, but Christmas is the beginning of the song the LORD God sings. At Christmas the LORD God sings about the time when true God became also true man and lived among us as substitute and sacrifice. The LORD God sings about your punishment that has been taken away because Jesus was born to pay for your sins on the cross. The LORD God sings about your enemy who has been defeated because Jesus was born to be tempted in every way just as we are, yet He remained perfectly without sin. The LORD God sings about your fearlessness because Jesus was born to remove the sting of death. Because of Jesus, the LORD God delights in you. Because of Jesus, the LORD God rejoices over you. Because of Jesus, You are the reason the LORD God sings.
Christmas is a celebration of the time when Jesus came to take away your punishment, turn back your enemy, and remove your fear, which is why in the season of Christmas we hear our LORD God sing. And, in the season of Christmas, through the prophet Zephaniah, the LORD God invites you to join Him in singing. The LORD God says to you, “14 Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!” As a loving Father speaks tenderly to His beloved daughter, so the LORD God speaks to you and invites you to sing with Him. He already has 10,000 times 10,000 angels in the chorus, but He wants you to be His backup singers. Gladys Knight had the Pips, Bruce Springsteen had the E-street band, Johnny Cash had the Tennessee Three, and the LORD God has us. So let us sing! Let us join our voices with the heavenly Father’s voice and sing about Jesus who was born to take away our punishment, who was born to turn back our enemy, who was born to remove our fear.
Christmas makes the LORD God sing, it makes the angels sings, it made Marry, Zechariah, and Simeon sing, and it makes average ordinary people like you and me sing. Amen.