The Christmas King

Click for your free download of the sheet music: The Christmas King

Several years ago, I was thinking about what our children’s choir should sing at our church’s annual Christmas celebration service. I wanted them to sing Silent Night, but I thought singing it to a new tune might be fun. I wrote a new melody, and our children’s choir enjoyed singing it. Indeed, we sang it several more times in subsequent years. My husband and I thought the melody was beautiful; however, we knew that most people would continue singing the traditional version of Silent Night. So, my husband wrote some new lyrics.

Joel Beeke commented in an article he wrote for Ligonier that “Our Reformed forebears, drawing on a perspective traceable all the way back to the fourth-century writer Eusebius of Caesarea, found it helpful to think about Christ as a Prophet, Priest, and King. The 1689 London Baptist Confession, for instance, puts it this way: ‘Christ, and Christ alone, is fitted to be mediator between God and man. He is the prophet, priest and king of the church of God’ (8.9).” The idea behind the lyrics is to connect this threefold office of Christ to different aspects of Christmas.

Prophet: The angels bring the news to the shepherds that Christ is the Light. The Light is the truth of the gospel. The shepherds run to Him because Jesus Christ is the long-foretold prophet born to declare the truth because he is the truth.

Priest: The wise men travel far to offer their gifts to the newborn Messiah. Frankincense, and especially myrrh, foreshadows Christ’s death (myrrh was used in embalming and may have been part of the drink that was given to our Savior on the cross). Jesus Christ is our priest who offered himself as a sacrifice, rather than the lamb of the Old Testament, to pay the price for our sins.

King: The final stanza emphasizes Christ is King, even as a newborn babe. King Herod fears him and seeks to destroy him, but will end up “bowing and kissing the Son,” a representative of all those who dare oppose the King of Kings. Our Christmas King is all-powerful and conquers all his foes.

After completing the lyrics, we sent our song to our good friend Don Bosco, who produced an amazing arrangement. We had our children’s choir sing the new version during our Christmas celebration service. They loved it! They especially love the bells at the beginning and end of the song. Weeks after their performance, they kept asking to sing “The Christmas King” over and over during our practices. We hope you, too, will enjoy the song and want to sing it over and over to the glory of our Prophet, Priest, and King.

Lyrics

Verse 1
Angel’s starlight breaks the dark night
With the news: Christ is the Light.
Shepherds run to him, celebrate His birth.
Jesus, Prophet, come to show God’s truth on earth.

Verse 2
All the nations give him honor,
As wise men give gold and myrrh
To the Holy One, who’s our sacrifice.
Jesus, High Priest – for our sins He paid the price.

Verse 3
Herod fears Him, Judah’s Lion
Born as David’s Greater Son.
Bow and kiss the Son, those who dare oppose!
Almighty King Jesus conquers all His foes.

Refrain
Born today is Christ our Prophet, Priest and King!