The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols: Of the Father's Love Begotten

One of my favorite Christmas carols is one little-known in our society because it doesn't have even the slightest resemblance to the secular sort of thing that sells these days.  It describes in simple words set to beautiful harmony the actions of the Son of God for man and does not end with the Incarnation, but includes several other doctrines before its closing doxology.

Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

As confessed in the Nicene Creed, the Son of God is begotten, not made, of the Father's love.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the source and end of all that is, was, or will be.  This is a reflection not on Jesus Christ, for that is His human name, but on the Person of the Son of God as He was from eternity.  The song begins here because the world He would enter and redeem, the Mother who would give Him life, were themselves given life and form by Him, the Eternal Logos.

At His Word the worlds were framèd;
He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean
In their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun,
Evermore and evermore!

The Eternal Logos, the Word of God, is the wisdom and reason behind creation.  Through Him, all the world was given structure.  It is therefore fitting that He be the one to come and refashion the world in God's image when it has fallen into sin.

He is found in human fashion,
Death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children
Doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below,
Evermore and evermore!

The Word took on human nature and accepted human suffering in order to come in solidarity with mankind and to overthrow the oppression of the devil.  This verse implies Original Sin and its effects and teaches explicitly the Incarnation as its medicine.

O that birth forever blessèd,
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bare the Saviour of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face,
evermore and evermore!

Here we have a verse chock full of doctrines: the Virgin Birth, the Immaculate Conception, the Overshadowing by the Holy Spirit, Christological Soteriology, and the very core of Divine Revelation.  Christ is not one doctrine among many, He in His Incarnation is the linchpin of the whole Creed.

O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing,
Evermore and evermore!

The instruction for praise from creation for the Incarnation starts with the angels.  A long-standing tradition in the Church is that the impetus for Satan's rebellion was his disgust at God's plan to become man.  Those angels who remained after the fall of Lucifer praise the Incarnation and so, being more lofty than man by nature, must be first to praise this man who is higher than they by supernature.  Man must also join in praise of the Incarnation.

This is He Whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord,
Evermore and evermore!

Here it is recalled that the prophets long ago foretold the Christ (indeed, the first Messianic prophecy is immediately after the Fall from Grace in Genesis 3:15).  It is because of their words that the hopes of Israel stayed alive those many centuries.

Righteous judge of souls departed,
Righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted
None in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive,
Evermore and evermore!

This verse recognizes that a song about the Coming of Christ would be incomplete without a reference to the Second Coming.  He is the King of the living and the dead and is beyond the power of man to conquer.  At His Second Coming, sinners shall flee His justice.

Thee let old men, thee let young men,
Thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens,
With glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring,
Evermore and evermore!

Once more, mankind, now broken into many categories, is instructed to sing the praises of God.

Christ, to Thee with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be:
Honour, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory,
Evermore and evermore!

This last verse, the doxology, gives praise to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in a most beautiful way, giving them their due according to justice and love.

His Servant and Yours,

Micah