FAITH: Tidings of comfort and joy

As we approach Christmas, “tidings of comfort and joy” to you!

“Tidings,” of course, is an old word for “news,” and it comes into our Christmas vocabulary because of the KJV translation of the angel’s words in Luke 2:10, “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

Yet, I think we may miss the point of the old Christmas hymn which extols “tidings of comfort and joy.” This may especially be the case if we don’t feel so comfortable or joyful today, if life has not gone the way we had hoped, if we have experienced loss, if our circumstances are hard or unpleasant. But, it is especially in such settings that we need this Christmas song. It is not giving us a Hallmark wish for us to experience the warm fuzzies of all going well. This isn’t an encouragement to ignore reality and act like everything is fine for a day.

Rather the wording of this song is reminding us of the sturdy news that God has met our deepest need in Jesus. Notice what these “tidings of comfort and joy” are in the song. These tidings include that Jesus has come “to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray,” and “to free all those who trust in Him from Satan’s power and might.” No matter how difficult life may be right now, no matter what sadness may afflict you, because of Christmas there is cause for ultimate joy because, for all those who trust in Him, Jesus has rescued us from our sins. 

This is why the song opens with “God rest ye merry gentlemen,” which isn’t a request that God might give rest to happy folks. In the old sense of the language when it was written, this is a blessing calling upon God to grant you peace and joy. It is saying, “May God cause to you stay put, linger in, a state of joy and blessedness.” And while in that state, do not let anything dismay you. For, despite all the troubles and trials of this fallen world, Christmas reminds us that God has come to us, vulnerable as a child, so poor as to lay in a feed trough for cattle, in order to redeem us from our sins, to reconcile us to God as our Father, and to insure for all who believe an eternity with him in glory.

So, this Christmas season, I remind you of tidings of comfort and joy. May you know the peace and joy of Christ through his redeeming love, and may this truth comfort your heart, lift up your soul, so that you might rejoice in hope.

Dr. Ray Van Neste is the Dean of the School of Theology & Missions at Union University along with serving as the vice-president of University Ministries. Reach him at rvannest@uu.edu.