O Come All Ye Faithful is a classic Christmas carol known and loved by many. But what is it about Christ that makes him worthy of adoration? Join Pastor Marty Baker as he unpacks this Christmas hymn.
In its original Latin form, the Christmas carol, O Come All Ye Faithful, was titled Adeste Fideles. It originated from the musically creative mind of John Wade, a Catholic priest, around 1750. The catchy, repetitive refrain tells us what we should do in light of Christ’s birth, while each stanza tells us why we should perform the action mentioned. So, what are we supposed to do because the Messiah was born? We should figuratively go to Bethlehem and adore Him.
O come, let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
As I’ve said, why we should do this is indicated in each verse…
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
God of God, Light of Light eternal,
lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb;
very God, begotten not created;
Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation;
sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest!
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv’n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
For our purposes this Christmas, I invite you to consider the question of all questions for this time of year:
Why Should We Adore Jesus Christ?
To answer this query, I propose we limit our analysis to the two answers or reasons we are given for this worship and adoration that appear in the first clause of the second verse. At a time when we are caught up with keeping track of all of the Amazon Christmas orders and returns we initiated, when our schedules are packed with office Christmas parties and celebrations with friends and family, and when we spend many waking off-time hours wrapping presents, it is most appropriate for us to take a deep, cleansing breath and dig into the two wonderful reasons this old carol gives us for keeping our focus on Jesus Christ.
For one, as Priest Wade rightfully states, . . .
Jesus Was/Is God Of God
In addition to His virgin birth, as prophesied (Isa. 7:14), which, by the way, must have occurred as recorded in the gospels because why would any witness include this if it were not true, in addition to the magi who came to worship Him (Matt. 2:2) . . . as a side note. . . why would Matthew, a Jew, say this because he would have known that all worship belongs to God (Psa. 2:11; 81:9-10; Jer 25:6; Dan. 3:28), Jesus’ words and works verify His deity status.
When He identified himself to others, He assumed titles reserved for the God of the Old Testament.
| God’s Titles | Christ Titles |
| Lord: Psalm 110:1 | Lord: Mark 2:28 |
| King: Psalm 5:2; 29:10 | King: John 18:36-37 |
| Living Water: Jer. 2:13 | Living Water: John 4:11-14; 7:38 |
This is, of course, not exhaustive. Christ applied these divine titles to himself, and no one dared to stop Him, because they were true.
He did not flinch at receiving the worship of people, which any Jewish writer of a gospel would have classified as outright blasphemy, but they did not. Why? Because they knew from His words and works who He was. The first of the Ten Commandments was quite clear about worshipping God alone and no others (Ex. 20:3). Hence, for Christ to accept the worship of the men healed with leprosy, of the demon-possessed, and from those healed of blindness (Matt. 8:2; Mark 5:6; John 9:38) points to His inherent deity. In accepting worship, Jesus clearly identified himself to be God.
Jesus boldly told His disciples to pray in His name. In fact, he said to ask him “for anything in my name,” and He would do it (Jon 14:14). In saying this, He claimed deity status since prayer is only to be directed to God, and only God can answer the prayers of His people.
Jesus also claimed He had the power to forgive sins, which is reserved solely for God, to serve as man’s final Judge, and to determine each person’s final destiny. When Jesus told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, which is easy to state by anyone, the Scribes, the religious lawyers in Israel, complained, “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). They were right about the fact that only God can forgive sins, but they were wrong about identifying Christ. Looking at them, Mark tells us how Christ responded:
8 And immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your pallet and walk ‘? 10 “But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins “– He said to the paralytic– 11 “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home” 12 And he rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mark 2)
Wow. He just put the Scribes down in a decisive fashion. He showed He was God, capable of forgiving sins, and He backed this up by doing what only God could do. He gave a man with useless, lifeless, new legs and ability.
From this last historical episode about Christ’s ability to forgive sins, we see the next primary reason why He was God in the flesh. He performed miracles at will that only God could do. All miracles were immediate events. They were connected with a truth claim related to God’s name. Many involved incurable diseases. Many involved no faith on the part of the person. He just did them, at will.
- He told the disciples where to cast their next to bring in a catch of all catches (Luke 5:1-11). How could He know where the fish were in the lake, especially at the wrong time of day.
- He touched and healed a man with the dreaded and disfiguring disease called leprosy (Mark 1:4-45). All He did was touch the man’s hand, and boom, he had new, babylike flesh.
- He stopped a funeral procession, walked up to the bier carrying the dead body of the young man, and said, “I say to you, get up!” With that, the formerly deceased young man rose, allowing Jesus to guide him back to his dear mother (Luke 7:11-18). No wonder the people replied, “God has come to help his people” (Luke 7:16). Indeed, God had arrived.
I could go on, but you get the point. Christ’s words and works underscored His divinity.
Realizing who Jesus was, Paul later wrote to the church in Colossae these instructive words:
15 And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created by Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. . . 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Col. 1)
Within these verses, Paul waxes eloquent regarding what Christ is preeminent, and, of course, adored.
He is preeminent because of His person (vv. 15, 19). The word “image,” icon (εἰκών) in verse 15 denotes a perfect replica. In NT times the word was used to indicate how the image of the Emperor on coinage represented that of the living man. There existed a one-to-one visible correspondence between the two. Here is the lexical definition by Arndt’s Greek NT Lexicon:
εἰκών, όνος, ἡ (Aeschyl., Hdt.+; loanw. in rabb.)
① an object shaped to resemble the form or appearance of someth., likeness, portrait (cp. Did., Gen. 82, 6) of the emperor’s head on a coin (so Artem. 4, 31; of an emperor’s image Jos., Bell. 2, 169; 194, Ant. 19, 185; cp. AcThom 112 [Aa II/2, 223, 19]; s. DShotter, Gods, Emperors, and Coins: Greece and Rome, 2d ser. 26, ’79, 48–57) Mt 22:20; Mk 12:16; Lk 20:24. Of an image of a god (Diod S 2, 8, 7 [Zeus]; Appian, Mithrid. 117 §575 θεῶν εἰκόνες; Lucian, Sacr. 11; 2 Ch 33:7; Is 40:19; Just., A I, 55, 7; Ath. 18, 1; s. TPodella, Das Lichtkleid ’96, esp. 83–88) Rv 13:14f; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4
② that which has the same form as someth. else (not a crafted object as in 1 above), living image. . . [1]
Applied to Christ, Paul says that He is the perfect representation of the invisible God because He is God (John 14:1ff). The next key term, “firstborn,” prototokos (πρωτότοκος), speaks of His position and rank. It says nothing about time, which would suggest He was created. Arndt’s Greek NT Lexicon defines the word in this fashion:
πρωτότοκος, ον (πρῶτος, τόκος; Sb 6647 [5 b.c.; s. WMichaelis in 2a: p. 314f]; Kaibel 460, 4; 730, 3; PLips 28, 16; PGM 36, 312; Anth. 8, 34; 9, 213; LXX; TestReub, JosAs; SibOr 3, 627 Philo, Cher. 54 al.; Jos., Ant. 4, 71; Just., Tat., Mel., Iren.) ‘firstborn, heir apparent’.
① lit. pertaining to birth order, firstborn ὁ υἱὸς ὁ πρ. (PLips loc. cit. υἱὸν γνήσιον καὶ πρωτότοκον; Gen 25:25 al. LXX; JosAs 1:11; Σὴθ τρίτος, οὐ π. ἐστίν Did., Gen 147, 7) Mt 1:25 v.l.; Lk 2:7 (JFrey, La signification du terme πρ. d’après une inscription juive: Biblica 2, 1930, 373–90; CIJ II 1510, 6; Boffo, Iscrizioni 156–65; New Docs 163); cp. B 13:5 (Gen 48:18). τὰ πρ. the firstborn=all the firstborn (τὰ πρ. Ex 22:28; Num 18:15 al.; Just., D. 84, 1; 111, 3) Hb 11:28 (cp. Ex 11:5). τὰ πρ. τῶν προβάτων the firstborn of the sheep 1 Cl 4:1 (Gen 4:4). The special status enjoyed by a firstborn son as heir apparent in Israel is an implicit component of πρ. in ref. to such a son and plays a dominant role in
② pertaining to having special status associated with a firstborn, firstborn,[2]
He is the head of all creation because He was, and is, God. From a practical perspective, think of our title of First Lady. This does not mean she is the first lady ever born, but she is first because she is the representative head and leader of ladies. It is the same with this Greek word.
Christ’s divine status is also highlighted in the statement that He “in Him all the fullness should dwell” (v. 19). The fullness, viz., pleroma (πλήρωμα ) is defined in Colossians 2:9,
NAS Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
BGT Colossians 2:9 ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς,
Theotetos (θεότητος) is the Greek word for deity. By wedding it to the present tense verb “to dwell” (katoikeo, κατοικεῖ ), Paul emphasized how the fullness and totality of divinity perpetually and eternally dwell in Christ because He was, and is, God. That is a good enough reason to adore Him, would you not agree?
He is preeminent because of His position (v. 16). He is the Creator. He, who is without causation and exists eternally outside of our version of time and space, fashioned everything we can see in our cosmos, and things we can only see with an electron microscope. Further, angelic beings, which are denoted by the terms “thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities, were made by Him. He is the purely actualized Agent who created everything in all dimensions. Why were they created? They were created for Him and His purposes. And, by the way, “He is before all things,” which speaks of His eternality, a concept He addressed (John 8:58). He is also the glue that holds the cosmos together. With Him, the laws of nature are predictable. With Him, our planet’s perfect tilt gives us great gravity and wonderful seasons. With Him, desert cacti grow where they are supposed to. Bees know which flowers to land on to extract their nectar with Him. The moon is perfectly positioned to enjoy the life-giving tidal flow with Him. With Him, the velocity of light is just right so the stars are not too luminous. If light speed was reduced, we couldn’t see the beautiful stars. We could easily say more, but our universe shows a fantastic design that hangs together spectacularly. How is this so? It is because of Him. No wonder we are called to adore the babe of Bethlehem.
Finally, He is preeminent because of His perfect performance. Through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, He can allow sinners to find forgiveness and an eternal relationship with the Godhead. As Paul says in his last letter to Pastor Timothy:
9 who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (2 Tim. 1).
Jesus is worthy of our adoration this Christmas and every day of the year because of who He was and is. He was, and is, the God-man who made life physical and spiritual life a reality. Therefore, adore the One who gave you physical life, praise the One who was solely equipped to deal with your sin problem on the cross, and praise and adore Him for granting you spiritual life when He forgave you. And if you do not know Him this Christmas, He is waiting to forgive you and usher you into His eternal family. You will understand why He is worthy of our adoration when that happens. As created beings, we are supposed to do that when we turn toward God.
For another, we should adore Him because of His description in the last part of the first clause of the second verse.
Jesus Was/Is The Light Of Life
Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 4, puts this statement in proper focus:
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. (Heb. 1)
This short clause discloses two outstanding things about the person of Jesus Christ.
First, He is the “radiance of God’s glory.” What does this mean? You can tell the translation is difficult here when you compare it with others. Attempting to communicate the Greek construction here in English has led to the following translations:
“Who being the brightness of his glory…” (KJV).
“He is the sole expression of the glory of God…” (Amplified).
“He reflects the glory of God…” (RSV)
The Greek word here for “radiance” is apaugasma (ἀπαύγασμα). It denotes not just a reflection of light but the source of that light. You might need to hear that again. Jesus was not given divine glory because He, as the divine One, radiates the glory of the Godhead. Put differently, the Spirit is saying that Jesus is not a mere reflection of God’s glory, for He eternally possesses that glory Himself. Why? Because He is God!!! And we see Jesus revealing that great divine glory in the NT to some of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17),
1 And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. (Matt. 17)
The Greek word for “transfigured” is one you know: metamorphoo (μεταμορφόω). Arndt offers this helpful lexical definition:
μεταμορφόω 1 aor. pass. μετεμορφώθην; pf. pass. ptc. μεταμεμορφωμένος (Diod S 4, 81, 5; Castor of Rhodes [50 b.c.]: 250 Fgm. 17 Jac. εἰς ἕτερα μεταμορφοῦσθαι σώματα; Plut., Mor. 52d al.; Athen. 8, 334c; Aelian, VH 1, 1; Ps.-Lucian, Asin. 11; Herm. Wr. 16, 9; PGM 1, 117; 13, 70; Ps 33:1 Sym.; TestSol; AscIs 3:13; Philo, Mos. 1, 57, Leg. ad Gai. 95; Ar.; Tat. 10, 1; Orig., C. Cels. 5, 42, 30; Theoph. Ant. 2, 6 [p. 108, 16]) ‘transform, change in form’ in our lit. only in pass.
① to change in a manner visible to others, be transfigured of Jesus, who took on the form of his heavenly glory Mt 17:2; Mk 9:2[3]
Think of how Bumblebee in the Transformer’s movie series changes from an unassuming yellow VW Bug to a massive, towering, and powerful robot, and you know what metamorphosis means in Greek. It speaks of a radical transformation into another form. Applied to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, we see how He permitted the disciples to see His divine radiant glory emanating from the very essence of God in human form. As a result, His face immediately shone with the sun’s brightness, and His clothes glowed with the same intense light because they were impacted by His glory that He had purposefully shielded in His bodily form. Amazing. The glory Christ possessed proved His deity because God the Father was quite clear in the OT:
8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. (Isa. 42)
Regarding His glory emanating from His holiness, God does not share it with anyone. The fact that Christ is the essence of this glory emphatically serves to identify Him as God, God in the flesh.
Because He possessed, and possesses, this divine glory, the author of Hebrews had no trouble saying Jesus was “the exact representation of His nature.” Who’s nature? The Father’s divine nature. It is interesting to point out here that the word “exact representation” is one word in Greek. It is the word “charakter” (χαρακτήρ). We turn to Ardnt, again, for a precise definition:
χαρακτήρ, ῆρος, ὁ (fr. χαράσσω ‘engrave’ via χάραγμα; Aeschyl., Hdt.+; ins, pap, LXX; TestSol 11:6; TestSim 5:4 [‘copy’, of the Book of Enoch]; ApcSed 7:4; EpArist; Philo; Jos., Ant. 13, 322; Just.; Tat. 17, 2 [in the two last, of letters of the alphabet]; loanw. in rabb.).
① a mark or impression placed on an object
ⓐ of coinage impress, reproduction, representation (Eur., El. 559; Aristot., Pol. 1, 6, Oec. 2; Diod S 17, 66, 2; OGI 339, 45; in imagery Polyb. 18, 34, 7; Philo, Plant. 18) in imagery IMg 5:2ab.[4]
In ancient usage, this word spoke of a stamp used to make coins. Applied to Jesus, it means He possesses the exact correspondence to the essence of all that God is. He, therefore, wasn’t just a man, nor was he a god, nor did he become God; rather, He was and is and always will be God!
No wonder, then, an unusual astral light, which I believe was a small tear between our dimension and God’s, guided the Magi to Christ.
9 And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was. (Matt. 2)
The glory emanating from the Father shone through that “tear” and guided the Magi to the birthplace of the Messiah, Bethlehem. No star ever acted like this because it was not a star. It was the glory of God lovingly guiding the intrigued wise men to the birthplace of Jesus, the God-man.
And as the Magi adored Jesus, we should, too. Why? Because He was, and is God, and because He is the Light of Light. That Light, Jesus, now stands ready to move you from the realm of sin and darkness you inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12-21) to His kingdom of Light and Life at the moment of your faith in His person and redemptive work. Paul wrote about this to the Colossians:
13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1)
Are you delivered yet from “the domain of darkness?” Only Jesus can do it because of who He is. He is God and the Light that brings spiritual light and life to repentant sinners. This is also why we, as believers, adore Him.
When I grew up, Alice Cooper, “the godfather of shock rock,” represented one of those theatrical edgy, evil, and dark rock groups led by a man consumed with spiritual darkness. The black leather, combined with the massive amount of dark eye shadow around his evil, penetrating eyes, pretty much summed up the devilish look of the group. Their songs mirrored their darkness:
- No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Schools Out (1972)
- I Love the Dead (1973)
- Welcome to my Nightmare (1975)
He went down this path even though his father was a pastor and an evangelist in Arizona, and his grandfather was a pastor for 75 years. Even his wife’s father was a pastor. But none of this stopped him from rising to the top of rock music and also acquiring all the materialistic things a person might desire: expensive cars, luxury homes, and the like. He also picked up a nasty, debilitating drinking problem.
When his lack of sobriety, coupled with the emptiness he felt in his heart, almost cost him his marriage to Cheryle, he did what he knew he needed to do: he headed back to church. While attending, he heard about the judgment and the love of Christ. Those two concepts guided Him to the nail-scared feet of Jesus. There, he bowed down and embraced the God of Light, who received him and transformed him into the godly man he is today. Looking back at that event, Alice said, “ “I knew that there had to either come a point where I either accepted Christ and started living that life or if I died in this, I was in a lot of trouble and that’s what really motivated me,” he said. “I don’t think we accept Christ, I think we accept the fact that He accepted us. You can’t put that into words,” he added. “It’s because God opens your eyes and it’s supernatural. When the Lord opens your eyes and you suddenly realize who you are and who He is, it’s a whole different world.”[5]
It’s a whole different world, all right, because the God of Light shines that light into your life and drives out the darkness as He gives you forgiveness and spiritual life for all eternity. Who could not want this at this time of year? Who cannot see the need to adore the One who made this possible for people like us? This Christmas is the perfect time for you to do what Alice did. It’s time to permit the Lord Jesus, the God of Light, to flood your life with that light. May Peter’s statement in 1 Peter chapter 2 become your life verse:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (1 Pet. 2).
[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 281–282.
[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 894.
[3] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 639.
[4] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1077.
[5] “The Real Prodigal Son: Alice Cooper Shares His Testimony,” Movie Guide, October 29, 2021, accessed December 18, 2024.
