December 4 

Angels from the Realms of Glory 

TEXT: James Montgomery

b. November 4, 1771, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland

d. April 30, 1854, Sheffield, England

When James Montgomery was five years old, his parents, Moravian missionaries, felt called to the West Indies, and he was sent to a Moravian community in Ireland. Five years later, both parents died on the mission field. As a result, his formative years were tough, and he even became homeless. Montgomery loved to write and was skilled at poetry. He wrote odes on everything from loneliness to faith. As a young man, he founded a newspaper and used it in rebellion against the English rule over Ireland. Twice he landed in prison because of his fiery editorials.

Through it all, Montgomery was drawn to the Bible where he searched for understanding of his parents’ faith. On Christmas Eve, 1816, he presented a poem titled “Nativity.” The poem came as a surprise to many. Rather than a message of anger and divisiveness, it spoke of unity, even between Irish and English, under a common allegiance to the babe of Bethlehem. The poem eventually was renamed “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” A long-ago deleted stanza reveals James’s search for meaning: “Sinners, wrung with true repentance, / Doom’d for guilt to endless pains, / Justice now revokes the sentence, / Mercy calls you—break your chains.”¹⁹

TUNE: Henry T. Smart

b. October 26, 1813, London, England

d. July 6, 1879, London, England

Henry Smart was the son of a music publisher and became one of England’s most skilled organists and composers. Traditionally, church music was primarily composed of monophonic or polyphonic chants (no harmony) and performed by trained musicians so that the congregation became spectators. As one who rebelled against this, Smart published new songbooks with harmonized melodies and singable melodies. Sadly, by the age of eighteen, he was already losing his sight. Blind by 1836, twenty years after Montgomery wrote the poem, Smart wrote this memorable tune. In God’s providence, “Angels from the Realms of Glory” was sung in Anglican churches throughout London, the very city where Montgomery had, years before, also led a rebellion over congregational singing and music styles. REGENT SQUARE takes the name of Regent Square Presbyterian Church in London. Many call this hymn the best-written Christmas carol of all time.

As you sing this hymn … you are reminded of the angels, the shepherds, the wise men (sages) and possibly Anna and Simeon who “watched with hope and fear.” What did they have in common? Worship. Every character in the Christmas story shares the same response: bowing down in humble adoration. They are models for us to be “before the altar bending.” The final stanza ends with the assurance from Philippians 2 that someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Meditate now on Paul’s profound declaration of future universal worship, #39 in “Christmas in the Bible.”

The repeated refrain is a call to worship within a rising melody that culminates in the strongest declaration that this newborn baby is the King! Like a sermon that teaches the history and proclaims the truth, it asks—what are you going to do about it? Will you worship too? Come and worship!