We Sing Because We Have Hope
CALEB BARNES // INTERN COORDINATOR
Music is a funny thing to me. Music is everywhere. It is something that transcends every societal and cultural boundary. It is inescapable. We get in our cars, and the radio plays music. We walk in a store, and music is playing as background noise. Halftime shows have live music performances, movies have music soundtracks, and the list goes on and on. Even when we are in total isolation, we can hum a little tune to create music. But here is a question: why do we sing? More specifically, what separates our singing as Christians from the rest of the world?
We sing because we have hope.
Not only that, we sing for the one who gives us that hope. Through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have hope. Singing is modeled throughout Scripture by Christ followers as they praise God for this gift of hope. In Luke 2, after an angel announced the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, a choir of angels joined together and sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14).
This is actually why Christmas songs are called carols. The word "carol" means dance or a song of praise and joy. We sing Christmas carols that give praise and glory to God, and they focus on the hope that comes from the birth of Christ. In Luke 19, the disciples sang and praised God at the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem. They shouted, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest" (Luke 19:18).
In Revelation 4 we learn that there are angels around the throne singing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). Finally, in Revelation 19 we see there will be a great multitude at the marriage supper of the Lamb who will sing, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure…” (Revelation 19:6-8).