Arguably one of the most well-known and most beloved carols of the Advent season, “O Come All Ye Faithful” possesses a tune that is memorable and lyrics that are true. Throughout the famed Christmas hymn, God’s faithful are being invited to go to Bethlehem and to adore not just a Babe in a manager but the Christ of the Bible, the fulfillment of God’s promises. The Messiah. In other words, we are being beckoned to worship Christ the Lord.
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.
The theology is rich throughout the hymn and rife with traditional orthodoxy concerning the incarnation of Christ. In stanza 2, the Nicene Creed is referenced while the Holy Scriptures are alluded to from beginning to end. Passages such as Luke 2 and John 1 take center stage as the birth of Christ along with the purpose of his birth are heavily emphasized.
It is said that there is a great sense of urgency found in the carol. In the book, The Gospel in Hymns, Albert Bailey writes, “The poet takes us by the hand and leads us with triumphant song to the cave of the Nativity of Bethlehem, shows us the Babe, and bids us adore.”
The writers of Hymnary.org describe the urgency of the hymn this way, “Imagine a child, tugging at your hand, saying insistently, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!’ In the same way, imagine someone pulling at your sleeve or grasping you by the hand, half dragging you as they run through the crowd, saying over and over again, ‘Come!’ We are told that patience is a virtue, but in this case, impatience is a beautiful thing. For who could stand by and wait when all we want to do is worship our Lord and Savior?”
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!
Believed to be penned in Latin (“Adeste Fideles”) by John Francis Wade (1711-1786) and translated into English by Frederick Oakley (1841), the carol has traditionally been played as the final anthem during midnight mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Most often only four verses are sung; however, eight verses of the very singable hymn are available.