Healing and Salvation
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
Malachi 4:2 ESV (Monthly Watchword for December 2025)
As I am writing this, it is only mid-November, and I have already this year heard “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Santa Baby,” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” each at least three times on the radio. I’m sure there are others that could be added to that list, but these are just the ones that come immediately to mind. Without having any empirical data, I can say that it seems earlier every year that these songs find their way into our homes and vehicles over the airways.
I don’t plan on rehashing the tired old complaint about “keeping Christ in Christmas.” When it comes to the secularization of Christmas, that ship sailed a long time ago and isn’t coming back anytime soon.
But for us who are Christians in this society, the secular story of Christmas, led by Irving Berlin and his associates, presents a challenge and an opportunity. There are, honestly, people out there who don’t know the Bible’s version of Christmas. There is so much more to this time of year than sleigh bells, Christmas trees, and birthday parties at the home of Farmer Gray. Christians around the world as well as in our own congregation have the opportunity to share the treasure of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), His life among us, and His life given for us.
Part of being equipped to share this good news with others is becoming more familiar with the sacred treasures of this season. Christmas hymns and carols represent tremendous breadth (from people of many lands and ethnicities) and depth (from the third to the twenty-first century). It is sad that these expressions of faith seem to be fading into obscurity as our society becomes more secular. In response to that, I thought I would reflect a bit on a popular Christmas hymn in many churches: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
Many of us have heard and sung this hymn. If not in church, we have likely heard it at the end of Frank Capra’s classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. Ruined by a miser on Christmas Eve, the protagonist of the story, family man George Bailey, saw life anew with the help of his guardian angel named Clarence, who showed him what the world would be like without him. When the community came to his aid and expressed its gratitude for his presence and contributions, the joyful gathering belted out the first verse of Charles Wesley’s most famous Christmas hymn:
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” Joyful, all you nations, rise; Join the triumph of the skies; With angelic hosts proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Some might wonder why we would bother worrying about hymns in the church. Shouldn’t we focus on the Bible? The truth is that many hymns, including Christmas hymns, are packed full of biblical references, and meditating on hymns has a way of implanting the words of the Scriptures into our lives.
The first and most well-known verse of this hymn refers to the story of Christmas in Luke chapter 2. Skipping down to the third verse of Wesley’s hymn, we encounter a more obscure biblical reference, which is our monthly Watchword for December:
Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the sun of righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, Ris’n with healing in his wings.
For Christians, the last book of our Old Testament is from the prophet Malachi, and the final chapter of that short book points us forward. When the Church Father Jerome (ca. 342-420 A.D.) arranged the books of the Old Testament in his Latin translation of the Bible, he saw that Malachi was a natural bridge or jumping-off point to the New Testament. This month’s Watchword is a part of that:
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
Early Christians came to see that the “Sun of Righteousness” described by Malachi could be an appropriate title for our Lord Jesus Christ. This “Sun of Righteousness” truly brings “healing in its wings.” This does not only mean physical healing, though Jesus did some of that while on earth. More deeply, Jesus brings God’s healing of salvation to humanity, restoring our broken relationship with God. Though we have separate words in English, the words “healing” and “salvation” in the Greek New Testament are actually the same.
This month, even though it is the darkest of the year in our part of the world, we are called to take joy in the “Sun of Righteousness” that first appeared in Bethlehem so long ago, as the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and for us.
Pr. Tom Jacobson
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
Malachi 4:2 ESV (Monthly Watchword for December 2025)
As I am writing this, it is only mid-November, and I have already this year heard “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Santa Baby,” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” each at least three times on the radio. I’m sure there are others that could be added to that list, but these are just the ones that come immediately to mind. Without having any empirical data, I can say that it seems earlier every year that these songs find their way into our homes and vehicles over the airways.
I don’t plan on rehashing the tired old complaint about “keeping Christ in Christmas.” When it comes to the secularization of Christmas, that ship sailed a long time ago and isn’t coming back anytime soon.
But for us who are Christians in this society, the secular story of Christmas, led by Irving Berlin and his associates, presents a challenge and an opportunity. There are, honestly, people out there who don’t know the Bible’s version of Christmas. There is so much more to this time of year than sleigh bells, Christmas trees, and birthday parties at the home of Farmer Gray. Christians around the world as well as in our own congregation have the opportunity to share the treasure of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), His life among us, and His life given for us.
Part of being equipped to share this good news with others is becoming more familiar with the sacred treasures of this season. Christmas hymns and carols represent tremendous breadth (from people of many lands and ethnicities) and depth (from the third to the twenty-first century). It is sad that these expressions of faith seem to be fading into obscurity as our society becomes more secular. In response to that, I thought I would reflect a bit on a popular Christmas hymn in many churches: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
Many of us have heard and sung this hymn. If not in church, we have likely heard it at the end of Frank Capra’s classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. Ruined by a miser on Christmas Eve, the protagonist of the story, family man George Bailey, saw life anew with the help of his guardian angel named Clarence, who showed him what the world would be like without him. When the community came to his aid and expressed its gratitude for his presence and contributions, the joyful gathering belted out the first verse of Charles Wesley’s most famous Christmas hymn:
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” Joyful, all you nations, rise; Join the triumph of the skies; With angelic hosts proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Some might wonder why we would bother worrying about hymns in the church. Shouldn’t we focus on the Bible? The truth is that many hymns, including Christmas hymns, are packed full of biblical references, and meditating on hymns has a way of implanting the words of the Scriptures into our lives.
The first and most well-known verse of this hymn refers to the story of Christmas in Luke chapter 2. Skipping down to the third verse of Wesley’s hymn, we encounter a more obscure biblical reference, which is our monthly Watchword for December:
Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the sun of righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, Ris’n with healing in his wings.
For Christians, the last book of our Old Testament is from the prophet Malachi, and the final chapter of that short book points us forward. When the Church Father Jerome (ca. 342-420 A.D.) arranged the books of the Old Testament in his Latin translation of the Bible, he saw that Malachi was a natural bridge or jumping-off point to the New Testament. This month’s Watchword is a part of that:
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
Early Christians came to see that the “Sun of Righteousness” described by Malachi could be an appropriate title for our Lord Jesus Christ. This “Sun of Righteousness” truly brings “healing in its wings.” This does not only mean physical healing, though Jesus did some of that while on earth. More deeply, Jesus brings God’s healing of salvation to humanity, restoring our broken relationship with God. Though we have separate words in English, the words “healing” and “salvation” in the Greek New Testament are actually the same.
This month, even though it is the darkest of the year in our part of the world, we are called to take joy in the “Sun of Righteousness” that first appeared in Bethlehem so long ago, as the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and for us.
Pr. Tom Jacobson
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