‘Twas the night before
Christmas and there was no room in the inn,
For Joseph and Mary and the
Holy Child within
Travelers from Nazareth,
where the journey began—
At least a three day
venture, over some sixty miles of land—
To Bethlehem, the city of
David the king,
Where shepherds guard and
angels will sing.
There, in a barn unknown, in a humble abode
Came Bethlehem’s Renown as a
prophet foretold
To rule and shepherd Israel
My own,
Joseph, this Babe shall take
your father’s throne!
Wrapped ever so tender, lain
in a manger,
Your Royal welcome: only
lowly strangers.
Of shepherds and sheep who
were blessed to hear,
An angel’s voice to calm
their earthly fears,
To bring glad tidings of a
Heavenly sign,
Wrapped in swaddling cloths
in a manger you’ll find,
Christ the Lord, a Savior’s
birth,
Share the word tell all the
earth!
Joseph, Mary’s husband, a
righteous man standing by
Did you ever ponder the tiny
Wonder from Heaven’s high?
Given from God to the world
as a gift,
To reveal thoughts, men’s
hearts He would sift
The Glory of Israel, to the
Gentiles a light,
He is Emmanuel, to the blind
He gives sight.
Mary, Joseph’s wife, did you
know from your womb,
Came the Word of life who
would call a man from his tomb.
A simple word to speak,
waves and winds to calm
The lost to seek, His touch
a healing balm
A vast plain of five
thousand men would be fed,
With a child’s small meal
and He the Living Bread.
Who is this Child in yonder
stall?
He’s the Promised One to
redeem us from the Fall.
Who will weep in Gethsemane
in anguish prayer
Betrayed by a kiss to face a
trial unfair,
Condemned to Golgotha, our
sins He will bear,
Nailed to a cross, in a
criminal’s death He will share.
Who is this One whom the
angel’s sing?
It is Christ the Lord the
Risen King!
The One who crushed the
serpent’s head
Look again He’s risen from
the dead!
Seated at His Father’s right
hand,
And He will reign over all the Land!
