God is amazingly good at turning sorrow into joy. One example of this is in the life of the crafter of Angels From The Realms of Glory – James Montgomery. He was the son of Scottish Moravian missionaries and, at the age of twelve, was living in England when his parents died on the missionary field in the West Indies (he wasn't with them as it was a very dangerous journey and location).

He did not do well in school after that and ended up drifting until his early twenties. It was then that his talent for writing was recognized by a publisher and he was given a job writing and assisting in the production of a paper called the Sheffield Register. A few years later, that publisher was forced to head to the colonies and Montgomery took over the publication and renamed it to the Sheffield Iris.

He published this carol on December 24, 1816 in that same paper and it has remained a Christmas classic to this day. He wrote four hundred hymns in total which is a testimony to God's desire and ability to draw people close to Him and also of His great healing power. James Montgomery seemed to be headed down a very dreary path until the opportunities came at the paper. God knows what we need and when we need it.

The carol tells the traditional, Biblical story of Christ's birth and has a dual focus on His second coming.

One verse tends to be left out of many hymnals and reproductions:

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.

We always seem to leave the good bits out! Jesus was born to be the breaker of our bonds to slavery in sin, pain and death. He bore our guilt and has taken on our punishment. All that is asked of us is genuine repentance, and acknowledgement that He is Lord and Saviour.

If this song is not on any of your Christmas playlists, a beautiful, modern adaptation of this carol is Come and Worship from Bebo Norman's Christmas...from the Realms of Glory!. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.