To view the entire 2011 Christmas Carol Advent check out our Christmas Carol Advent index page.
Video
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXabrkv1OHI
Story Behind the Song
Written and performed by Andrew Peterson, “It Came to Pass” was released on Andrew’s 2004 Christmas album Behold the Lamb of God. It is one of several songs from that album included in this year’s Christmas Carol advent – an album which you should definitely add to your collection.
Commentary & Analysis
I love the “folksy” telling of the days leading up to Christmas focusing primarily on Joseph. How many other Christmas songs mention Caeser’s census? It is amazing how God orchestrated everything for Jesus’ birth to be the ultimate fulfillment of prophecy. Each Christmas, I like to take some time to think about the stories of the Old Testament and how they pointed to and predicted the coming Messiah that we celebrate at Christmastime.
It is equally amazing how, in His providence, God orchestrates our own lives. God does not create us then step back and just allow things to happen to us. He orchestrates our lives in a mysterious way that still allows us free will but all falls within His grand plan for our lives. Take some time this Christmas season to praise God for His providence and direction in your life. His close personal involvement in our lives is a gift more precious than anything you will find under the tree this Christmas morning.
Questions for Further Reflection / Devotion
- Takes some time by yourself, or as a family, to reflect on those Old Testament stories. What do they tell you about Jesus?
- How important is the prophecy of the Bible in your own spiritual journey?
- Do you think Mary and/or Joseph had any idea or conception of what this baby they were about to have would do (or had done)?
Lyrics
It came to pass back in those days that Caesar, he decreed
A census would be taken of the Roman world, you see
So everyone packed up and headed back to their home towns
And this couple up from Galilee to Bethlehem was bound
So it came to pass this man named Joe was with his fiance
Back when her pregnancy began to show he planned to go away
But it came to pass that in a dream an angel of the Lord
Said, "Joseph, don’t you be afraid to marry Mary for
The little baby in her womb it is the Holy Spirit’s work
You may have read the prophet said a virgin would give birth
So it came to pass that Joseph was the noblest of men
With a woman on a donkey on their way to Bethlehem
And I wonder whether either was aware enough that day
To know the child would bring a Kingdom
and the old would come to pass away
Yes, it came to pass that Joseph was the noblest of men
With a woman on a donkey on their way to Bethlehem