It’s Here! An Earth-Shaking Christmas Cantata

Is it baroque metal or rock opera?

We’re not quite sure, but this promises to be a different sort of Christmas album. Not only is the music big and beautiful — how many Christmas albums were written by biblical scholars?

For lovers of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Nightwish — or just good Bible-saturated music — these thirteen songs unpack the meaning of Christmas, starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation. They draw from the familiar texts, of course: Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, Luke 1. But they go much further, drawing Eve, Sarah and Rachel into their rightful place in the Christmas story. Opening the significance of Joseph to the story. Reflecting upon the role the virgin promise plays in Isaiah 7 and 8. Weaving texts and quotations from the prophets, the Psalms, and the epistles into one grand, unified narration of Christmas.

And what is a Christmas cantata without big choruses?

An Earth-Shaking Christmas Cantata delivers with massive chorales in Unto Us a Child Is Born, Glory and Peace, and the climactic Hallelujah. But they’re not alone. From beginning to end, this entire album is filled with big and beautiful choruses and refrains that will have you singing for days.

Buy this album now at Pactum Books!

Track List

  1. Mother of All Living (4:35)

    • [Verse 1]
      Of all that echoes / the judgments and the hope
      The promise beckons / but in darkness I still grope

      [Hook]
      I have borne two sons
      Both are lost and I am broken
      I have borne two sons
      One is dead and one is stolen

      [Chorus]
      Promised, promised, my seed is promised
      To crush the head of my enemy
      Stolen, stolen, my seed is stolen
      Stealing this hope I cannot see

      [Verse 2]
      Where is this future / it’s lying in the dust
      I can’t see Christmas / the promised seed is lost

      [Hook]
      Is it all in vain / when you promised I'd be fruitful
      Childbirth in pain / how many sons must I be losing [Chorus]

      [Bridge]
      I once reached out in unbelief / we watched it come undone
      I now reach out in faith
      Where you have placed enmity / you've placed a promised son
      So I shall call him Sheth

      [Chorus 3]
      Promised, promised, my seed is promised
      To crush the head of my enemy
      Started, you’ve started restoring
      Giving this hope I cannot see

      You are Yahweh the God of forgiving
      I am Eve mother of all living
      You’ve made me mother of all living
      Mother of all living

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  2. Make the Barren One Rejoice (4:30)

    • [Verse 1]
      My husband is called exalted father
      But I am barren and now I’m old
      Not through my servant, why did I bother
      How will I see the promise you’ve told

      [Hook]
      I don’t laugh because I refuse to believe you
      I only laugh because it’s too good to be true

      [Chorus]
      Make me a mother in Israel
      It’s why I lift my voice
      Make me a mother in Israel
      Make the barren one rejoice

      [Verse 2]
      My husband spent seven years of labor
      He worked so hard to make me his bride
      Here I am, defeated by my sister
      Please give me children or else I’ll die

      [Hook]
      I don’t laugh because I refuse to believe you
      I only laugh because it’s too good to be true [Chorus]

      [Bridge]
      Every woman shares this hunger
      All my sisters know this joy
      How long will you make me wonder
      What I’d give for just one boy [Chorus]

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  3. Shepherd King (5:55)

    • [Verse 1]
      Seven sons of Jesse / tall and strong, imposing
      Seven sons are passing / seven still unchosen

      We’re waiting for the youngest / David, son of Jesse
      How can you help us — nothing but a shepherd

      [Hook]
      Anointing oil flows down, down from his head
      Just a shepherd son from the house of bread
      Anointing oil flows down, down from his head
      An early messiah, pointing ahead

      [Chorus]
      Yahweh sees as man does not see
      Yahweh gives a shepherd king
      Our Emmanuel, secretly
      The Lord comes as shepherd king

      [Verse]
      Seven sons of Jesse / bring to mind the nations
      And their kings of weakness / like the king you gave us

      Don’t need another Kishite / nothing like these seven
      We only need a new man / nothing but a shepherd

      [Bridge]
      We wanted Saul fighting our battles
      We wanted a king like the nations
      And now we are like a flock scattered
      We needed someone more like David
      Israel’s own giant cowers in fear
      Who is this shepherd, no armor, no spear
      Rushing the battle line all alone
      Crushing the serpent’s head with a stone

      [Finale]
      We still need a shepherd king
      We await our shepherd king

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  4. A Virgin Shall Conceive (5:35)

    • [Verse 1]
      The house of David quakes in fear / Judah’s weak and war is near
      Go and meet this shaking tree Ahaz
      These are smoking firebrands / I am greater than their plans
      They conspire, it shall not come to pass!

      [Hook]
      Careful now, be quiet and don’t let your heart be faint
      Yahweh speaks, be silent and don’t fear, just stand in faith

      [Bridge]
      Ask a sign from Yahweh on high
      High as heaven up above or deep as hell and death
      Such a pious king to deny!
      “I will never ask the Lord, his truth I’ll never test!”

      [Chorus]
      A virgin shall conceive but you won’t see it
      Folly won’t believe, so it’s taken from your eyes
      A virgin shall conceive but you won’t see it
      Yahweh gives a sign, but it’s taken from your times

      [Verse 2]
      Oh house of David blind and deaf / offered life and chooses death
      These you fear will shortly be, dispelled
      Oh house of David, watch it grow / Assyria will overflow
      Fill the breadth, your land, Immanuel

      [Hook]
      Ichabod, the waters gently flowing you’ve turned down
      Broken house, now in this rising river you will drown [Chorus]

      [Hook]
      Careful now, be quiet and don’t let your heart be faint
      Yahweh speaks, be silent and don’t fear, just stand in faith

      Immanuel (a virgin shall conceive)
      Immanuel (you did not believe)
      Immanuel

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  5. Unto Us a Child Is Born (6:04)

    • [Verse 1]
      The people have walked in darkness / the nation has met her doom
      In latter times she’ll be glorious / Yahweh decrees no more gloom

      Yahweh will multiply the nation / Yahweh will increase its joy
      Yahweh will bring back your rejoicing / the yoke Yahweh will destroy

      [Chorus]
      For unto us a Child is born (Unto us a Son is given)
      He’ll bear the rule upon his shoulders (Unto us a Son is given)
      His name shall be called Counselor of wonder (wonderful Counselor)
      God of thunder (Almighty God)
      Father of eternity (Everlasting Father)
      Prince of everlasting peace (Prince of Peace)

      [Verse]
      From this time forth is the kingdom / secured in the hands of this One
      There’ll be no end of the increase / of his government and peace

      [Bridge]
      David’s throne will be secured
      In justice and righteousness your land
      Will be healed
      Eternal peace will endure
      Accomplished by Yahweh of armies
      In his zeal

      [Finale]
      Prince of peace (his name shall be) (name above all names)
      Prince of peace (prince of peace)
      Unto us (unto us) (unto us) (unto us) (unto us)
      A Child is born (a Child is born)

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  6. The Annunciation (5:09)

    • [Opening]
      Rejoice, you who have been highly favored!
      Fear not, for you have been highly favored!

      [Verse]
      Don’t be afraid,
      Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son
      He will be great,
      You shall call him Jesus, for Yahweh comes
      In him to save

      [Hook]
      What are you saying to me (I want to believe)
      Tell me, how can these things be? (How can I conceive)

      [Refrain 1]
      I don’t ask because I refuse to believe him
      I only ask because I remain still a virgin

      [Verse]
      The Spirit of life
      Will overshadow you, and give a son
      The Spirit of might
      He will come upon you, the Holy One
      He will be your child [Opening]

      [Verse]
      He will be great
      Behold, he shall be called, the Son of God
      And he will reign
      David’s throne shall be his, his staff and rod
      Shall have no end

      [Hook]
      What you are saying to me (I surely believe)
      What you are saying to me (I meekly receive)

      [Refrain 2]
      Here I am, behold I am Yahweh’s maidservant
      Let it be, to me according to your word

      Nothing will be impossible with God

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  7. Magnificat (4:26)

    • [Verse 1]
      My soul magnifies the Lord / my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
      The small he has not ignored / in my humble estate he has shown me favor

      [Chorus A]
      From now on (from now on)
      Every generation will call me blessed
      From now on (from now on)
      Every generation will remember

      [Chorus B: responsive]
      Blessed are you among women
      Blessed is the fruit of your womb

      [Verse 2]
      The Lord magnifies his might / the one who is holy has done these great things
      The Lord devastates their pride / he topples the powerful from their stations

      [Bridge/verse 2b]
      I was empty and he’s filled my womb
      And cast off the full with empty hands
      In remembrance of his mercy he’s come
      In fidelity to Abraham [Chorus A + B]

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  8. Father to My Son (3:28)

    • [Verse 1]
      Joseph, son of Jacob
      Mary, your love, is innocent and yet bears new life
      Joseph, man of justice
      Don’t be afraid, to follow through and to take your wife

      [Hook]
      Your bride’s conception, the holy one
      The Spirit’s shadow, bestows this Son

      [Chorus]
      Joseph, son of David, this child will restore
      All the glory that has come undone
      Joseph, son of David, my purpose is sure
      But you must be father to my Son

      [Verse 2]
      Joseph, son of Jacob
      Heir of the king, but just a tradesman in Nazareth
      Joseph, son of David
      Wearing no ring, you bear in patience this age of wrath

      [Hook]
      The power’s broken, the strength is spent
      Still I have chosen, this fallen tent

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  9. Bethlehem (4:55)

    • [PartA]
      What a time to have to travel / mighty Caesar sends me far when my time is near
      What a time to have to travail / far from home and living like a shepherdess here

      [Hook]
      Yet Yahweh has bigger plans
      Ordered by Augustus, but the road’s been mapped by the King of all
      It was always Bethlehem
      Caesar gives directions, but the story’s set, from heaven to stall

      [Verse]
      My journey’s been long / but Child yours has been longer
      I think I’ve been strong / but your weakness is stronger

      [Chorus]
      So here we come to Bethlehem [After 2nd verse: And here we’ve come to Bethlehem]
      Augustus wants us registered
      But behind it all, Yahweh seeks a king
      To raise up Israel’s fallen horn
      David’s house returns to the beginning
      To be renewed, to be reborn
      Here he is born

      [Verse]
      The upper floor’s jammed / so I’ll undergo labor
      Amidst the young lambs / and he’ll lie in their manger

      [Bridge]
      The ox knows its owner, the donkey its master’s manger
      Yet you come to your own, and you arrive as a stranger [Chorus]

      In Bethlehem
      In Bethlehem

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  10. Glory and Peace (5:22)

    • [Verse 1]
      These ages of longing stretch the years
      The pages of promise say it’s near
      But the questions end this night
      The brightness of glory shines around
      A glorious terror falling down
      Upon shepherds in their light

      [Chorus]
      Glory and peace
      Glory to God in the highest
      Peace unto men, herald the angels
      Glory and peace
      Glory to God in the highest
      Peace unto men lies in a manger
      Glory and peace (glory and peace)

      [Verse 2]
      Fear not, low shepherds, not this day
      Our heavenly host is sent to say
      Enter Bethlehem you’ll find
      All the peoples’ greatest news
      The Savior King is born to you
      And this will be the sign [Chorus]

      [Bridge]
      Angels ascend, shepherds remain
      Let us go see this thing made known
      Indeed they find, all as explained
      So they proclaim what they’ve been shown: [Chorus]

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  11. David, Son of David (5:19)

    • [Verse 1]
      Here is the youngest, just a lord of sheep
      Not at the battle, surrounded by the mighty of Saul
      Here is the youngest, lying here asleep
      Here with the cattle, residing with the lowest of all

      [Chorus]
      David, son of David, have mercy on us
      Enter our story and make us new again
      David, son of David, have mercy on us
      Master of glory, be born for dying men

      [Verse 2]
      Here is the wonder, here the mystery
      Not in the palace, encircled by the mighty of earth
      Back where he started, humble history
      Here by the manger, among the lambs the virgin gives birth [Chorus]

      [Bridge]
      We’re wasting away, become
      Weakened, helpless, growing old
      The Ancient of Days has come
      As the youngest of the fold [Chorus]

      David (son of David)
      Have mercy on us (have mercy on us)
      Enter our story (and make us new again)
      David (son of David)
      Have mercy on us (have mercy on us)
      Master of glory (be born for dying men)
      David (son of David)
      Be born (be born)
      David (son of David)
      Be born (be born)

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  12. Magi (4:24)

    • Yes, we've come from afar
      We were just sitting around being wise
      Doing our job, interpreting the skies
      That's when we saw the star

      [Hook]
      We are the wise ones
      But this is no wisdom like ours
      We are the magi
      But this is no magic like ours

      [Chorus]
      This is the power that created the sky
      This is the glory that upholds all things
      This is the vision that enlightens the eye
      This is the wisdom that appoints our kings

      Yes, we've come from afar
      To offer frankincense, myrrh and gold
      This tribute stored up long, from of old
      Waiting long for this star

      Royal tribute we bring
      We render obeisance, bow the knee
      Even Herod knows, he can see
      Jesus is the true king [Hook] [Chorus]

      [Bridge]
      This is the power / taking helpless flesh
      A mightier strength
      This is the hour / Yahweh's foolishness
      Proves wiser than men

      This is no wisdom like ours
      This is no magic like ours
      This is Yahweh's doing (marvelous in our eyes)
      Marvelous in our eyes

      Tim Gallant © 2024

  13. Hallelujah (5:21)

    • From the beginning is this Word
      He is with God, he is God, he has arrived
      In fullness of time to earth
      He is with man, he is man, he is the Christ
      He is the Christ

      [Chorus]
      This Child, this Child
      Is Lord of all (He’s Lord of all)
      Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
      Emmanuel!
      Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
      Emmanuel!

      [Verse 2]
      In the fullness of time he came
      He is with God, he is God, he has drawn near
      He who comes in Yahweh’s name
      The all-glorious one in lowly flesh appears
      In flesh appears [Chorus]

      [Bridge]
      Now have come the power, the kingdom and salvation
      Now has come this male Child, appointed to rule the nations
      Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
      They shall not destroy, neither shall they hurt
      Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
      The knowledge of Yahweh shall fill the earth
      Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
      The wolf shall dwell with the lamb
      Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
      We all shall know the great I AM

      Tim Gallant © 2024

About Designer Label Music

Conceived, written, and produced by biblical scholar and veteran songwriter Tim Gallant, Designer Label releases feature a variety of music projects. Each of these projects are written by Gallant, and utilize intensive directed use of AI tools, followed by additional manual remixing and other performance and production work. The respective projects are identified by genre: