O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell, Thy people save, and give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times did’st give the Law, in cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

This is my favorite Christmas carol. It is the epitome of advent – expectation.

The advent season parallels the expectation of the Messiah (Jesus), with the expectation we experience today of His return.

Look at all the examples of expectation of the long-awaited Messiah:

In the first stanza Israel is mourning in exile, waiting for God’s son to come and ransom them. I have debated whether this is the Egyptian captivity or the Babylonian exile, and finally decided that it doesn’t matter. Both were times when Israel greatly anticipated the coming Messiah.

In the second stanza, Israel is expecting the Rod of Jesse. Jesse was David’s father. God had made a covenant with David, promising a king from the line of David to rule over Israel. Jesus’ lineage can be traced back to David – he is the long-awaited Davidic King! He came to give us victory over the grave – “God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God.”

The “DaySpring” comes from Zechariah’s prophecy. He was the father of John the Baptist. Shortly after John was born, Zechariah prophesied that John would be a prophet of the Most High, the “DaySpring that visits from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” John the Baptist actively advented (yes, I just verbed that) – anticipated the coming Messiah!

The fourth stanza refers to the Messiah as the Davidic King again.

In the fifth stanza, we see Israel waiting at the bottom of Mt. Sinai, where God gave Moses the Law. Moses went up into the mountain, God came down in a cloud. Someone recently pointed out to me how this looks ahead to the second coming of Christ, when He will come down, and believers will be lifted up.

But most notable in this song is the use of Emmanuel – God with us. Isaiah 7:14 says, “A virgin shall bring forth a son and call his name Emmanuel.” Long before His birth, an Old Testament prophet declared the birth of “Emmanuel” to a virgin. Emmanuel – God with us. God put on skin, and walked around with us. GOD. With US. Incredible. Why would God himself leave the glory of heaven to come to earth? For God SO loved the world.

This Christmas carol is so rich. It tells the story of the anticipation of God with us.