O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.”  Isaiah 7:14

“Surely not. He must be mistaken,” I remember thinking as my fourth-grade teacher played the tune of the carol our class was about to learn for the school Christmas program.  “This song is not festive, and it sounds like a funeral,” I wanted to protest, but the rhythm from his keyboard matched the hastily scrawled words on the blackboard.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel 

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appears.

 

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here.

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

 

The mood of the words was deep and dismal, and all seven verses echoed a cry for help.  Even my young untrained ears and inexperienced heart could tell that somebody needed someone to do something—something that could not be done on their own.  The ones calling out were desperate, discouraged, and in darkness.  They recognized their sad state and knew that nothing would change until one more perfect and powerful arrived on the scene.  They longed for the appearance of Emmanuel, the Son of God, the Dayspring, the Wisdom, the Great Lord of Might. 

As the song’s minor key built to brightness in the refrain, hope was finally felt when after each plea a promise was repeated—“Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.” Our deepest longings will be filled with life.  Our greatest dreams will become reality. God will enter our world and meet us where we are. 

When we were alone, captive, and condemned, when we were helpless and heartless, “without hope and without God in this world”(Ephesians 2:12), Jesus came. Though by grace we have now been rescued, the more we realize our need, the more we relish the gift.  His coming means the most to the most miserable—and the most honest.  “O come, O come, Emmanuel.”  How we need God to be with us and to be for us, and He is both.  His advent began our adventure, and the story has no end. 

When the heaviness of a sick and sinful world weighs down your heart, don’t give up hope—“Rejoice! Rejoice!” for our Emmanuel has come.  And He is coming again.