O Come, O Come Emmanuel

 

    Our family looks forward to the day each year when the Christmas music begins playing on the radio. We have typically started listening to a few Christmas carols before the radio station begins their 24/7 serenade, but once the radio begins, it is all Christmas music in our home!

    One thing I love about Christmas carols is the story of the gospel is played, sung and heard everywhere! Parades, symphonies, secular music artists, and more will be performing these gospel messages and stores will broadcast them as you shop. Of course, there is a growing secular portfolio of music as well, but you will hear so many of the traditional Christmas carols every day of the Christmas season.  So many of them have a strong Scriptural basis and it is wonderful to hear God's Word proclaimed boldly in so many places during this time of the year.  

    O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is a such a beautiful example of the gospel in song. It has 7 verses, each one dedicated to a different title for Jesus, and each one affirming different attributes of His being:

• Emmanuel -- "God with us"
• Wisdom from on High -- I Corinthians 1:24
• Rod of Jesse -- from Isaiah 11:1
• Dayspring -- Luke 1:76-79
• Key of David -- from Isaiah 22:22
• Lord of Might -- or "El Shaddai"
• Desire of the Nations -- Haggai 2:7

    We do not know who wrote this carol, but obviously whoever it was knew a lot of Scripture! Whole sermons could be preached on each stanza of this carol! We think the words were written sometime in the 800s -- we don't really know. It was originally written in Latin. The music that the words were placed with has been traced back to the 15th century, but we are also not sure who to credit with the beautiful melody that fits these words so perfectly. This song has been around for a very long time.

    We don't typically hear all seven verses these days when the carol is played. At some point in its history it was a tradition to play a different stanza each day on the week leading up to Christmas Day. With the rich Scriptural basis, I wanted to read over these words that are so often forgotten. Wow!! What beautiful reminders of our Messiah and Savior! I hope they will bring you comfort and joy, as they did me. The Scripture it references brings even more meaning and joy to the song.  Look up these references. There is so much blessing in this one carol. I encourage you too look for the gospel message in this and other Christmas carols as we enter the season of rejoicing in our Savior's birth.

    O come, O come, Em­man­u­el,

And ran­som cap­tive Is­ra­el,
That mourns in lone­ly ex­ile here
Until the Son of God ap­pear.

Refrain

Rejoice! Re­joice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Is­ra­el.

O come, Thou Wis­dom from on high,
Who or­der­est all things migh­ti­ly;
To us the path of know­ledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Refrain

O come, Thou Rod of Jes­se, free
Thine own from Sa­tan’s tyr­an­ny;
From depths of hell Thy peo­ple save,
And give them vic­to­ry ov­er the grave.

Refrain

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.

Refrain

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.

Refrain

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Si­nai’s height
In an­cient times once gave the law
In cloud and ma­jes­ty and awe.

Refrain

O come, Thou Root of Jes­se’s tree,
An en­sign of Thy peo­ple be;
Before Thee rul­ers si­lent fall;
All peo­ples on Thy mer­cy call.

Refrain

O come, Desire of na­tions, bind
In one the hearts of all man­kind;
Bid Thou our sad di­vi­sions cease,
And be Thy­self our King of Peace.

Refrain

Merry Christmas!!

Soli Deo Gloria!