O Come, O Come Emmanuel
O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here,
until the Son of God appear.
Humanity groans in it’s wretched state- in lonely exile and captivity, enslaved to sin and without hope.
O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night,
and turn our darkness into light.
But in the midst, God enters in, bringing Light in the form of a baby born in a stable. Immanuel, God With Us.
O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace.
And that’s not where the story ends. Through the Saviour, the King of Peace, who will bid all our sad divisions cease, there is a hope for the future.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, with the hope that the message of this song, written over 1000 years ago, will bring you hope and comfort, and a reason to rejoice, in this Christmas season.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
(I recently learned that this beautiful hymn, one of my favourites, is an 8th century antiphonal chant that was, in 1851, turned into a seven verse hymn. In Latin it was originally “Veni Veni Emmanuel”.)