O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

For as long as I can remember, I have loved Christmas music.  There is just something so unspeakably beautiful about the songs, something so gloriously stirring about the bright Hope they proclaim.  They are such a precious reminder of the Good News that is ours in Christ, such a sweet celebration of our Savior’s birth to redeem us from the depths of the deepest darkness imaginable.

One of my favorite Christmas songs has always been O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  Originally a Latin hymn, it has been traditionally sung at Christmas for hundreds of years, by hundreds of thousands of tongues the world over.  Whenever I hear it, I can feel the inexplicable, intrinsic longing of each soul, the yearning of every child of eternity for the day when we shall dwell forever face-to-face with our Emmanuel.

I love the Hope that this song proclaims – “rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” – the Hope that was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus in the tiny town of Bethlehem, the Hope in which we put our trust and faith, the Hope that fulfilled thousands of years of prophecy and promise.  But just as much, I love the longing, the reminder that yes, Christ is God-With-Us, the Word made flesh to dwell among us, but the fulfillment of every one of the promises, the ultimate joy and hope – those are yet to come.  The song begs, yearns, aches, for the day when Emmanuel returns as triumphant King, when He vanquishes forever Death and Darkness, when He restores His children to dwell, for all of Eternity, in the presence and light and joy of Emmanuel, God with us.

Although this is a twist on the traditional version, I love the imagery, the allusions to the real reasons we celebrate the birth of Jesus – that He came to seek and save the lost, to redeem and ransom prodigals who had wandered far from Home and Hope.  That, in Him, we have a great High Priest and intercessor, the spotless Lamb who bore the sins of the world, the One who purchased our pardon with His precious blood and bought us peace with God.  Our Emmanuel was born to die – not for anything He had done, but to rescue hopeless, lost, broken sinners.  This is the Hope we profess, the reason we celebrate, the joy we proclaim.  Jesus came two thousand years ago to a world that didn’t recognize Him, but He is coming again as triumphant King, and every knee shall bow, every tongue profess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  O come, Emmanuel!