CHRISTMAS
HYMN STUDY: O COME EMMANUEL
The Lyrics
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
hymn is a metrical version of one the “O Antiphons” from the final week of
Advent vespers in the Roman Catholic Church.
It was originally written in Ecclesiastical Latin text as "Veni,
veni, Emmanuel". . It may go back as far as the 8th Century. It certainly
is known by the 12th century in Latin. In the mid-19th century, John Mason
Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin wrote the music for it that we know today. Others
have tinkered with the words when publishing it in various hymnals.
An
antiphon (Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί
"opposite" + φωνή "voice") is a responsive chanting by a congregation
to a text in a religious service or musical work. Many Baptist hymnals have
“responsive readings” in the back, which are the same sort of thing.
The "O Antiphons" each starts with a
title for the Messiah. Additionally, each one refers to a prophecy of Isaiah of
the coming of the Messiah.
Let’s
examine the theology of the hymn, starting with the first stanza.
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.
The
text is based on the of Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you
a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his
name Immanuel. Matthew interpreted the verse as applying to the birth of Jesus.
After relating the speech of the angel to Joseph, Matthew explained that “all
this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet” and then
quotes the verse from Isaiah. He also translated the word Emmanuel for his
readers, writing “which means God with us”. (Matthew 1:22-23).
The
first stanza portrays Israel yearning for the Messiah to come and ransom them
from sin and save them from the sinful world in which they, and we, are exiles.
Peter addressed his first letter to the “elect exiles”. He called our time on
earth “the time of your exile” and spoke of our being ransomed from our sinful
ways by Christ. (1 Peter 1:1, 17-18).
Now
let’s look at the second stanza:
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.
The
“rod of Jesse” refers to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11:1 says “There shall come forth a
shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit”.
Verse 10 says “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for
the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be
glorious”. Jesse was the father of David. So, Isaiah was saying that a greater
David will come, from the line of the king, and will be important. He will be a
new shoot from an otherwise dying tree.
In
this stanza, the work of salvation is shown as freeing us from death and hell,
the province of Satan.
Here
is the third stanza:
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.
This
stanza asks Christ to come and bring us joy by relieving us of the fear of
death and darkness. Christ is referred to a “Day Spring”. This comes from the
praise of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. In Luke 1:77-79, which in
the old versions says “To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the
remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our god, whereby the
dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace”.
(King James Version)
The
English Standard Version, a new translation, says “the sunrise shall visit us”
instead of the dayspring on high. The New International Version uses “the
rising sun” and the New American Standard Bible uses “sunrise”. The idea is
that Jesus is the light that dispels the darkness of fear. Many people are
afraid of the dark, because it is when bad people and things can come out and
remain hidden or disguised. Almost everyone is afraid of death to some degree.
Woody Allen said he was not afraid of dying, he just did not want to be there
when it happened. But Jesus came to dispel sin and darkness and the fear
associated with them.
John
wrote “In him (Jesus) was life and the life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”. (John 1:4-5)
Darkness in the Bible often symbolizes sin, lostness, and depravity. Jesus is
the light that exposes these and drives them away. Isaiah 9:2 looked forward to
the coming of Christ and said “the people living in darkness have seen a great
light”. Matthew said that was fulfilled when Jesus went into Galilee. (Matthew
4:12-16)
Now,
the fourth stanza reads:
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.
This
stanza asks Jesus to come and show us the way to heaven. The “key of David” is
a reference to Isaiah 22:22. In Isaiah 22, God appointed a new man to be the
steward of the house of David. God said he would “place on his shoulder the key
of the house of David. He shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and
none shall open.” By this, God meant that the steward would make binding
decisions for the house of David. He had full authority to do so.
The
hymn asks Christ to unlock the way to heaven for us and to keep us secure or
safe in it. Christ’s decision to take some one to heaven will never be undone.
For
example, in John 17:2, Jesus said “you have given him (Jesus) authority over
all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” In John 6:39,
he said “and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of
all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day”.
Finally,
the last verse reads as follows:
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.
In
the last verse, you have a Trinitarian statement of sorts, for the writer
places Christ with the Father in might and glory, giving the law to Israel on
Mount Sinai with signs of majesty. You might remember that when Israel gathered
at Mount Sinai to receive the covenant law, there were “thunders and lightnings
and a thick cloud on the mountain”. (Exodus 20:16)
Finally,
please note that each stanza has a two line refrain calling for God’s people to
rejoice at the coming of Emmanuel, of the one who is God with us. Indeed, Jesus
said he would be with us always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
In the midst of all that
goes on at Christmas, the most important thing is to rejoice that Christ has
come, is with us and is coming again.
Rejoice this week. God is with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment