COME, COME EMMANUEL!
It is the first week of December, and the weather is very
cold. But the season is upon us, warming
our hearts with song “Joy to the World, the Lord has come.” Everywhere the lights are bright and shoppers
are crowding the stores looking for their special treasures. And we see the beautiful colors of Christmas
in our lovely decorations and trees. And
we sing those lovely Christmas carols which speak of the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
We look at our nativity sets and see Mary and Joseph and
sweet baby Jesus surrounded by shepherds and wisemen and angels looking
on. And in our church we are celebrating
the Advent season. We light our candles
each Sunday and ponder the meaning of each of five candles. The last candle we will light will be the large
white candle on Christmas Eve.
The first candle we lit was the “Candle of Hope and
Prophecy.” As we celebrate Advent we are
remembering His first Advent, His first coming and the amazing prophecies that
foretold of the Messiah and His coming.
The people in those days were looking for the deliverer, the One who
would free them from the Romans and sit upon the Throne of David once
again. But Jesus came not to be an
earthly king, but to bring the Kingdom of God to reign our hearts, a spiritual
kingdom. But the people did not see that
and rejected Him and He went to the cross to die, to shed His precious blood
for you, for me.
And He came to bring hope to a lost world and to each of
us. In this world many have lost their
hope, but there is hope in Jesus, my friends.
The cry of ours hearts and the cry of the hearts of those in His day was
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!
O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL!
“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
Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; and drive away the
shades of night, and pierce the clouds and bring us light! 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 of misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. (Latin hymn from 12th century)
In this wonderful old hymn we see the promise of His
coming, and we see Emmanuel, God with us.
He would come and when He came He would bring salvation. In the first verse we see captives in exile
longing for Emmanuel to come. And there
are times when we feel that we are captives to our sin, and to pain and
sorrow. But Emmanuel will come and bring
deliverance from our sin and that which enslaves us.
“There shall come
forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his
roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and
might, the Spirit of Knowledge and the fear of the Lord” Isaiah 11:1-2.
We see this wonderful prophecy of our Wonderful Lord as
He would come. He would be a “Righteous
Branch” which would grow out of Jesse, David’s father. He would come with wisdom, understanding,
counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. This was the Messiah they were waiting and
watching for, our Precious Jesus, the Messiah!
“Through the
tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the way of peace” Luke 1:78-79.
In God’s tender mercy, He was sending the Dayspring, the
Messiah to visit us. Those who sit in
darkness, He came to bring light and life and to conquer death forever. And He promises to guide us into a life of
peace. Oh, what a promise! If you are feeling darkness closing in on
your today, the Dayspring has come to light your path, to bring peace and joy
and eternal life with Him forever. Oh,
what a precious promise!
As we celebrate Advent, we also are looking forward to
His second advent. And we look for our
heavenly home. And because of His death
and resurrection, He has opened the way to eternal life. And when He comes there will be no more
sorrow, pain or tears. And our hearts
look toward the heavens and long for His coming at last! O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!
In the Name of Jesus’
Pastor Sharon
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