December 23, 2006

Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

The beautiful haunting melody of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel has always captivated me. This year however, I have not only listened to the melody of this beloved carol; I have begun to listen more closely to the text of this song. In particular, the single word of ‘Emmanuel’ has captured my interest and drawn my intrigue. Opening God’s Word to Matthew, I’ve rediscovered the meaning of the name ‘Emmanuel.' Let me share it with you:

Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Emmanuel—God with us.

Here, in the meaning of Emmanuel, we find the truth that’s the very basis of our Christmas celebration. Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, is God with us. Jesus, the baby born 2000 years ago, wasn’t born merely as a great prophet or a radical teacher. Jesus came as God in flesh. Jesus came as God, to reconcile us to Himself.

Looking back a few verses in Matthew we find verse 21:

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save his people from their sins.

He shall save his people from their sins.

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.

Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel has come! The Son of God has appeared. He came to deliver us from bondage—and because of Him, we have victory. Let us rejoice!

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

Merry Christmas! May your days be blessed as you rejoice in the coming of Emmanuel!

*The author of the words and composer to the music of O Come, O Come Emmanuel is unknown. This carol was a Latin text from the 12th Century.

8 comments:

Hannah said...

Merry Christmas, Katie Marie and Veronika! May you be filled with His joy this December. :)

Kaitlin said...

Merry Christmas, Katie and Veronika!

Rubies&Sapphires said...

Merry Christmas, Katie Marie!

I liked your Christmas post! It's really neat because these are the same verses that I've been drawn to this Christmas too. If you check out R&S, you'll see the short poem I wrote about it.

C ya l8er, K!

~Terah Keziah~

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas! "Emmanuel has appeared. He came to deliver us from bondage-and because of Him, we have victory. Let us rejoice!"
Yes, let us rejoice in our Lord God and Savior, Emmanuel!

Merry Christmas all!

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas to everyone too!!!

Thank you for continuing to come back and read our blog! Your support means a lot to us, especially since Katie and I are still trying to figure everything out. :) Keep pursuing!

Elizabeth Pruett said...

Merry Christmas!

Do you ever sing all the verses? I love that. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs!

Katie Marie said...

Elizabeth, I don't know that I have. As I was writing this post, I enjoyed reading them all though. I love how different names of Christ are used in each verse.

Travis said...

Merry Christmas Katie! Thanks for the Holiday greeting! Hope you guys had a great Christmas.

The Blogging Boy Scout,
Travis