Christmas Carol Devotion #4: O Come O Come Emmanuel

Love what the devotional guide I've been reading has to say:

Time after time, the Israelites found themselves separated from God - always by their own doing. And God would eventually deliver them, only to be betrayed by His chosen people again. So we find two constant themes in the Old Testament:

- The Israelites, no matter how hard they tried, were unfaithful to God.

- God remained faithful and fulfilled the promises He made to them.

Through His prophets, God made many promises. Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel." The name Emmanuel translates as "God with us." It's a remarkable promise - the Ultimate Being and Creator of the Universe promising to make Himself physically present with the people who have proven themselves unworthy.

In one of the most somber Christmas songs, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," there is an embraced tension within Israel. They are in exile, separated from God yet again. With a somber perspective, they choose to rejoice in the promise God has made to them. With nothing else to cling to, in the midst of desperation and loneliness, they recall and proclaim the promise that God would be with them - knowing that, in spite of their unfaithfulness, God is faithful to His promises.

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So much to chew on here. I've liked this song for a long time and we always do it at least once at Christmas. My personal favorite is the Future of Forestry version, although I really like the Chasing Furies one too. I was going to use this song for our Christmas day service, but it really doesn't make sense to do so. On Christmas Day, the hopeful expectation of the Messiah isn't an expectation anymore, it happens and we celebrate the Messiah's birth, not the hope of His birth.

I've always loved the idea of Emmanuel, too. "God With Us." (For a great video about God With Us, check out this one.) At the beginning of Jesus' birth, we are told that His name will be Emmanuel, which means God With Us. At the end of Jesus' life, He told us that He will be with us always..." So from the first of His life to the last of His life on earth, Jesus promised that He would be with us.

But it gets better.

Because in Acts, when Jesus leaves His disciples, the promise of God With Us becomes something even greater, even more special. Why? Because God With Us has now become God In Us. The Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, we tend to kind of ignore The Spirit. We don't talk about him/her much, we tend to downplay their role in our lives, and that's a shame. Because Jesus said that we would do greater things than He did while He was on earth. Because He was sending someone to be our helper, our advocate (John 14).

Okay, I'm off track. This song reminds me of what Adam, our student minister, said in his message during Thanksgiving weekend. That it's easy to give thanks for the good things that have already happened to us. It's a lot hard to give thanks for the good things we are praying about and expecting to have happen. In the same way, it's easy to rejoice that the Messiah is coming when He is already here. It is much harder to rejoice in the Messiah who is yet to come.