Monday, December 13, 2010
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.
O EMMANUEL
O come, O come Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
This is, of course, normally the first verse and the most popular. And rightly so as it is the heart of all the other prayers. Yet, for that very reason it was the last of the prayers, in order to sum up in grand finale all the hopes and dreams of God's people trapped beneath the weight of sin and death, living in darkness and chaos.
One can almost sense the pain, the urgency, the hope, the wonder in these words. Will He really do it? Will He really give up all and come to earth as one of us for our sakes, bringing salvation?
Will He really do it for me? They say the first step is admitting you have a problem, but often the hardest part is finding someone willing and able to help. Will He really come to my heart? Does He really live there now? With all my sin, with all my pride, with all my problems?
This is what makes Christmas relevant. It isn't just the celebration of the Christ who conquered darkness. It is the pleading with Christ and the promise from Christ to come now, to live with us now, to dispel darkness now. That Christ would come now here to those who moan in loneliness and despair.
And the resounding answer from all the prophets, all the apostles, all the evangelists, from Christ himself, the jubilant answer of Christmas is YES, He has come and will come in His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
O come Emmanuel, and make here your home.
