O Come O Come Emmanuel
Carols: Songs of Christmas • Sermon • Submitted
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Already, Not Yet
Already, Not Yet
Andrew Peterson Song “Matthew Begats”
The beginning of Matthew may seem odd, or even boring, but it is actually quite profound.
Matthew traces the lineage of Jesus from Abraham, through King David, all the way to Joseph and Mary.
You can read it how we most often read genealogies, trudging through it so we can get to the “good stuff”, thinking it really isn’t all that significant.
Or you can read it as a Jew, recognizing the anticipation and longing they would have experienced as that timeline played itself out.
Jewish people knew each name on that list and each story behind each name.
With each name added to the list the anticipation and longing for the “promised one” became more and more fervent.
“O Come O come promised one” “O Come O come Emmanuel”
And then it happened.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Matthew captures this longing and anticipation even more clearly in vs 22-23
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
He quotes the prophet Isaiah:
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.
The one Isaiah had spoken about, the one the Jews had longed for had come!
History of the Hymn
History of the Hymn
That is the message “O Come O Come Emmanuel” captures beautifully.
Written as a series of chants in the 8th Century
Would be chanted the 7 days prior to Christmas by monks to prepare their hearts for Christmas
In the 19th Century, John Mason Neale translated the verses from Latin to English and put them to music.
Each verse introduces us to a name for Jesus
Jesus only has one name, but like everyone in this county, he has nicknames.
Catfish, Sluggo, Sissy...
The names have significant meanings and speak of the grandeur of who Jesus was, is, and will be.
It is a song that captures the significance of the birth of Jesus for all of human history.
The longing and anticipation of who He would be.
The magnitude of who He was
And the amazing promise of who he will be
It is a song that beautifully expresses the joy of the Savior who has come and the longing for the Savior that has yet to return.
John Piper says “The Christian life oscillates between these two poles: the overflowing joy of the “already” redeemed and the tearful yearning of the “not-yet” redeemed.
This is a song that captures the reality we already feel, there is joy in the reality that the Savior has come, but there remains a longing for Him to return and complete the work He started.
The beginning of Matthew may seem odd, or even boring, but it is actually quite profound.
Matthew traces the lineage of Jesus from Abraham, through King David, all the way to Joseph and Mary.
You can read it how we most often read genealogies, trudging through it so we can get to the “good stuff”, thinking it really isn’t all that significant.
Or you can read it as a Jew, recognizing the anticipation and longing they would have experienced as that timeline played itself out.
Jew people knew each name on that list and each story behind each name.
Each name represented the
With each name added to the list the anticipation and longing for the “promised one” became more and more fervent.
“O Come O come promised one” “O Come O come Emmanuel”
And then it happened.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Matthews 1 18
Matthew captures this longing and anticipation even more clearly in vs 22-23
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
The one Isaiah had spoken about, the one the Jews had longed for was now coming into the world.
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.
This is a song that captures the reality we already feel, there is joy in the reality that the Savior has come, but there remains a longing for Him to return and complete the work He started.
John Piper says “The Christian life oscillates between these two poles: the overflowing joy of the “already” redeemed and the tearful yearning of the “not-yet” redeemed.
Though we know the joy of Jesus, we still feel the pain of brokenness in our world RIGHT!?!? We feel it in our own lives
The song captures that truth, the rejoicing and the mourning. The relief and the longing. The healing and the pain.
Truth in Song
Truth in Song
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
The coming of Emmanuel rescues us from the captivity of our sin.
The coming of Emmanuel rescues us from the captivity of our sin.
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.
Christmas is a season of need- we all need a savior, rejoice that He has come.
You can’t save yourself and you are in dire need of rescue.
We all know the would we live in is broken and so we seek rescue from the brokenness.
Every human being on the face of the earth longs for rescue:
We name that rescue all kinds of things:
Nirvana
Religious people pursue religious practice to try and fix their problem.
Elightenment
Understanding
Success
Hindus pursue Nirvana
Prestege
Salvation
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Where our default is to pursue the desires of the flesh
jn 8:
We have n
We are held captive by our sin until Christ delivers us.
Emmanuel- “God with us”
but the words used in
Every day they woke up to the reality that they were captives in a
Every day we wake up the affects of sin are all around us.
That is the wonder of Christmas,
Muslims follow the 5 pillars
Buddhists the 8-fold path
Even Atheists pursue knowledge
Whatever religion it maybe there is a pursuit, a longing for rescue and release.
In each case it is a man-centered, works-based pursuit that depends on human ability and human practice.
Here we find the most amazing and awe-inspiring difference between Christianity and any other world religion or worldview...
Emmanuel, God with us, has come.
That which requires fixing was not left in the hands of man, but was
The groaning captured in the song is the groaning caused by sin.
Sin separates, sin destroys...
For
That the moment Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, the hope of rescue had begun.
paints the picture of wholeness, joy, and peace.
In Paul paints the picture of what Immanuel, God with us, means for those who receive Him.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Paul says we are all born hopeless, captive to the disease of sin that is born in each of us.
“One sin led to the condemnation of all mankind.”
captive to the disease of sin that is born in each of us.
You can’t escape the reality of condemnation. We all feel it and every human that has ever existed has longed for and pursued rescue from that condemnation.
That is the wonder of Christmas,
His people needed salvation, and he was born for one reason only: to provide it. But in order to save us, he had to be one of us. Only a man could pay the penalty for our sin; but only God would be free from sin and be able bear up under the unmitigated wrath of God. He had to be God and yet man, one of us, and he was.
God has become man, in order that the thing man could never accomplish for ourselves might be accomplished in Him.
When He took His first breath as a newborn baby, the condemnation that had been passed down since Adam was not passed to Him.
The birth of Jesus from the virgin Mary was the ONLY way we would ever be ransomed from our captivity to sin.
As He grew up, lived His life, and was face with the day to day struggles of man, yet never gave into temptation, He was “perfected” as a atoning sacrifice for the sin of mankind.
Every human being longs for rescue and Christmas is our opportunity to rejoice that that rescue has come.
And yet we also long for the day when the promise of full rescue will be accomplish when Christ returns in glory.
Achy joints, tired bodies, grumpy kids (and spouses), high blood pressure, cancer, car accidents, robberies, death, crimes in general.
God was “with” man, nothing kept man from connecting with, communing with God.
But then Chapter 3 comes...
Simply stepping out of bed ushers you into another day in a world of captivity to the effects of sin.
The first consequence of sin was that it separated us from our creator.
God dwelt with man in the garden of Eden.
There was nothing that separated man from God as man was “very good” in the sight of God.
So at the end of , after Adam and Eve rebel against God and chart their own path, God sends them out of the garden, out of their original home, into exile.
Sin caused separation, judgement that ultimately ended in death.
says the penalty of such sin is death
For the generations that followed the affects of sin
We often, unintentionally, devalue the scope and effects of sin.
Every day we wake up the affects of sin are all around us.
Achy joints, tired bodies, grumpy kids (and spouses), high blood pressure, cancer, car accidents, robberies, death, crimes in general.
Simply stepping out of bed ushers you into another day in a world of captivity to the effects of sin.
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 coming of the Rod of Jesse frees us from the tyranny of Satan and sin.
The coming of the Rod of Jesse frees us from the tyranny of Satan and sin.
Christmas is a season of Promise- rejoice that the promise has come.
The coming of the Rod of Jesse frees us from the tyranny of Satan and sin.
The coming of the Rod of Jesse frees us from the tyranny of Satan and sin.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
This verse points to a couple of promises.
One, the “rod of Jesse” points to throne of David. The Messiah would come from the house of David.
The stump of Jesse points to throne of David. The Messiah would come from the house of David.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
The Jewish people longed for the new King to come, like David, but even greater.
The Jewish people longed for the new King to come, like David, to free them from the earthly tyranny they were under.
But there is an even greater tyranny we, and they, are under, the tyranny of Satan and his greatest weapon, namely death.
In , Satan tempts Adam and Eve into disobeying God.
Because of their sin, God judges Adam and Eve, and the ultimate judgement is death.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
This is the 2nd wonder of Christmas
The birth of Jesus marks the beginning of victory over Satan, sin, and death
God pointed to Christmas shortly after Adam and Eve sinned:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
:15
This is God’s first promise of salvation.
The first announcement of Emmanuel, the “offspring” who would “crush the head” of Satan.
Satan’s most powerful weapon is the pain and fear of death.
As humans under the curse of sin, we face the reality that one day we will die.
But that is what is so incredible about Jesus.
He defeated death when He rose from the grace
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus has defeated death because He was born, because He lived, because He died, and because He was resurrected.
We rejoice in Emmanuel, but we also long for Him to complete that which He started.
Just last week I did a funeral and there was another right after that one.
Though we know death is no longer final for those in Christ Jesus, we still long for the day when death will be no more.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Christmas reminds us that death no longer has it’s sting
But we also long for the day when death is no more.
O come, Thou Day-Spring Come and cheer
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
The coming of the Day-Spring shines hope into the despair and darkness of our world.
The coming of the Day-Spring shines hope into the despair and darkness of our world.
Christmas is a season of hope- rejoice in the light of the world where hope is found.
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
The third verse grabs the words of Zechariah as he prophesies over his son John the Baptist.
“And you child…will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people...”
Zechariah understands the significance of his son and the wonder of the coming one.
The birth of Jesus was the dawn of a new reality.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John speaks of Jesus’s birth as the “shining of light into darkness”.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus says of himself “I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will walk in light, not darkness.”
Jn
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
This means 3 things for us today:
There is no other light, no other truth, no other way.
Everyone in this world need Jesus as their light
You will only find truth in Jesus, who shines the light of truth into all of the world.
Response
Response
Jesus shine light into everything and makes it