Lent Day #39

In keeping with the incarnational theme i started yesterday, today's hymn is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. We will be camping out on this theme for a while - four more days after today. :-D

disclaimer: i'm being selective about verses. there are a bunch of verses to this song, and you know that means a BUNCH since i'm the kid who whines about wanting to sing all 6 verses of psalm 51 at RUF...

o come, o come Emmanuel
and ransom captive israel
who mourns in lowly exile here
until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, o israel

o come Thou Dayspring, 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

o come Thou Key of david, come
and open wide our heav'nly home
make safe the way that leads on high
and close the path to misery

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 vict'ry o'er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, o israel

o come Desire of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mandkind
bid Thou our sad divisions cease
and be Thyself our King of Peace

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to be honest, most of this i feel is self-explanatory. to expound on a few points...

1) there is an awful lot of longing in this song after Christ's appearing. makes me wonder how much we ought to be longing for His reappearing...
2) Jesus is here depicted as a long-awaited hero, complete with dragons (of sorts - you didn't miss a verse) to slay. He will free His people from exile, cheer and uplift their hearts, "close the path to misery" (which i can only assume means that He cuts off hell from our futures), open wide the doors of heaven, make the path to heaven safe for us to travel, rescue His people from hell (sinners in the hands of an angry God, anyone?), conquer for us death, unify us as a people, and bring peace. that is an awful lot.
3) as much as this is a song about desire, about longing, there is a ringing promise throughout it: "Emmanuel SHALL come to thee, o israel."

also of note: israel=us. just to clarify if you didn't know.