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.

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.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, 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 heavenly 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, O come, Thou Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,

In ancient times did'st give the Law,

In cloud, and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Imagine this: a woman bound in chains sitting on the ground in a dark hovel. Or perhaps she is not physically bound, but she is tied through oppression to servitude of a harsh and evil master. While she serves extravagant meals to those who hold her in bondage, she eats the same scraps of slop fed to the pigs. Her people, the ones her mother has whispered to her about in the quiet of night, once were a mighty people; an interwoven community of tradition, celebration and law. They knew the love of a God who freed them time and again. These stories of ransom, these grand stories of Egyptians being swallowed by the seas, these stories of God crumbling a city fortress with the marching of his men and the sound of trumpets, these stories of an army of 300 defeating an army of tens of thousands with a loud yell and the shattering of lamps, these are the stories of her heritage. 

But now she is exiled, separated from the people whom these stories herald. Occasionally she meets eyes with a fellow Israelite slave while she's fetching water at the well, but she is terrified to do more than make eye contact. The masters are fierce and they fear this people whom God has favored so greatly in the past. Yet the slave girl wonders if they really have anything to fear. The God whom her mother spoke of has been silent for so long. Is the long-awaited Messiah really coming? All she knows is chains; all she knows is unyielding orders from an unloving master. Is there such a thing as freedom? Should she dare to hope? Hope seems risky. It could result in devastation. But then she thinks what could be more devastating than this fate? It's hard to imagine what could be worse.

This girl is who Emmanuel comes to on Christmas morn so long ago. God comes, just has He has time and again, to ransom His people, to buy their freedom. He has always moved in spectacular ways, astonishing the world with His might and power. So this might and power is what the Israelites expect. They are in exile, separated from their land, their people, their tradition. They are ready for God to smite their oppressors, just as He did in Egypt many years before. They are ready for God to come in might and act on their behalf. And God comes. He comes in might, He comes to smite their enemies, but He doesn't come the way anyone could expect.


God comes to His people not in a pillar of smoke, not in a roaring sea, not in a mighty earthquake, but in a tender God baby. He has come to them. He has come personally. He has come as Emmanuel, to live among them, to conquer from the inside. It is an inside job, this delivering from Satan's tyranny, this saving from Hell, this conquering o'er the grave. God sees the long term need of His people. He knows that He could easily send 10 plagues to Israel's oppressors and free them once again, but their souls would still be in bondage. Satan has a hold on their hearts, our hearts. The curse instigated so many years ago, penetrates deep within us. We are slaves to trying to be God, to trying to know, and rule, and act in the ways we think are best. And each time He frees us, we walk away praising Him, rejoicing in what He has done, only to moments later forget that it is He who has freed us. We are bound to our selfishness, we are bound to the lies Satan told us in the garden so long ago, we are bound to questioning whether God is really as good as He has shown Himself to be.


So God, in His infinite wisdom, knows we need freedom from more than our circumstances. We need freedom from more than our physical chains. We need freedom from more than the consequences of evil in this world. We need freedom from the chains on our soul. We need freedom from the tyranny of needing to please God, needing to prove ourselves to Him. We need freedom from sin and all of its ripple effects. We need freedom from death.


It is our spirits that God comes and cheers with His advent here. His arrival doesn't always look like deliverance from our physical oppression, although we see He longs for that and does heal many who were physically afflicted in His time here on earth. But more than that He disperses the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows take to flight. It is the clouds of our soul that we are delivered from, it is the anguish of being separated from God. For now, Emmanuel is here. God is with us. Whatever physical affliction we suffer, whatever earthly bondage we face, we do not face it alone. He leads us safely on the path on high and closes the path to misery. It is our souls that Rejoice, Rejoice for we know God is with us. It is our hearts that breath a sigh of relief, that breath in the breathe of freedom as we see death no longer have victory over us. It is our spirits that cry out in thankfulness for the gift of of never walking alone. Emmanuel, God with us, how could we not rejoice?

So now we return to our slave girl, still in bondage, still under the cruelty of a terrible master. But now, O now, she knows a Savior has come. He is hidden amongst the other slaves in the house, He has the means to free them all. He brings hope, He brings certainty that this bondage will not be forever. He will lead every one of us out of this evil place and into a land absent of misery! He speaks of this in passing during the day, whispering His truths over her as she scrubs the walls and cleans the toilets. He sings of the freedom in the long, cold nights when she shivers under the freezing reality of her chains. And her soul is free, for she is certain that this Savior has made a way. She hums while she works, her soul certain of a Savior who loves her. She smiles as she serves her masters, for she knows that it is not truly them who rule over her. Her heart rejoices because Emmanuel has come to her. This captive is free, she has been ransomed indeed. Rejoice, rejoice!