THE DAWN OF REDEEMING GRACE, Part 1

O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL

“One day when Heaven was filled with His praises, One day when sin was as black as could be”…It was indeed a dark day in the time before Jesus came. God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were held captive under the oppressive Romans. Sin had brought them to that place. God had privileged them beyond measure. To them belonged the “adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple services and the promises” (Rom. 9:4). But despite their privileges and blessings they forsook God and disobeyed His law. Their plight was according to God’s warning. 400 years of prophetic silence preceded Christ’s coming.

The estate of the Gentiles was, if possible, even worse. “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom. 1:21). Lost and exiled in sin, they had “no hope and (were) without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). It was indeed a sin-darkened and hopeless world.

But the prophets had spoken of one who would come to the rescue. “The people who walk in darkness” Isaiah declared, “will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them” (Isa. 9:2). “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” was the cry of the prophets. They spoke of One:

Who would come and ransom captive Israel;

Who would come and disperse the clouds of night;

Who would come and make safe the way that leads on high.

The One of whom they spoke was a man, but no ordinary man. He was Emmanuel—“ God with us,” the promised Messiah, the Savior of all, who was born into this world some 2000 years ago.

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.

Refrain: 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. Refrain

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! Refrain

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. Refrain

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might,

Who to Thy tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud, and majesty, and awe. Refrain

Pastor Jerry