Wednesday 23rd November 2022

Advent greetings, 

It is that time, my friends. You will hear and will continue to hear the great advent hymn, O Come O Come Emmanuel today and for the next month on constant repeat. It will be so inescapable to your ears and your subconscious that you will find yourself pleading to God, ‘is there no other advent hymn?’ Of course, I say all this in jest, however, I would argue that there is no other advent hymn as popular and synonymous with Advent as O Come O Come Emmanuel.

And what powerful words. ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears.’ These opening words to the hymn offer an invitation; a plea to God that he would come. The word Emmanuel means ‘God is with us’ and is one of the names given to Jesus in the Bible (Isaiah 7:14). It is a plea for God to come and be with us. 

Then notice who is saying this plea to God. It is captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here. I see this as having a double meaning. First, it refers to the biblical story of the Israelites who have experienced exile and await salvation from God, for freedom from their exile and captivity. This could refer to their time in Babylon in exile, or even their subjection to Roman rule, a form of captivity. The Israelites were waiting and hoping that God would come and free them. 

Second, I see captive Israel as referring to us today. Jesus already came as a saviour to set the captives free 2000 years ago, but this hymn reminds us that we are daily in need of Jesus as our saviour. There are so many ways in life and in each day that we find ourselves in a sort of lonely exile with some struggle or hurt in life holding us in captivity. 

In Advent, we are in a season of waiting and expectation, waiting for Jesus to come to us in the second coming, but also for Jesus to reach into our lives today. He comes and ransoms us from our places of captivity to give us freedom, to set us free to know and delight in God with us. In response to this we sing rejoice, rejoice for God has come to be with us, (formerly) captive Israel. God has come and set us free; our waiting has not been in vain and has been rewarded with freedom. 

God is all about freedom. The whole of Israel’s story is about freedom from sin and captivity to sin. O Come O Come Emmanuel captures this story of God so well, which is why it is so widely adored. It helps us recognise our place as Israel, as people of God, who are in this ever-living plea to God to come and be with us. The good news is that God is with us right now, but we should never lose that hunger and forget our need for God to be with us, to free us from our captivity to sin and things not of God. We remember that salvation comes when the Son of God appears, both 2000 years ago and every day since. Each day, and especially in Advent, we wait in hope and expectation for Jesus to come. We trust that Jesus will be in our lives, setting us free from captivity, and that he will one day come again. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel. Sing these words boldly this Advent as a declaration of what God has done, and as a prayer for what he will continue to do in our lives. 

Every blessing, 

Shakeel