So this carol rightly belongs to us as well. What Israel was waiting for turns out to be the long-expected Jesus. But Israel’s Messiah is also our Savior and Lord. Sing it-and explain it! We can see the Jewish roots of this carol in the refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel. We ought to sing this carol and we ought to use it as a teaching tool. That fact might argue against singing it today because so many churchgoers don’t have any idea what “Day-spring” means or they think Jesse refers to a wrestler or maybe to a reality TV star. Each verse of this carol features a different Old Testament name or title of the coming Messiah: “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” “O come, Thou Wisdom from on high.” “O come, Thou Rod of Jesse.” “O come, Thou Day-spring.” “O come, Thou Key of David.” “O come, Thou Lord of Might.” “O come, Desire of Nations.” This carol assumes a high level of biblical literacy. When the words form a prayer that Christ will come and “ransom captive Israel,” we ought to remember the long years of Babylonian captivity. Traditionally Advent centers on the Old Testament preparation for the coming of the Messiah who will establish his kingdom on the earth. Many churches sing it early in the Advent season because of its plaintive tone of expectant waiting. Translated into English by John Mason Neale in 1851, we sing it to the tune “Veni, Emmanuel,” a 15th-century melody. It was sung or chanted in Latin during the seven days leading up to Christmas. In its earliest form, it was a “plain song” or a chant and the monks sang it a cappella. Historians say its roots go back to the 8th century. This is perhaps our oldest Christmas carol. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel “T hey shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23 ESV).
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