O Come O Come Emmanuel
PV Care Group
O Come O Come Emmanuel Lesson
Ice Breaker: Have you ever longed for something so much that you could hardly function? Like you were so focused on this thing you wanted everything else just didn’t satisfy or couldn’t keep your attention?
The season of Advent is marked by a similar sense of longing and joy, and one of our frequently sung hymns during the time of Advent is a cry and longing for the Messiah to come. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel was written in the 12th century as a medieval Latin hymn. Typically sung in monasteries, and yet somehow this tune makes its way to our modern hymnals? A Lot of that can be attributed to John Mason Neale, an English minister who translated the anonymously written text into English in 1851. Though I think it’s remained popular since then because of its message of longing and joy today’s Christians still seek in our daily lives. They wanted Emammuel to come into the world to offer salvation to the people and we want Emmanuel to come into our lives and guide us by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
O Come O Come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the son of God appear
Israel was captive to sin and brokenness and exiled from everything they knew & Called out for rescue from Emmanuel (the promised God with us). Here we are centuries later and that longing of rescue and ransom to be paid doesn’t look a whole lot different. Our people are still captive to sin and still longing for rescue from Emmanuel. Jesus came into the world as a baby and the people thought they were gonna be rescued from human captivity but God had a grander plan to rescue them from captivity to sin and give them eternal life. And the good thing for us is Jesus still offers the ransom for our sin and the rescue from this lost and broken world. So the singing of O Come O Come Emmanuel isn’t just a one time request to come into the world but a daily request to come into our lives and save us from our sins!
Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).
- In what ways are you longing for Emmanuel (God with Us) to come this Christmas season?
- What do you need to be rescued from at this time?
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.
Luke 1:76-79 NKJV
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The song writer requests for the Dayspring (the Savior) to come and cheer our spirits by appearing. And this appearance is a feat in itself. The dark places are lit, the clouds are dispersed and death’s dark shadow is sent on its way! Jesus comes and all the dark, heavy, gloomy things are taken away! The shadow of death has left because there is now eternal life through the Dayspring.
3. What areas of life do you need for the Dayspring to come light up and send the darkness on its way?
4. This Christmas season how can you live like Jesus, our Emmanuel, the Dayspring is coming again soon?