THE CAROLS OF CHRISTMAS: O Come, O Come Emmanuel 12-24-23
INTRODUCTION
Christmas
“The birth of Christ is the central
event in the history of the earth – the very thing the whole story has been
about.”
C.
S. Lewis
James Martin tells about a trip to the
Holy Land. While there, he buys a nativity set for his Sunday School class. It
was carved out of olive wood in the town of Bethlehem and had all the
traditional figures: sheep and oxen; wise men and the shepherds; Mary, Joseph,
and, of course, the baby Jesus.
As he began the return trip home, he
had to go through the very strict security at Tel Aviv airport. He didn’t
figure that the nativity set would attract any attention but he was wrong. Each
figure was carefully scrutinized and even X-rayed. Martin asked why they were
being so diligent. The security officer explained it this way: "You see,
we must make sure there is nothing explosive in them."
The Christmas story is explosive. It’s
part of the dynamite of the Gospel story. There is power in knowing that
almighty God loved us enough to come to this earth, be born, live a perfect
life, die for our sins, and then raise from the dead and give us the promise of
new, abundant, and eternal life.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel lyrics
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 Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Refrain
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over 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, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Refrain
O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.
Refrain
O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
”After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in
Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and
asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star
when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was
disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the
people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah
was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the
prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no
means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who
will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly
and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to
Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find
him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they
went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them
until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star,
they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother
Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures
and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been
warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by
another route.
When they had gone, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his
mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to
search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his
mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of
Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of
Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been
outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys
in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance
with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the
prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great
mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because
they are no more.”
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and
his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the
child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his
mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was
reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.
Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he
went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said
through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.“
Matthew 2:1-23 NIV
I. O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL
”All this took place to fulfill what
the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth
to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).“
Matthew 1:22-23 NIV
“If we could condense all the truths
of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: ‘God with
us.”
John
F. MacArthur
A.
The hope of Israel
B.
The prophecies proclaimed
C.
The promise fulfilled
”After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in
Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and
asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star
when it rose and have come to worship him.”“
Matthew 2:1-2 NIV
II. EMMANUEL HAS COME
Marjorie Holmes writes, "At
Christmas, all roads lead home. The filled planes, the packed trains and
overflowing buses all speak eloquently of a single destination: home. Despite
the crowding and the crushing, the delays, the confusion, we clutch our bright
packages and beam our anticipation. We are like birds driven by an instinct we
only faintly understand--the hunger to be (home)."
She then remembers a Christmas during
the Great Depression when her Dad was out of work and the rest of her siblings
were scattered across the country and unable to return home for Christmas. But
then just days before, each sibling conspired with the others to make it home
no matter what to surprise their parents. When she arrived at the door, she
writes, "I'll never forget (my mother's) eyes or the feel of her arms
around me." The next morning she was awakened by the sleigh bells hanging
on the front door as her siblings each arrived. "Together. (We realized)
it was the best Christmas gift we could give one another."
Many years later, her husband had to
travel to Florida to perform a vital surgery which would separate them for
Christmas. They had agreed that this would be the way it is for Christmas this
year but then at the last minute, Marjorie and her daughter hopped a train and
headed to Florida. On the way, she saw a sailor in his uniform with his sea bag
on his shoulders and she knew here was another so immutably driven to
"Come home." And then she writes, "There must be some deep
psychological reason why we turn so instinctively toward home at this special
time. Perhaps we are acting out the ancient story of a man and a woman and a
coming child, plodding along with their donkey toward their destination. It was
necessary for Joseph to go home...The Child who was born on that first
Christmas grew up to be a man, Jesus. He healed many people, taught us many
important things. But the message that has left the most lasting impression and
given the most hope and comfort is this: that we do have a home to go to...a place
where every day will be Christmas, with everybody there. At home."
A.
The name
”Therefore the Lord himself will give
you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel.“
Isaiah 7:14 NIV
The lyrics echo several prophetic
themes. The title comes from the well known Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel
is Hebrew for “God with us.”
B.
The lineage
”A shoot will come up from the stump
of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.“
Isaiah 11:1 NIV
The “Rod of Jesse” refers to Isaiah
11:1: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.” Jesse was
the father of David, second king of Israel.
C.
The source
”because of the tender mercy of our
God, by which the rising sun (dayspring) will come to us from heaven“
Luke 1:78 NIV
“Day-Spring” comes from Zacharias,
father of John the Baptist, in Luke 1:78: “The dayspring from on high has
visited us.”
D.
The authority
”I will place on his shoulder the key
to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one
can open.“
Isaiah 22:22 NIV
“Thou Key of David” is in Isaiah
22:22: “The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder,” which
in turn refers to Isaiah 9:6: “The government shall be upon His shoulder.”
III. MARANATHA (Lord Come
Quickly)
”If anyone does not love the Lord, let
that person be cursed! Come, Lord!“
1
Corinthians 16:22 NIV
A.
A call for Christ to return
1. “Wise men still seek
Him.”
2. The cry of hope
B.
The return of Christ
1. Be prepared
“Be dressed ready for service and keep
your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a
wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the
door for him.“
Luke 12:35-36 NIV
2. Be on the lookout
C.
The worship of the returning Messiah
”Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.“
Philippians 2:9-11 NIV
1. The worship of Emmanuel
2. The acknowledgement of
Emmanuel
There were only a few who worshipped
the baby King. Everyone will worship the King when He returns!
CONCLUSION
The people of God have been looking
for the promised Messiah, Emmanuel. Emmanuel has come. The people
of God look for the return of the Christ, Emmanuel. Every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess.
The prophecy, the hope, and the
fulfillment.
It has been said, “Christmas without
Christ is like a nicely wrapped box given as a present, but with no present
inside!” “God with us” is the hope of Christmas. No feeling, no
present, no sentiment compares to the true reason for Christmas.
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an
"invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want
to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want
to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).
Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to
God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood
Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in
your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be
honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your
life.
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