Hello. I am Dr Kylie Fisher. Welcome to Heavenly Harmonies, a series designed to help you draw nearer to God's heart through the scriptural message of hymns.
It's only by understanding the words of a song that we can begin to express its message. And it's only by understanding how the words of a hymn fit into the theme of the Bible, the story of salvation, that we can begin to understand its message and thus learn to express it. And so today we are going to look at the beautiful hymn oh Come Emmanuel and see what this hymn has to say to us about the theme of the Bible, the story of salvation.
So far we have looked at a number of different hymns that have had some different things to speak to us about God and about His Word and about the way that he works in our lives. So our first hymn that we looked at was Near To the Heart of God, and we looked at how we can find comfort in God even despite the sad things that are happening on earth. In our second hymn, it came upon the midnight clear.
We looked at how God often works through angels. They are his messengers that come to earth to bring happiness and joy into our lives. And when we looked at the song Joy to The World, we saw that joy comes from following God, from following his ways.
And also we did see that it's sin that's brought suffering and death. So our song for today, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, helps us to understand more about the story of salvation. And it brings in some new ideas into this story that we've been building up, this story that's the theme of the Bible.
And this is a really beautiful hymn. I know that not everybody likes songs that are in a minor key, but I do, and this song is sort of in a minor key. And in the words of this song, there's a lot of quite abstract ideas, there's a lot of Bible imagery.
Well, all of these songs are extremely deep. But, yeah, there's a lot to discuss in this song. And in the brief time that we've got, we can sort of really only touch on just a few things.
But we'll go through this song also. There are actually seven stances in this hymn. Many of the hymns, actually, the way that they're now published in hymn books and so on, a lot of them originally have a lot more stanzas than what's commonly published or commonly sung.
But it can be helpful for us to think about the words of stanzas in hymns, even if we're not singing all of those stanzas, because it can shed light on the particular stanzas that we are going to use in our performance. So I will talk briefly about each of these seven stanzas, plus the refrain in this hymn, and then we'll sort of talk about ways that we might be able to musically express that and actually listen to the song. So starting with the first verse of this song, oh, come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.
And then the chorus which is repeated after each verse, or, well, I guess it depends particularly on the way that you're going to do the performance. You may choose just to go straight from one verse to another verse. But anyway, the chorus that is in this song says, rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
So there's a number of new ideas in this first stanza that we have not talked about in our previous programmes, so we'll focus on those. And so there's a number of questions that might arise from listening to these words. And the first one know, who is Israel? Why are they in captivity? Who is this Emmanuel and how is he going to rescue or ransom Israel? And so we'll explore these things and we'll look first at who is Emmanuel.
And as I said, this is in the first verse. If you've got the words actually there in front of you, if you can just google search them or whatever, probably will make it a lot easier to follow along my comments. The word Emmanuel is used in this first verse, but as I also said, it's also in the chorus, so it has the potential to be repeated after every single verse.
So it is a very important word in this song. Maybe we could and of course, obviously it's usually used in the title as well, so maybe we could say this is even like the very key word of this song is Emmanuel. So what does this mean? Well, there's a number of places where it is used in the Bible.
The first place is Isaiah, chapter seven and verse 14. I'll leave you to look that up in your own time, just for time's sake. But that is then quoted in Matthew chapter one and shown how it applies to Jesus.
So I'm going to read six verses here just to sort of give the context and to sort of give a bit of background on the birth of Jesus. So Matthew chapter one and verses 18 to 23, and it uses the word Emmanuel at the end. So this says, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. So, in other words, this was quite disgraceful that here was a lady that was not married, that was pregnant and so Joseph was, you know, I'm not going to make this public, I'll just put her away privately, but I'm not going to get married to her. Then verse 20 continues but while he that is Joseph thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, joseph, thou Son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
So this was actually miraculous birth. Every baby is a miracle, as we will say more in our programme next time. But this was a really miraculous birth because Jesus was not just only human, jesus was born of the Holy Ghost and so he was Son of God.
So continuing on to verse 21, she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And then we come to the part that mentions Emmanuel. So verse 22 says now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.
So there in that last verse we have the definition of Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God with us. And this is really a wonderful thing, it's a wonderful thought.
And to really sing this song and to give it or play this song and to give it right expression. It's really amazing thing for us to stop and think about what this means that this was Emmanuel, the Son of God, which is that's in the last line of this first verse it says that Israel mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. And so Emmanuel is the same as the Son of God.
There are two names for the one being and it means God with us. And that's a wonderful thing because right back in the beginning of our world's history, genesis, chapters one and two in the Bible, we spoke about it last week. God created the world and it was absolutely perfect.
It was absolutely beautiful. God created two human beings called in the Bible, Adam and Eve. And they were to be, and they are the parents of the whole of the human race.
And God designed them and all human beings to enjoy open communion with Him. God came and he would speak to Adam and Eve face to face in the Garden of Eden. And God's plan was that this wonderful loving relationship, this open communication between Him and human beings would continue forever.
But sadly, Adam and Eve, we read in Genesis, chapter three, they made that sad choice. They distrusted God. They took the fruit from the tree that he had told them not to eat.
From this one tree was the test of their loyalty. But sadly, they failed that simple test. They distrusted God.
And that was the beginning of sin and suffering in our world. And so from that time onwards, they were not able to enjoy this face to face communication between God and people. And if it had not been for Jesus, whom we refer to him as the Son of God, but the Bible presents that he has existed with God, whom we call the Father, just for the sake of there's so many mysteries in the Bible.
There's the mystery of iniquity, which is how sin came into the world. There's this mystery of Godliness, which is actually how God came to dwell with us. But there's many things about God himself that we don't understand.
And so, yeah, for us, it's just beyond us to understand how God could have existed forever and that there's three persons in the Godhead. But this is what's clearly presented in the Bible. So we refer to Jesus as the Son of God in the sense that he was born in Bethlehem, but in terms of his actual beginning, he didn't have a beginning.
That's what's presented in the Bible. So when we use these terms like the Father, the Son, they're terms in human language that describe things that's really beyond the power of words to describe. Words are just always inadequate fully to describe the thing that they're portraying.
Yeah. So this had it not been for to just pick up our story again, had it not been for the being that we call Jesus the being that we call Christ the Son of God, stepping in and saying, I will pay the price of man'sin. Had it not been for that, we would never have been able to once again have communication with God.
So this idea of God being with us and Jesus, God himself taking human flesh, that's what we just read in Matthew, chapter one, that's that's as we were saying, that's one, Timothy three, verse 16, that's the mystery of Godliness and we can't fully understand it, but we can accept it. As I was saying, I think in our programme last time, that there's many things about our world that we can't fully understand. When I plant a seed in the garden, I can't really explain how it grows, but it does grow.
So, yeah, these are things that we can't fully explain, we can't fully understand, but we can believe them and know them to be true. And yeah. So I guess even when we're singing this song, I think it's really good, actually, in performing music to just always sort of have that real sense of humility, that sense of awe, that even the music, the words and so on, we might try our absolute best to express the thoughts that are there and that are expressed in that music.
But these thoughts really are beyond us, they're beyond our words, beyond our human capacity to express. And I think that it's actually a really lovely thing to sort of have that sense of awe and that kind of sense of, I'm involved in this experience, but it's something that's really beyond me. And it just helps us constantly to have that sense of humility that if we don't have that, then we can't really grow, we can't really progress.
This is really a wonderful thing that Emmanuel god with us. God was to come and dwell with us. And this promise that God would come and dwell with us, this was given to Adam and Eve on the very day that they sinned.
Genesis 315 actually is the first promise that this Saviour was going to come. Genesis 315 says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.
So we don't have time to explain this fully today. I will probably mention a little more about this in a later verse of this song. But this was the first promise that God would send a saviour and that God himself would come and would dwell with us.
And Adam and Eve, hearing those words, they did not fully understand what God was saying to them, but that was the promise that he made and that was the promise there right back at the beginning. And so this promise was made to Adam and Eve as the representatives of the whole world. And so this promise was given to the whole world.
But sadly, as we read through the Bible, we come only just a few chapters. Well, actually in the very next chapter, we have the really sad story about Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve, killing his younger brother Abel. What a terrible know.
And the world just at such a young time in the world's history, that terrible thing was happening. By the time we get to Genesis, chapter six, we see that describes the state of the world and that the world was so bad that it says that every imagination of man's thoughts was only evil continually and that there was just violence and the world was just really a terrible place to live. And so even though God had made this tremendously gracious promise to Adam and Eve, people rejected the vast majority of people, I should say rejected that.
However, there were some that remained faithful to God and through them, God was able to, even though he had to send a flood to cleanse the world of his wickedness. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It says in Genesis six, verse eight.
And so through him, God was able to preserve some people alive. Sadly, only eight people chose to be saved in the ark, the boat that he built, and so these people were saved. And then, sadly, though, one of Noah's sons, Ham, quite early on, not long after the flood, he chose to rebel against God.
And once again, the world was filled with just so much violence. God at this time, he chose someone to especially to be the father of this son of God that was to come. And that person was Abraham, or Abram as he was then called.
And so that's described in Genesis chapter twelve and verse three, or Genesis chapter twelve. And verses one to three describes how God was speaking to Abram. And in verse three it says god, speaking to Abram said, I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And then this promise that one of Abraham's descendants was to be this promised Messiah, the Son of God, was repeated to him in Genesis chapter 22 and verse 18 in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. So to Abraham was given this wonderful promise, but it was not given to him just exclusively. God's intent was that the Messiah would come through the lineup for Abraham, but he was to be a blessing to the whole world.
And we read in actually Galatians chapter three, that all those who accept Christ as their Saviour, they become one of Abraham's children, not literally, but spiritually. And so all were to share in this wonderful blessing. So let's now look briefly so that's kind of like a fairly long introduction.
We've spent quite a lot of time looking at this first verse, but now let's just briefly touch on that. That really does set us up for understanding the other verses in this song. So let's just briefly touch on these other verses.
So verse two says, o calm thou wisdom from on high and order all things far and nigh to us the path of knowledge show and cause us in her ways to go. So once again this brings in some more ideas about Emmanuel, about the Son of God, Jesus Christ. These are all names for the one being who came and became a person while still retaining his Godhead.
So here he's described as the wisdom from on high. And it says, and order all things far and nigh to us a path of knowledge show and cause us in her ways to go. After people sinned, the earth was dark because of misunderstanding of God.
Of course it means spiritually dark. And I love this beautiful passage in the desire of Ages. Our free book offer.
Desire of Ages, page 22. It says that the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God. Satan's deceptive power was to be broken.
So you'll recall that I said earlier that in a previous programme that Satan was this one angel that had fallen and he had chosen to rebel and he had deceived angels and he'd also deceived human beings. His deceptive power needed to be broken. But this could not be done by force.
The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's covenant. To know God is to love him. His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan.
This work only one being in all the universe could do. Only he who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known upon the world's dark night, the Son of righteousness must rise with healing in his wings. And so this is what it's saying in verse two of this song.
It says to us the path of knowledge show and cause us in her ways to go. So the life of Christ on earth shows us God's way to live. Moving on to verse three.
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. Okay, so this verse actually mentions Satan.
As we've said, he was an angel created perfect by God, but he chose to sin and then deceived human beings, as we have said. And the Bible describes in Romans chapter six, also in John chapter eight and verse 34, it talks about how sin is actually slavery. Many people think that just doing whatever they want to, that is the highest freedom.
But actually the Bible describes that as slavery. And this is actually what Jesus came to free us from and says actually in John chapter eight, if the sons will make you free, you shall be free indeed. And how is it that God frees us? Well, I think verse four gives us an idea.
It's through the sacrifice of Christ, as we've been talking about. But God also has something else that he gives us that when we follow it, we actually find true freedom. And let's look at verse four of this song.
Oh 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. And so this is talking about you may have read in the Bible, Exodus, chapter 20, it talks about God giving the Ten Commandments to Israel and he spoke this law in grandeur. And it may seem strange to think that a law can make us free, but God's laws are all good and perfect and just and, you know, when we walk in those laws, we find true freedom.
So that's how God will set us free from the slavery of sin. Moving on to verse five. O calm desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind.
Be thou our sad division cease, and be thyself our king of peace. So, yeah, when the angels sang at Jesus'birth, they said, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Jesus brings true peace into our lives.
Verse six says, oh come thou day, spring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing nigh. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight. So this shows that God brings true joy into our lives.
The final stanza says, oh 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.
So that's the ultimate destination of God's people, that heavenly home. So now, very briefly, how are we to express these things in music? Well, I think that the first verse in this song is it says that Israel mourns in lonely exile here. And so this first verse we would be having very sad tone in our voice.
Then the next verse, thou wisdom from on high, to us the path of knowledge show. This is full of hope. And then the third verse, speaking about freedom from Satan's tyranny.
I think this is very noble. The fourth verse, speaking about God proclaiming his law on Sinai, this would be full of authority. The fifth verse, I think, would have a very warm tone because it's talking about binding into one the hearts of all mankind.
The 6th verse is full of cheer. It says, oh come our day spring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing nigh. And then the final verse says, open wide our heavenly home.
This is wonderful and glorious. That wonderful, great hope. So let's listen now to Archipelagridge sing this beautiful song.
O calm, O calm Emmanuel, o come and ransom captivity that wants you until the Son of God appear, shall come to the from death of hell I be, and give them victory over the grave. Rejoice, rejoice in you shall to the spring of. Cheer our spirits by Thy, and drive away the shades of night and pierce the cloud and bring us light.
Rejoice, rejoice even you shall come to the holy, beautiful prayer to God and just expressing that tremendous longing for the Messiah to come. Let's just close briefly in a prayer. Dear God, we're so grateful for your wonderful promise to send Emmanuel to be God with us.
I just pray that we can experience that wonderful blessing in our lives. So thank you so much, dear God, for this wonderful promise. In Jesus name, amen.
Thank you so much for joining me today on Heavenly Harmonies. Remember, you can email me at
[email protected] join me again next time to discuss another beautiful hymn.
Until then, goodbye and God bless.
