O Come, O Come Emmanuel

During this season of Advent, I am contemplating the words of the familiar Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” which was originally used in medieval church liturgy. Each verse greets the anticipated Messiah with one of the titles ascribed Him throughout the Old Testament. The first title associated with the Messiah is Emmanuel.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

The title Emmanuel refers to Isai­ah 7:14 (Quoted in Matt. 1:23): “Be­hold, a vir­gin shall con­ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Im­man­u­el.” Im­man­u­el is He­brew for “God with us.”

Throughout the Old Testament, when God's people faced nearly insurmountable odds, God gave them the promise “I will be with you.” When Judah faced invasion, Isaiah gave King Ahaz the sign of a child to be born with God's promise as his name - Immanuel. God's nature is revealed to us through the Incarnation when he became a human - God with us. By referring to Isaiah 7:14, the Gospel writer Matthew reminds us of God's promise to be with us in those times when we face difficulties or obstacles too big for us to tackle alone.

For a full treatment on the name Immanuel, I recommend reading “Immanuel in Isaiah and Matthew.”