It being Christmas I wanted to share something short but beautiful. My favorite Christmas hymn is Veni, Veni Emmanuel, or in English, O’ Come, O’ Come, Emmanuel. Besides it being a simply beautiful piece of music, my heart and soul are drawn out by the pleadings and prayers in the song. Traditionally sung on Christmas Eve the hymn powerfully captures the pleading of those who looked forward to the Messiah, God’s Anointed who would save them from the deep, terrible, darkness of the world and its brutal empires and oppressive regimes by overthrowing the power of evil and ushering in the Kingdom of God. Equally though it fits as a modern prayer rising up from the hearts of the faithful as they appeal to the Father to once more send His Son for the second time and deliver His faithful from the bloody fist of the empires of the world and the twisted ideologies of the nations of the Earth as they riot across the Earth in blood and horror. Most of all we longingly cry out for peace – peace in our minds, our spirits, our hearths, and in the world. with the Prophet Enoch we cry out, “When shall the earth rest?” (See Moses 7:58) and hope that the answer will be, “Now.”
But the song is not only a prayer for deliverance, to be saved tomorrow. It is also a testimony that salvation has come today. The name Emmanuel comes from Isaiah 7:14 wherein the great prophet promises that a virgin shall bear a son. The name means “God with us” and thus promised that the Son of the Virgin would be God come down to His people, God with us. (As a side note, Jesus means “Yahweh saves.”) You see, the name Emmanuel tells us not that God will come to us, that God will save us. Rather, Emmanuel tells us God has come to us, that He is with us, that He does save us. From the Incarnation until now and on through Eternity, God is with us. Through the manifestation of His Son and His Atonement, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through the testimony and conversion that He places within us, God is with us. We can never wander too far, sin too horribly, dig too deeply, hate too strongly that He isn’t with us.
In the Personage of the Suffering Christ who in Gethsemane and upon Calvary suffered not only our sins but every pain, suffering, sickness, illness, humiliation, and wrong each of us will ever individually suffer. (See Alma 7:11-13) In our trials, in our pain, God is with us. Through His Spirit, which can fill our lives and bring us into communion with God directly through revelation, God is with us. He guides our paths and directs our ways and fills our longing hearts and shattered selves with His heart and His Self. We are not simply healed by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, we are remade and made new, because God is with us. My favorite two verses are the third and the last as I plead for salvation and peace for myself and all. The great truth is that in Christ I already have my answer – I am saved and can have peace so great that it cannot be destroyed. Because God is with me.
So, this Christmas celebrate Christ not only in His ancient coming and his nearing Second Coming. This Christmas rejoice, O’ Israel, that God is even now with thee! Rejoice in our Emmanuel, our ever present God, now and forever!
O Come, O Come, 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
O 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
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
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
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
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
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
O come, 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
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
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
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
A Tradition Latin Rendition
A Traditional English Rendition
A More Modern Rendition