O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lord, the anointed for the nations and their / Savior:*
Come and save us, O / Lord our God.

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)

"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)." (Matthew 1:21-23)

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

The great mystery we celebrate on Christmas is that Jesus is truly “God with us.” Our King and Savior became just like us, taking on our humanity. He identified Himself with us and carried our curse and punishment of sin and death. He also restores us to His image, healing our fallen humanity and giving us new life with the one, true, saving, loving God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When He went to the cross to shed His very real blood, which He had received when He was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, He won forgiveness for our sins and showed us God's unfathomable love. Hanging on the cross, rising from the grave, and ascending to God's right hand, our Lord Jesus showed us that He is "God is with us." He still shows us that He is "God with us" in our Baptism, in the words of Holy Absolution, and in His Holy Supper. Forgiveness from His words of Scripture and preaching instructs and enlightens us. Salvation from His holy Supper comforts and strengthens us. God is with us. Christ has come and still comes to save, forgive, and give us life with Him for all eternity.

Have a blessed and merry Christmas!

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! (LSB 537:1)

O King of the Nations

O King of the nations, the ruler they long for, the cornerstone uniting all / people:*
Come and save us all, whom you formed / out of clay.

"Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you." (Jeremiah 10:7)

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." (Isaiah 9:6-7)

"Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.' Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek." (John 19:19-20)

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:13-14)

Christ came not only for one kind or race of people; He came to live, suffer, die, and rise again for all peoples. Christ is King of all peoples and unites all people. Adam's fall into sin brought not only separation from God but also sad divisions and painful conflicts between people--between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between various nations and ethnic groups, even between fellow Christians, etc. Every division and conflict, whether between individuals, nations or other groups of people, is a result of our sin and death as well as a manifestation of the havoc that sin and death still wreak upon us. However, Christ Jesus has come to heal the divisions and restore our human unity. No longer are we enemies with our neighbor. Rather, we are freed in Christ's cross-won forgiveness and resurrection life to serve our neighbor, because Christ died for him/her also. The King who made a cross His throne draws all people to Himself. With the mind of Christ, we pray "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:10-11).

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! (LSB 537:7)

O Key of David

O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel, you open and no one can close, you close and no one can / open:*
Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and the sha- / dow of death.

"And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." (Isaiah 22:22)

"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.'" (Revelation 3:7)

[Jesus said,] "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)

For a person locked in a prison cell or bound in handcuffs, a key is the most welcome sight. That key opens and frees from the bondage and captivity. Since Adam and Eve's fall into sin, we all have been imprisoned by sin and death, even handcuffed by our own sinful desires and actions. Try as we might, we cannot free ourselves from the prison of sin and death, and our sinful thoughts, words and deeds continually bind and chafe. The key--the only key--to set us free from the darkness of sin and the shadow of death is Jesus Christ, the Son of God made flesh. In His Incarnation, Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension He unlocks our chains of death, opens the prison door of our sin, and frees us to live with Him and His Father and His Holy Spirit for all eternity. And that freedom begins now. It's what we long for through Advent and what we celebrate at Christmas. In fact, our incarnate, crucified and risen Key of David gives His keys of forgiveness and mercy through the ministry of His Church. When our pastor pronounces and proclaims the forgiveness and life of Christ, the Lord Himself opens to us the way of life and closes the prison door on death itself. He unlocks His cross-won forgiveness for us and cuffs the condemnation of the Law. So we pray for Christ to rescue and liberate us from the darkness of our sin and death and all of the misery that it brings. In Jesus Christ the door to life with God is open.

Oh, come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel! (LSB 537:5)

O Root of Jesse

O Root of Jesse, standing as an ensign before the peoples, before whom all kings are mute, to whom the nations will do / homage:*
Come quickly to de- / liver us.

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." (Isaiah 11:1)

"In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious." (Isaiah 11:10)

"And again Isaiah says, 'The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.'" (Romans 15:12)

The “tree” of Israel had to be cut down because of its sin and rebellion against the holy, triune God. Throughout the books of Kings and Chronicles we read many instances of God's people forsaking the one true God to worship in the cultural religion of their day, the Baals and the Asherahs, complete with their sparkling graven images and their child sacrifices. The stump of Jesse was dead wood; God simply cut it down. But this He did in an act of pruning (see also John 15:1-8). A new shoot would sprout up from that cut down stump of Jesse. Jesus the Christ, the Son of God incarnate, is that new shoot divinely given to bring new life to the dead wood of our sinful, idolatrous, death-shackled humanity. As He lay in the wood of the manger, our little Lord Jesus already began His work of delivering us from death to life, from idolatry to true belief. His work, begun in the manger, even before that at His conception, would climax at the cross and empty grave. From the dead wood of the cross, our Savior, the Son of David, the son of Jesse, dies and is "chopped down" to bring life out of death for us. In His Resurrection He gives us victory o'er the grave. Though we were dead in our sins, Christ has made us alive with Him and to serve Him (see Ephesians 2:8-10). We, the Church, are the fruit of His redeeming work. So we pray for Christ’s gracious rescue from our sinful state and our many sins, both now and finally in eternity. We pray for His deliverance and we bear witness to His rescue for all people. This Root of Jesse gives life not just to the stump of Israel, but also to the Gentiles, that is, to all people.

Oh, come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s tree,
Free them from Satan's tyranny
That trust Thy mighty pow’r to save;
And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel! (LSB 537:4)

O Adonai

O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on / Sinai:*
Come with an outstretched arm and re- / deem us.

"God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, "I am has sent me to you."' God also said to Moses, 'Say this to the people of Israel, "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.'" (Exodus 3:14-15)

"The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up." (Exodus 19:20)

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." (Titus 2:11-14)

As God redeemed Israel from Egyptian slavery, He also redeems us from our slavery of sin and our "Egypt" of death. Following His mighty redemption God then gave His commandments, His covenant, to His people on Mt. Sinai. Essentially, God was saying, "I've redeemed you; now here's how redeemed people - My people - live. How does God want us to live as His people? Certainly not in any old way we choose, for that would mean living in our self-centered ways, and certainly not in the ways of the shallow, stuff-focused, pleasure-centered ways of the world around us. Instead, we take a good look at the Ten Commandments. These commandments give us plenty to do as God’s people. Yes, they also show us plenty of sin and failure in ourselves as well as in other people around us, but they are truly God's design for life. When we live by His commandments, in love toward God and neighbor, we are living according to His blue prints, so to speak. No, we cannot rely on the commandments to rescue us from sin and death. Only Jesus can to that, and He is our Adonai, our Kyrios, our Mighty Lord. We pray for Jesus to save us with His might—the might that held Him to the cross. We pray for Him who stretched out His arms in weakness upon the cross to come and buy us back to life with God. After all, it's in His outstretched arms on the cross, weak to the naked eye, that He shows the utter might and victory of His love and salvation for us.

Oh, come, oh, 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! (LSB 357:3)

O Wisdom

O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High, pervading and permeating all creation, mightily ordering / all things:*
Come and teach us the way of / prudence.

"And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." (Isaiah 11:2)

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)

"For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:21-25)

In our society, many things pass for wisdom, such as the acquisition of wealth, possessions, or power, or notions that all religions are created equal and no one religion should be given preference, especially at this time of year. That said, the world thinks Christ is foolish, not the "Teacher Jesus" or the "Good Example Jesus," but the Jesus who is the Son of God in the flesh, the Jesus who boldly claims to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6) for all people. Unbelief foolishly does not want to trust Jesus to be the only way to the Father. But we Christians know better. Our wisdom is Christ Jesus, the Son of God incarnate. Our wisdom comes in trusting our Savior who came to rescue us from the clutches of sin and death. Our wisdom comes from the One who not only created us but also died and rose to save us. Therefore, we pray for Jesus to teach us His wisdom, the wisdom of new life with the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Oh, come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who ord'rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel! (LSB 357:2)

O Antiphons

This evening the Church begins the "final countdown" to celebrating our Lord's Incarnation and Birth by using the "O Antiphons" in her Vespers/Evening Prayer. One site even suggests that these next seven days in which the Church uses the "O Antiphons" are a second part to the season of Advent.

During the whole of Advent we focus on the coming of Christ, and His coming in the past, in the present, and in the future are woven together throughout the season. In the past He came in flesh and blood, in humility and death, and in resurrection victory. In the present He comes in grace and mercy by way of His Gospel proclaimed and His Sacraments given out in the life of the Church. In the future He will come again in His glorious majesty and take us to eternity to enjoy His gift of life.

As our time of preparation begins winding down, and the time of celebration is fast approaches, we sing the “O Antiphons” during Evening Prayer (Vespers). One antiphon for each of the seven days before Christmas Eve (December 17-23) is sung or spoken before and after the Psalmody. Each antiphon consists of a title given to Christ in the Old Testament followed by a petition asking Christ to come and fulfill a promise of Scripture. Thus we join with the saints of the Old Testament in longing for our Savior to come and carry out His promised deliverance.

These “O Antiphons” have been put into verse form in the very familiar Advent hymn: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (LSB 357). In fact, Lutheran Service Book nicely prints "The Great 'O' Antiphons" side-by-side with the hymn. So we can incorporate the "O Antiphons" into our daily prayers in a couple of ways: singing/speaking the Antiphon itself, and/or singing the corresponding verse from "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."