I spoke at a women's Christmas tea in December. As I was preparing for my talk I was moved by some insights I had about the way the Hebrew people viewed the prophecies regarding the coming Messiah.
It was something they thought about constantly; they were on the lookout for this savior (Luke 3:15). There were hundreds of prophecies about the promised Messiah, like Is 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
I was struck by the longing expressed as I read some of the ways people looked for and put their faith in the coming Messiah. I was struck by the longing expressed in Christmas carols like "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, 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 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.
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, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Now that the Messiah has come, we have more to expect and put our hope in from God. God made many promises (Noah Gen 6, Abraham 12:1-3 and 15:1-6 and many more) and the greatest promises were the Messiah and His imminent return (Matt 16:27-28,). Just as the Hebrew people looked for the coming savior in the days before Jesus’ life, Christians now are to be waiting with great expectation for His triumphant return.
As I was preparing to speak and studying the prophecies about the Messiah and the Israelites' hope in the coming One it occurred to me that we can and are called to have that same hope and that same longing for the promised return!
We have been told by Jesus Himself that He will return. I know that promise, but rarely do I think about it and certainly it is a rare moment when it effects how I live my life or view my world or circumstances. How different my response is than that of many of the Jews, who were constantly watching for the appearance of the promised Messiah. They cried to God for his arrival. And a few of them were sensitive enough to God’s heart and purposes to see the Light upon his quiet, humble arrival(Zechariah, Luke 1:68 and following, Simeon in Luke 2:25-33, Mary, the wise men, all recounted in Luke's gospel).
Oh, that my life would echo with the kind of longing I hear in the the prayer, "O come Emmanuel!" so that I would pray, "O, come again, Savior!"
