O Come, O Come Emmanuel

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.

Refrain

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

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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.

Refrain

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.

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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.

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O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

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O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

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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.

Refrain

This is one of my favorite hymns. I hate that we only get to sing it in church during the Christmas season. I love the plea for Jesus to come quickly to save Israel (us) from the ways of the world. Those of us who long to be righteous and pure know the hopelessness and futility that comes with living in a fallen world. Try as we might, we can never be good enough to merit God’s favor. Our salvation comes, not through works or being good enough, but through the grace that Jesus alone can offer. It’s that grace that this hymn begs for. Come Jesus, and free us from the unrighteous pull of this world.

For more of the story on this hymn (my absolute favorite), please click here.

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