This is a Christmas carol that contains the essence of the yearning of a people for a savior. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel”
Hold on, wait! Ransom…?
Yes, Ransom. Israel was in slavery to sin; so are we. Being held captive to sin, living in rebellion against God because of sin… yes, “ransom” is exactly the right word.
Jesus came to this earth to pay the ransom for our release from this bondage, and He did so by giving His life for us. By giving His life for us, He paid the price for our redemption, and by doing this, He took away sin. Yes, I know that this is a familiar story, but it isn’t the whole story…
In a nutshell, we were living in rebellion against God from the time of the fall of Adam. All of the rest of the Old Testament tells the story of God working to rebuild the relationship that was lost, and progress was made, but fellowship was never restored between man and God until Jesus paid the ransom for our sins. This is the indispensable act that makes the resumption of fellowship between man and God possible.
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel has come to thee O Israel!
Life Project Blog 
Great Hymn! says the music blogger
I appreciate that; it is a great one for sure!
I LOVE this song. It’s so beautiful. =)
It’s my favorite 🙂
I just published my first in a blog series. I am ‘dissecting’ Christmas carols, showing – pretty much line by line – what they mean and their implications more than just a cute rhyme. Haven’t scheduled this one yet, but it’ll be on the list! =)
I’ll check it out; thanks for the tip!
“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.”
Wow, I’m impressed… you know all the verses! 🙂
Don’t be that impressed; had to look them up to refresh my memory. 😉