Christmas Carols: "Emmanuel"

Here are the notes from yesterday's message at New Life Community Church.  If you would like to listen to this message, you may do so at our website www.newlifesite.com.  God bless!

Christmas Carols, Part 4

"Emmanuel"

21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”  22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  Matthew 1:21-23 ( NKJV)

Emmanuel means God WITH us.

GOD IS

GOD WAS

GOD WILL BE

WITH US

VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj7l-f8XHgk

Words: Com­bined from var­i­ous an­ti­phons by an un­known au­thor, pos­si­bly in the 12th Cen­tu­ry (Ve­ni, ve­ni Eman­u­el); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, Med­iae­val Hymns, 1851. Neale’s orig­in­al trans­l­a­tion be­gan, “Draw nigh, draw nigh, Em­man­u­el.”

Music: Veni Em­man­u­el, from a 15th Cen­tu­ry pro­cess­ion­al of French Fran­cis­can nuns (the set­ting for the fu­ner­al hymn Libera me); ar­ranged by Thom­as Hel­more in the Hymn­al Not­ed, Part II (Lon­don: 1856) (MI­DI, score).
The lyrics echo a num­ber of pro­phet­ic themes. The ti­tle comes from the well known Isai­ah 7:14: “Be­hold, a vir­gin shall con­ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Im­man­u­el.” Im­man­u­el is He­brew for “God with us.” The “Rod of Jesse” refers to Isai­ah 11:1: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jes­se”; Jesse was the fa­ther of Da­vid, se­cond king of Is­ra­el. “Day-Spring” comes from Za­cha­ri­as, fa­ther of John the Bap­tist, in Luke 1:78: “The day­spring from on high has vis­it­ed us.” “Thou Key of Da­vid” is in Isai­ah 22:22: “The key of the house of Da­vid will I lay up­on his shoul­der,” which in turn re­fers to Isai­ah 9:6 “The gov­ern­ment shall be up­on His shoul­der.”

---

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. Refrain 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. Refrain 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. Refrain 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. Refrain 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. Refrain 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

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 (NKJV)

How many have ever prayed the prayer, “God be with me, be with us”?

Examples:

God be with us on this trip.  Grant us safety.  Be with the kids in the backseat, so they don’t kill each other while we drive.

God be with us as we go to the shopping mall.  Help us to find the best bargains.  Help us to find a good parking space.

God be with us as we begin this New Year. 

God be with me as I take this final exam.

God be with me as I go for this new job.

There is a built in contradiction here.  We call Him EMMANUEL, yet we pray, God please be with me.

1.    The Lord is with you in your PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES.

The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”  Luke 1:28 (NIV)

Odd Circumstances

Bad Timing

Humbling Situations

YOU CAN FACE ANYTHING IF YOU KNOW WHO IS WITH YOU.

2.  The Lord WAS with you in PAST DIFFICULTIES.

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Genesis 39:21 (NKJV)

God does not always answer the WHY questions.

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)

History is filled with stories of really bad things that happened to people but they didn’t let it stop them and somehow God brought incredibly good things out of it.

3.  The Lord WILL be with you to GUIDE your future.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  ...   37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 37-39 (NKJV)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Revelation 1:8 (ESV)