Christmas Song #5: The Hidden Code

I mentioned earlier that there was a hidden code involved in the evolution of this Christmas carol. Actually, you’ve already seen it, but – like I said, it’s hidden. 🙂

Last time we talked about the seven descriptions of Christ in Latin that eventually developed into the song we know today. If you take the first letter of each, reading backwards, you get two more Latin words. Those titles, again, are:

• O Sapienta (Wisdom)
• O Adonai (Lord)
• O Radix Jesse (Stem of Jesse)
• O Clavis David (Key of David)
• O Oriens (Dayspring)
• O Rex Gentium (King of the world)
• O Emmanuel (God with Us)

Ero cras is the result, usually translated as something like “I will be tomorrow”, further emphasizing the coming of Christ.

The song we have today does not exactly follow all these titles. We have covered Wisdom, Stem, Dayspring, and God-with-us. Today we come to Key and Lord.

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.

The Key of David is a curious switch from what we see in Scripture. In the Bible, the key is not a name or a title, but a thing. Or, you might say, a symbol. It appears in the book of Isaiah.

There was a steward in the court of King Hezekiah. Apparently, he was a proud man, condemned by the Lord in Isaiah 22:

Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man…

Isaiah 22:15-17

Archaeologists believe that they have found this very tomb that Shebna carved out.

But this official was apparently a false shepherd, misusing his authority. His full name means “Yahweh is near” or “Yahweh draw near”. But when Yahweh came, the false shepherd was replaced with another – Eliakim – “God raises up”.

In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 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. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.

Isaiah 22:20-23

The “key of David” was a symbol of royal authority. Eliakim would truly be established by God, and given authority. He would actually care for His people, and be honoured for it. Sound like anyone else you know?

Jesus applied this authority to Himself in Revelation 3:

“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

The Son of David has the true royal authority, given by God. It is He who opens and closes, which is why He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

The next verse continues the idea of authority, calling Christ the “Lord of might”:

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

Christ, the Lawgiver.

The New Testament affirms the Messiah as the Giver of the Law. Although Christ came to save, He also commanded. Yes, He saves us from our sin against God’s Law. But He also calls us to obey the gospel – that is, repent and believe in order to be forgiven and saved (see 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9).

Hebrews warns us not to ignore the Lawgiver. As there were miracles at Mount Sinai, confirming that the law was from God, so God confirmed the message of Jesus. Here, the author starts by talking about the Law of Moses, and ends by talking about Christ:

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 2:1-4

After all, it was “the Lord” Jesus who led His people from Egypt, but who also destroyed those who did not believe:

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 3-5

In this section of the song (and we’ll continue with more next week), it’s not immediately clear why we would want the Messiah to come. The Law, after all, condemns. God comes in “majesty and awe”, and we are terrified, like those who said to Moses: “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die”. (Exodus 20:19)

And yet this verse is an important reminder of just who the Messiah truly is. He is not one to simply give us gifts and tolerate our sin. He is the Lord who judges. And yet, as we will see in the “finale” next week – He is also merciful. But to whom? Not all receive mercy.