Every year at this time I like to look back to find the most-read posts of the year. Partly because, for us, it’s another way to look back over the past 12 months.
So here we go again! I’ll post the top ten, in chronological order…
It’s time to look at the last two verses of this year’s Christmas carol, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. So far we’ve looked at the Messiah as Emmanuel (God-with-us), Wisdom, the Rod of Jesse, Dayspring, the Key of David, and the Lord of Might. Interestingly, we’re back to Jesse again in verse 7:
From “The Academy Song-Book”, 1918
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.
At first glance, we might think that this is a repeat of verse 3 – the rod of Jesse. And it kind of is.
The Bible uses different related words to describe this new and unexpected growth from Jesse’s family. There’s the rod, or branch (Isaiah 11:1), and also the root (Isaiah 11:10). The idea is basically the same – that new growth, a shoot, is springing up from the family of Jesse. Even in times when it looked like all good was gone from the family of David – even in times when the kingdom appeared destroyed – there was hope for a future King. He is a “root out of dry ground” (Isaiah 53:2).
The author of this song emphasizes a mighty leader saving His people in the third verse. This time the view is expanded to Christ’s global rule.
An ensign is a flag or banner – a sign or a signal. You can imagine the flag of the King going before His army – or, instead of a flag, imagine that the King Himself is the “ensign” that the army follows.
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isaiah 11:10
The pride of the rulers of the earth is silenced (Psalm 2; Psalm 46:8-10). They call on God for mercy. And, as Paul explains (quoting the verse from Isaiah), the final result is joy and praise, as the Gentile nations worship the Lord:
As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:9-13
And all of this leads nicely into the final verse.
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.
Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home; Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head. Now display Thy saving power, Ruined nature now restore; Now in mystic union join Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.
Basically, this is a bit of a controversy regarding Haggai 2:7. In the ESV it reads:
And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
Haggai 2:7
The Authorized, however, has “the desire of all nations shall come” instead of treasures of all nations. I can see both sides, and in some ways the difference is whether it should be plural or singular, since “desire” and “treasure” are practically one and the same. The other question is whether the treasures are coming specifically from the nations – as the NET Bible has.
But in the context, the result is really the same. The temple is being rebuilt in Jerusalem after the exile, and it’s not nearly as glorious as Solomon’s Temple had been. And there is no record that the glory of the Lord visibly filled this temple as it had the tabernacle and temple of Solomon.
But God promises, He will return to His temple. “I will fill this house with glory”! Later in the chapter God says,
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.
Haggai 2:9
You can see how well the author(s) of this song knew their Scriptures! Whatever “treasure” the prophet intended to describe, the true treasure is God Himself. He is coming to His temple, and the result will be peace.
The hearts of all mankind are not bound together because of the peace, but because of the Lord. In the last few verses we have seen Christ the Ruler, Christ the Lawgiver — and so the peoples of the world seek His mercy (verse 7). Finally all is as it should be – wars cease, sin is abolished, and the True King is on His throne.
In Haggai 2, God is encouraging those who are building the temple to keep working. He reminds them of His promises to them as a new nation saved from slavery in Egypt, and promises anew that His Spirit will go with them.
As believers, we have a similar promise today. Keep up the work for the Kingdom – don’t be discouraged (1 Corinthians 15:57-58)! God is faithful, and He will complete His work in us (Philippians 1:6). We have the same promise as the Israelites – that God will dwell among us (2 Corinthians 6:16-18). And so…
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1
God is coming to His Temple. He came as a baby (Luke 2:22-32). He came as a man (John 7:37). He came in His Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). And so He continues to guide us. But we wait for the future, when all will see His glory. What better way to end this series, than with these words from Haggai? O Come, Emmanuel!
…Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.
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.
