O, Come, Immanuel

This hymn, originally written in Latin, was translated roughly in 1861 by Jason Mason Neal, a pastor in the Church of England. 

I love the name Immanuel (Emmanuel), meaning, “God is with us” עִמָּנוּאֵל‎ 

Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Knowing that God is with us because that is His name, our hearts still call out to Him to come so we can see Him, so we can feel His presence. 

We cry for Him to ransom us as we feel helpless in the grasp of our enemy,  mourning in lonely exile until He comes and makes our heart rejoice! We rejoice even in the hope of knowing that He will come. Because He promised. Because it is His nature and His name to be with us.

The original translation begins describing Him as Emmanuel, God With Us, and then as the Rod of Jesse, freeing us from Satan’s tyranny and the depths of hell, giving us victory over the grave. 

Then He is called the Dayspring from on High, cheering us by His very presence coming near us, disbursing the gloomy clouds of night, as even death’s dark shadow is put to flight by His very appearance as the Dayspring, the Morning, the Light.

The original text then describes Him as the Key of David that opens wide our heavenly home and closes the path to misery, and then as Adonai, the Lord of Might, who on Mount Sinai’s height in ancient times to give the law in cloud and majesty and awe.

In 1916 Hymnist and poet Henry Sloane Coffin added the two familiar verses now commonly sung describing Him as Thou Wisdom from on High, that leads us in the path of knowledge,  and finally as the Desire of Nations that brings all people into one heart and mind, bidding envy strife and quarrels cease as it fills the whole world with heaven’s peace. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Come,_O_Come,_Emmanuel 

https://hymnary.org/text/o_come_o_come_emmanuel_and_ransom

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/lyrics-o-come-o-come-emmanuel-origins/

“Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
Revelation 1:7