O Come O Come Emmanuel

I was meditating on a hymn that we are going to play at tonight's prayer service.  The hymn is O Come O Come Emmanuel. "O Come O Come Emmanuel (which means God with us) and ransom captive Israel." The first thing is that Israel is a real place, and a real people. But every Christian believer is an Israelite. Now, ancient Isreal was held captive by Babylon and Assyria. But we are held captive still by Satan himself. We can do nothing good unless God does it through us.

Now, in ancient Israel, they sacrificed an unblemished animal as a way to atone for their sins. But one must understand that this was only symbolically. For an animal, no matter how perfect, can not pay for our sins, which is what ransom means. And it is no wonder that God became disgusted with the mass slaughter of animals in His name in His house. The ransom, the price of our sin is our very life, but no one is unblemished. As Paul said, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, even if everyone were to be killed, that wouldn't save us.

What to do, what to do?

Well, God had already figured it out. When Abraham went up to sacrifice his son Isaac, God provided the sacrifice to Abraham. This was a forshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of His Son. He would enter history as a child born to a virgin, live a sinless life, and be executed, pouring out His blood as ransom for mankind.

Our response? We can only be grateful. Hallelujah.