O Sapientia
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
Isaiah 11:2-3, Isaiah 28:29
O Adonai
O Lord, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
Isaiah 11:4-5, Isaiah 33:22
O Radix
O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.
Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10; Micah 5:1
O Clavis
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
O Oriens
O Morning Star, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
Isaiah 9:1
O Rex
O King of the nations, and their desire,the cornerstone making both one.
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.
O Emmanuel
O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.
Isaiah 7:14
ero cras!
“Tomorrow, I will come”
"O Come, O Come Emmanuel"
Few things prevail upon our souls so powerfully as music. Our music moves us deeply. I cannot explain why. When I tune the dial to certain stations, I’m consumed with negativity and cynicism. When I tune to a second station, I’m consumed with lust or material things. Still another station, and another, more of the same.
But then I tune my dial again and find myself hungering and thirsting after righteousness. I’m uplifted, inspired, and flooded with hope and joy.I gain wisdom and I desire God.
But change the dial back and it's more of the same old, same old. Our music shapes us. We become our music. Take a young person and fill their IPOD with suggestive music full of sexual innuendo, violence, criminal acts, narcissism, and greed and you will get a self-absorbed teenager with no respect forher life, for Christ her Lord, for the gifts God’s given her, and no concern for others.
But you take that same young person and fill their IPOD with the songs of God’s Spirit and you end up with a teenager so stirred by the things of Christ that they shout it from the rooftops. Music does that. The inventors of MTV discovered this long ago. They learned that if they could change kids' music,they could changekid's behavior, values, beliefs, thinking, and even religion! And that is exactly what they're doing.
Isn’t it interesting that whenever we get behind the music, there isn’t anything but darkness? There are broken lives, broken families, every form of impurity and greed, and addiction behind the music. If we knew what was behind the music, we would burn it. But notonto a compact disc.
Consider this truth. The greatest hits of our time will not be remembered tomorrow. Our music will fade into the darkness and nothingness from which it came. I defy you to name a single song that was written over fiftyyears ago, let aloneone hundredyears ago.
But there is certain music for which this is not true. There is certain music that has withstood not just for fifty years, but for centuries upon centuries. As we get behind this music, we discover the secret to its staying power. It remains because it speaks about the eternal Christ.
"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is the oldest Christmas hymn still sung.
In the next few weeks we are going to get behind the music of four popular Christmas hymns that have withstood the test of time. This morning we begin with the oldest Christmas hymn which is still sung, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."
Of the hymns we will look at, this is the only one without an author. We do know that in 1851, it was translated by an Anglican priest named John Mason Neale. Neale was a brilliant scholar from Cambridge who could write and speak more than twenty languages.
Neale was exiled by church leaders in London for his more progressive beliefs. They sent him to the Madeira Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. While there, he began serving the poorest of the poor. He took his salary and founded an orphanage, a school for girls, and a house of refuge for women forced into prostitution.
During this time, Neale came across an ancient Latin chant, "O Come O Come Emmanuel."Gripped by its lyrics, he translated it into English. It was then set to music by Thomas Helmore in 1854.
So it was translated by Neale, but where did it originate? The lyrics of this song can be traced back to 480 A.D., and are based on an ancient Christian prayer known as "The Seven O’s."In old English, the capital letter “O” was used to express a person’s deepest desires, like in a prayer."O God...."So this hymn is a shortened remix of a Christianprayerthat has been set to music.
This original Christian prayer had seven stanzas. Each stanza would begin calling out one of Christ’s messianic titles. It would allude to one or two of Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. Last, it would ask something of God. The early Christians would read one stanza per day leading up to Christmas Eve.
Here is how ancient prayer, "The Seven O’s" addressed Christ.
O Wisdom (O Sapientia), coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things:Come and teach us the way of prudence (good sense).
Isaiah had prophesied, "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord."Isaiah 11:2-3."Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom." Isaiah 28:29.
O Lord (O Adonai), and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai:Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
Isaiah had prophesied, "But He shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips." Isaiah 11:4-5 "Indeed the Lord will be there with us, majestic; yes the Lord our judge, the Lord our lawgiver, the Lord our king, he it is who will save us."Isaiah 33:22.
O Root of Jesse (O Radix), standing as a sign among the peoples; before you kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer:Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.
Isaiah had prophesied, "But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom."Isaiah 11:1"On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious."Isaiah 11:10Remember also that Jesse was the father of King David, and Micah had prophesied that the messiah would be of the house and lineage of David and be born in David’s city, Bethlehem in Micah 5:1.
O Key of David (O Clavis) and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no one can shut; you shut and no one can open: Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
Isaiah had prophesied, "I will place the Key of the House of David on His shoulder; when he opens, no one will shut, when he shuts, no one will open."Isaiah 22:22 "His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David’s throne, and over His kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever." Isaiah 9:6.
O Morning Star (O Oriens), splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
Isaiah had prophesied, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown." Isaiah 9:1
O King of the nations (O Rex!!), and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.
Isaiah had prophesied, "For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace."Isaiah 9:5 "He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again." Isaiah 2:4
O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel), our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God.
Isaiah had prophesied, "The Lord himself will give you this sign: the Virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel."Isaiah 7:14
Robert Greenberg of San Francisco Conservatory of Music believes that the Benedictine monks arranged these ‘Os’ with a definite purpose. I f you take the first letter of each Latin title given Christ- Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – they spell the Latin words ero cras which mean, "Tomorrow, I will come."
Therefore, the Lord Jesus, for whose coming we have preparedduring Advent and whom we have addressed with these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us."Tomorrow, I will come." He himself becomes the answer to our prayers by coming to be with us,first in a manager, now throughhis spirit, tomorrow in the clouds.
Let me ask you,"Who" is behind music you’ll sing this Christmas? Will you sing of shadows or will you be gripped by the realities found in Christ Jesus?