With Christmas so close by, it's been difficult to be excited over the holidays while living in a world overshadowed by economic doom and gloom, a nation so lost in the law that they are forgetting the spirit that forged it in the first place, people swept up in a near-desperate consumerism, and then this.
Ever since the heart-wrenching news out of Connecticut, I have struggled to find my words...words of anger, deep sadness, disbelief, or really anything in an attempt to take in the reality that there is great and real evil in this world, and that this time evil struck our most vulnerable and innocent little ones.
Tonight, I numbly decided to put on a Christmas album while cleaning up the house, and this song came on:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Although I'd heard that very song earlier today, this time it stopped me in my tracks as my heart, overcome by emotion, acknowledged the powerful longing embedded repeatedly within the lyrics: the longing for a savior who would bring deliverance from all evil.
This song, paired with Revelation 21:1-4 paints a breathtaking picture.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
I rejoice for the day when the savior returns (this is an essential belief of Christians about Jesus, btw), for the day when evil will never again be able to take hold of any part of this world, and the plan that was set in motion ~2000 years ago will come full circle into completion.
O come, o come, Emmanuel.
