We are reading through some segments of the Prophet Isaiah during this season of Advent, both on Sunday mornings as our First Lesson and again on Wednesday nights for our mid-week Worship.
This Sunday, December 5th, we will be considering Isaiah 11:1-10. Like so much of Isaiah’s prophecy, this passage contains a vision of hope and peace and justice and God’s coming. Like so much of Isaiah’s prophecy, very concrete pictures are painted: of lions and lambs, nursing children and asps (poisonous snakes), a stump with a shoot now growing. These pictures, so outside of the natural order of things, point firmly at a God whose power is beyond the natural order.
Isaiah points firmly to a God whose power is beyond the natural order. A God who can reverse destruction and death, bring opposites into harmony, and rules with justice.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel is a hymn written in the 12th century. Originally in Latin, it was translated into English in the 18oos by John Neale. Stanza 3 is a direct allusion to Isaiah 11:
Illuminated Bible from the middle ages, depicting Jesse, David, Jesus
Oh, come, strong branch of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satans tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.
Chorus: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O Come, O Come Emmanuel . Amen.
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