Five Christmas Prayers
By: Mike Verway
Tags: Spiritual Growth, Christianity, All Christmas Songs, Christmas Prayers, Christmas Hymns

The child asked, “Why are we singing a song that asks Jesus to come when he already came?” This was the question after we sang the Christmas song, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

Luke 2 records the birth of Jesus and events immediately following. According to the Law, parents of newborn boys took their infant sons to the priest for ceremonial affairs. The priest on duty when Joseph and Mary arrived with the baby Jesus was Simeon who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). He was waiting for the promised Messiah to comfort the people (Isaiah 40:1), to fulfill the promise made first to Adam in the garden (Genesis 3:15), and to make his blessings known far as the curse is found. Uniquely, Simeon had been promised that he would see the promised Christ before experiencing death (Luke 2:26).

When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son to his people when they were wearied from the realities of a broken world, the impact of the curse, and their own failures in their covenant relationship. They longed for relief. The relief is found in a person, Jesus Christ, Bethlehem’s babe.

“O Come” is one of the church’s oldest Christmas hymns, originating in the 12th century. Anywhere from 4–6 verses appear in most hymnals.

The text for O Come, O Come, Emmanuel captures the longing of the people in its opening lines.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lowly exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Each new verse in the Christmas hymn begins with a plea to come using a different title for the promised Christ.

O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse…

O Come, Thou Dayspring…

O Come, Thou Key of David…

O Come, Desire of Nations…

Each expression is the cry from God’s people to make right the myriad of wrongs, to end the misery, to overthrow injustice, to conquer tryants, and so much more. Jesus Christ did this when he came. His sinless life led to his sacrificial cross and his glorious resurrection. The prayers and hopes of the ancient people of God had been answered and met in the promised Christ.

But the results of Christ’s coming are not yet fully realized, and like Simeon of old, we wait, not for the consolation of Israel but for the consolation of the church, the second advent of Jesus Christ. When he returns, all our longings for the end of abuse, betrayal, conspiracies, disease, envy, fear, greed, hatred, injury, jealousies, killings, lawlessness, mourning, oppression, pain, rage, sin, temptation, ugliness, vengeance, wrong, and finally, the grave will be realized in his righteous reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Until his return, we wait (Philippians 3:20), and like pre-Christmas people of God we post-Christmas saints pray.

O come, Emmanuel, you paid our ransom, but our exile is not yet overcome.

O come, Rod of Jesse, free us from death, illness, rebellion, wicked men, and the wicked one himself as he goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

O come, Dayspring, and complete the change that you began when you saved my soul.

O come, Key of David, display in the open your sovereignty for all to see.

O come, Desire of Nations, unite every image bearer around the beauty that is your person ending all our fighting and replacing our strife with your never-ending peace.

The days of Joseph, Mary, and Simeon the priest were not all that different than our experiences in 2020. While we realized God’s grace and faithfulness over the last year, all of us have felt the impact of the brokenness that was 2020. I suspect we all are looking forward with a great deal of hopefulness to 2021. But 2021 won’t deliver consolation to the church, only Jesus Christ can do that. Therefore, I point you to Jesus, and I invite you to make these Five Christmas Prayers a practice in your Christian life.

O Come!

Click here for an entire sermon I recently preached on these Christmas Prayers.