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.O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
So here's the question; "O Come O Come Emmanuel", is it about Christ's first coming or His second?
We seem to have sung this a lot in the last few weeks (bad coordination on music groups' part or are they trying to make a point?). I think it's about the first coming because it's about Christ coming to ransom us and give us victory over the grave. But it's also appropriate for the second coming and that's why it's an Advent hymn which if considering rightly, should make us think about the second coming as well as the first.
as a Christian would say; "both and"
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Matthew
Maybe sort of both. Jesus' second coming will be when all the things he won for us by his death and resurrection in his first coming are finally established. In other words, like lots of things there's a now and not yet aspect (e.g. we appear spotless and perfect before God now, but are not yet perfect in our nature). So I'd go with it being appropriate for his first coming, but also for his second. Am I making sense?