December 21, 2025 | Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel | The Meaning Behind Christmas Hymns
Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel | The Meaning Behind Christmas Hymns
Revelation 22:10 - And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
Genesis 3:8 - And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23 - “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Matthew 28:19-20 - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Exodus 25:8 - And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Mark 10:45 - For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 15:25 - But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
Isaiah 11:1 - There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Hebrews 2:14 - Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
1 John 3:8 - Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Malachi 4:2 - But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Luke 1:78 - because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
John 8:12 - Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Revelation 3:7 - And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.'
Revelation 2:7 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
Isaias Viñales unpacks “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” as an ancient, sober prayer that carries the longing of Israel, the rejoicing of the church, and the hope of Christ’s return. The hymn’s cry for Emmanuel, “God with us,” points to restored fellowship with God that was lost in Eden and fulfilled as Jesus comes to dwell among his people, closer than tabernacle shadows ever could. He shows how the hymn’s pleas, ransom captive Israel, Rod of Jesse, and rescue from Satan’s tyranny, are answered through Christ’s incarnation and his saving death, where apparent weakness becomes the victory that breaks bondage and conquers the grave. Jesus is also the Dayspring who drives back darkness with his presence and the Key of David who opens what sin had shut, making the road home secure. The message ends with the Bible’s closing posture of hope and prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Transcript of Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel | The Meaning Behind Christmas Hymns
Isaias Viñales: Oh, praise the Lord. It is a always an honor to just be here and to worship and to lift God's holy name together with you to exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. And this morning I have the prev, uh, the privilege and the pleasure of preaching today's sermon. And in the spirit of the last two weeks, I'm going to, uh, take a text or a hymn, carol. And, and bring out the theological and biblical truths for the sake of our worship and our attention this morning.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel - The Ancient Cry
Isaias Viñales: So, uh, the, the hymn that came to my mind is, oh, come o, come Emmanuel. I like to call this, uh, this hymn The Ancient Cry. Okay? The Ancient Cry, because when we sing it, we're not just keeping a Christmas tradition. Of course, we probably hear it and sing it year after year, but we're stepping into something that's at least 11 to 1200 years old. I wonder if you knew that 11 to 1200 years old.
Long before it was an English hymn. Okay. In our language, it was sung in Latin as o. Uh, Antiphons. That's, that's hard to say, right? The great oh's. uh, it was written by monks in the eighth or ninth century during the final seven days before Christmas, Christmas Eve. Okay?
Now, Antiphons is a funny word, isn't it? Try to say it. Antiphons. Okay. It doesn't mean that ants have fun and, and it, and it doesn't mean that this is against fun, okay? Um, it really comes from the Greek and it means that, uh, it was sung, uh, responsively. Okay? So it was a responsive sound. These weren't just, uh, solo per uh, performances. They were sung back and forth. I kind of call in response.
We sing some songs like that here at Berean, don't we? Right? Um. Uh, I think of behold our God, what's another one? I mean, we sing a couple, right? Is he worthy is another one where there is a call and response.
And so this is how this, uh, beautiful hymn was originally sung. Okay? And here's something incredible hidden in the structure of the original hymn. And Latin was about, uh, was an acrostic, okay? Um, that, that if read in reverse, a backwards acrostic that, uh, that spelled Ero Cras. Which in the Latin meant I will be present tomorrow. I will be present tomorrow.
So even as these monks sang about exile, okay, and captivity, the song itself was whispering. God's reply, I'm coming. How beautiful. I'm coming. And that's why this hymn, uh, roots us in three movements in history, three movements in time. Okay?
We are gonna stand, uh, with the Old Testament, uh, saints, Israel, longing for the Messiah. At the same time we stand with the early church, uh, those very monks rejoicing that he truly has come. And I remember as a kid, I wondered about the lyrics because I'm like, Jesus has already come. Listen, the people who wrote that knew it. They wanted us to feel the tension and the longing of, uh, of the people of God from of old. Okay? But it also anticipates another advent, another exile, okay? Another day in his final appearing.
And every verse begins with the O You know what I'm talking about? O come, come Emmanuel. Right This O. And it's a cry that comes from deep within the human soul. So it's a, it's a song of of hopefulness, yes, but of sober hopefulness. It rings with sobriety. Alright?
And what I love about it, and we'll see this, it is honest about the darkness. It is honest about the darkness, but it never leaves us without hope and without light. It, uh, it lives in the tension between Christ's first coming and, and his return giving voice both to Israel's ancient longing and the church's present prayer in Revelation 22, verse 10. Does anybody know what that prayer is? I'm curious. Does anybody know? Tim? I know you know. Come, Lord, what? Come Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. This is where the Bible ends with this prayer. Come. Come. Okay?
So let's, let's look at this, uh, together and we're gonna be in several places in scripture because of it really. Uh, the hymn encapsulates so much. Okay?
Oh Come Emmanuel
Isaias Viñales: So the first verse is, oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears.
So right away. We're confronted with the reality of exile and the necessity of ransom. Okay? The opening cry calls for Emmanuel to ransom captive Israel.
And to feel the weight of that, we need to remember what Emmanuel actually means, right? God, with us. This isn't just a title, it's the restoration of fellowship that was broken in Eden. This is, this is about the restoration of fellowship that was broken in Eden, because there was a time where Adam and Eve could hear the sound of the Lord God walking and the cool of the day, as we're told in Genesis chapter three, verse eight, and that intimacy unfortunately was lost through sin, okay?
Humanity was driven out. They were barred from their original home. Presence of God in the garden and that my dear friend, really was the first exile. If you think about it, they didn't have their beginnings outside of the Garden of Eden, but they were driven away.
Emmanuel comes from Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear his son and shall call his name Emmanuel. And as Matthew tells us this name means God with us. You can read that in Matthew chapter one, verse 23. God with us.
So like many prophecies, okay? This one has had a both a, a near and a far fulfillment. Isaiah first spoke it into a moment of fear.
So the old test, uh, old Testament context, we have his wicked wicked king. Uh, king Ahaz, okay. And his Israel was facing the threat of invasion. And God promised that before a child born and the royal house reached maturity, the threatening nations would fall. And most scholars believe that this likely pointed to a Davidic heir like Hezekiah, for instance. And it was a reminder that God had not abandoned his people.
So by the way, there's still a lesson there to learn about God's faithfulness, even as we examine the context of the Old Testament. Okay? But the spirit wasn't finished with these words. This was a sort of double prophecy. Centuries later, Matthew looks back and sees a, a fuller, richer, deeper meaning.
What was once comfort for a fearful king now reveals God's greater plan. The child there becomes the child, okay? The young woman becomes the virgin Mary. The sign of deliverance becomes the savior himself. Jesus is Emmanuel in the deepest and truest sense, and we've been singing about that.
So this is not just symbolic, this is not just poetry Jesus. He is literally God with us. Literally. Not only his earthly life as we know, but even now. Matthew 28 20. He is with us to the end of the age. He is with us, and he is the one that restores what will, what was lost in Eden? This blessed fellowship, this intimacy, this communion with God, God and man together reconciled.
See what the tabernacle in the Old Testament pointed toward. Christ fulfills God once said. Exodus 25 8. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. This is God telling, uh, the people why he wanted them to make the sanctuary, the tabernacle that he may dwell in their midst.
But here's the thing, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, there were barriers, there was divisions, there was distance between God and the common people. Okay?
But Jesus comes closer. Amen? Jesus comes closer. He doesn't merely tabernacle among us, as John alludes to in John chapter one, verse 14, but he becomes one of us. And in him that fellowship between God and man is permanent.
Have you thought about this? After the death and burial in the resurrection and ascension, Jesus, he still bears flesh and blood. Right now exalted to the right hand of the father is the God man, Jesus Christ in permanent unbreakable union forever. Forever and ever.
And that is second coming. Uh, and here, and here's the thing with that. I should say that in Ephesians chapter two, okay. We're told that those who are far off been brought near. We've been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and that dividing wall, Paul makes it very clear in his letter to the Ephesians is torn down so that strangers, those who were far off, are now, that now they're brought into the very household of God, their family members. Exiles become citizens. And God did all this in and through Christ. And it was necessary that Christ come in the incarnation in order for all this to happen.
There is a second coming. Isn't there? There is a second coming, and this is one our, our union, our relationship, this restoration will, will reach its fulfillment.
Revelation ends with this glorious reunion, God dwelling with his people and the fullest and the deepest and the most loving way imaginable. All of that is wrapped up in this little infant.
Five words in. Five words in. Oh come oh come, Emmanuel. And this is the deep, the depths of the theology here.
I will, think about this. You are going to be with God if you are in Christ forever and ever, and ever and ever and ever and ever. And what was lost and restored will never be lost again. It will never be lost again. I take great, great, great comfort in that.
Ransom Captive Israel
Isaias Viñales: And then he goes on, uh, the, the monks that wrote this go on to say, uh, ransom captive Israel. So they're calling out, crying out for Emmanuel to come to ransom. This language comes straight from the prophets in Isaiah 35 and Jeremiah 31 where God promises to redeem his people and bring them home.
See, while Israel was physically restored from exile at this time, time Messiah comes, uh, she remained spiritually captive. Even after the return, there was brokenness, there was inner marriage, there was compromise.
And so when Jesus comes, what does he say? Mark 10 45. The son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And then Paul adds to this later on, there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.
And so while it's true that Jesus came, as he says in Matthew chapter 15, verse 25. For the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And while it's true that he said that he came to give his life a ransom for many, the apostle, the apostles are very, very clear. Don't you think it was just for these people? It was for the Gentiles. It was for all. He gave him himself for all.
That is astonishing because remember who we're talking about. Emmanuel we're talking about Emmanuel, God with us, giving himself for us. So he was more than just a mere man. He was Emmanuel.
The Rod of Jesse
Isaias Viñales: And we go to the second verse, oh, come thou Rod of Jesse, free thy own from Satan's tyranny, from the depths of hell thy people save and give them victory over the grave.
The rod of Jesse. This is drawing from Isaiah 11, one, and this refers to a shoot, okay. Or a, a slender stick growing from a, from a dead sump. This is like the old KJV, you know, the old way of, of referring to something like that. And it reminds us that God brings life out of, of, of, out, of what looks like total destruction.
So by Isaiah's day, the prophet, the Royal House of David, it just looked finished. It looked finished. Jesse is not mentioned as a king, but as a forgotten father. The tree had been cut down, no throne, no glory, no future. So it seemed. So it seemed. And yet God promises a rod, a slender chute, something unimpressive, fragile, easily overlooked.
This is not a towering cedar. It is a twig pushing through dead wood. That is how the Messiah comes. This tells us something essential about how God saves, church. He doesn't usually arrive and obvious strength he brings, uh, he brings life out of death, out out of things that look completely spent.
Remember we have a savior who has rahab in his lineage, A foreigner, a woman from a doomed city folded into the line of the Messiah. God gives a child to Abraham and Sarah when the womb is practically as good as dead, and the promise seems laughable. God delivers his people through an 80-year-old man with a staff standing before the greatest empire on Earth in Moses. God defeats s Midian with 300 men so no one can boast. God uses a barren older couple in Elizabeth and Zachariah, right? To bring about the forerunner to Jesus in John the Baptist, and a young little virgin girl, Mary. Betrothed virgin. God chooses the youngest son, the overlooked shepherd, the the stammering prophet. Remember what Moses said to God? The barren woman, the broken vessel again and again and again.
God waits. It's like, it's like God's waiting for it, until there's no strength, until man can get no glory from this, so that his resurrection power, so that his almighty strength, so that his love, so that his strength is glorified and not our human ability.
Free Thy Own From Satan's Tyranny
Isaias Viñales: The hymn goes on free thy own from Satan's tyranny. That rod imagery is not only about growth, okay, scripturally it is, but it's also about rule, at least in the way that it functions within the hymn.
This is really interesting. The monks use the play on word, like think about a A rod. A rod is used for deliverance, okay? In the Old Testament, it's, it's a part of the Exodus language that God used to deliver his people. In Psalm two, it represents authority and Psalm 23, right? Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
So Christ doesn't merely sympathize with our bondage. He breaks the tyrant's hold. Satan's tyranny is not just demonic oppression either it, it's the rule of sin, fear, accusation, death. And Christ's authority, praise God is exercise and not crushing you or me, but by freeing us and crushing the serpent as we'll.
See? See, the irony of advent is this, that the weakest looking king, he came to his own in his own, received him not, he was despised and rejected by men. Think about this, soldiers, Roman soldiers, what are they compared to the king of kings? They put a crown of thorns upon him and mock him right? And a purple robe and mock him and spit upon him.
Think, think of the events surrounding the, the shame, the degradation, all of this. So that's the irony, that the weakest looking king is the strongest deliverer.
So as Hebrew says, through death, not just through his resurrection, I want you to hear this. Hebrews two 14, through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely is not the angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
John also wrote in one John three, eight, the reason that the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. It was through this apparent weakness that the seed of the woman crushes the head of the serpent.
It didn't look like a display of power. It didn't look like a display of glory to those watching. It was a, the Roman Cross was a, it was a cruel thing. People were scandalized even by, by looking upon it. And this is what God uses. You see?
From the Depths of Hell Thy People Save
Isaias Viñales: From the depths of hell thy people save. This doesn't mean merely that Christ rescues us from bad circumstances. It, it means he rescues us from the place that we cannot escape on our own. Jesus doesn't shout salvation from heaven. He comes. He comes. Remember, oh, come. Oh, come. He comes and descends to Earth then forsakes, bears our sins, descends into death to destroy its power. He takes death. He takes our exile, he takes the curse, he takes our separation, and he carries it through to the resurrection.
Our salvation is glorious. And so when Christ appears on the day of judgment, we need now fear the wrath of God. But at the same time, I wanna say to you. From the depths of hell thy people save. Right now you're saved right now. Beloved. We collages three. If you have been what with Christ? Raised with Christ. Right now, you get to participate in the resurrection life of the risen savior of the universe. Right now.
Give Them Victory Over the Grave
Isaias Viñales: Give them victory over the grave. The grave is the final tyrant, the last enemy. According to Paul, every human power, every single one stops right there. It just stops right there. Can go no further. But the rod of Jesse does not stop at the tomb. The shoot becomes a tree. The branches bear fruit. The dead stump blooms into resurrection life.
This is why Christmas is inseparable from Easter, by the way, 'cause the cradle is already pointing towards the empty grave.
Now I want you to listen to me very carefully. Your freedom does not rest on your own strength. My freedom, praise God does not rest on my own strength. Christ. Christ frees his people from tyranny.
So you are not asked to overthrow Satan and your own strength and your own power. You are invited to follow the king who has already done that. And the grave does not get the final word, not over your loved ones who have died in the Lord, not over your failures, not over your sin, not over your suffering.
The rod of Jesse guarantees that what looks finished is not finished at all.
We have victory over the grave. Rest, let that sit on you. You, if you're into the Lord.
It's an enemy. You know? Can we fathom the number of, of of of people that the death has taken? That it's slain? And you have victory in Christ over the grave. Praise God.
Oh Come Thou Dayspring
Isaias Viñales: Verse three, oh, come thou day spring, and by the way, we're in Christ, but even believers are looking forward toward resurrection of the righteous. Amen?
This is why I say yes, it's kind of trying to put us where Israel was before the coming of the Messiah. But this is very much so relevant for us today because our, our lives like a vapor, like a hand breath, right? Like the flowers of the field. I mean, gosh, Knoxville had some beautiful flowers in spring. I don't see 'em around for the most part. Just, it's gone like that. And so this matters for you, oh, Christian, for you.
Oh, come thou day spring. Day spring simply means dawn. Okay? The first light that pierces the night on the horizon. You know, if you've, you've ever watched. Raise your hand if you've watched the sunrise in the morning, you know what I'm talking about, right? It's dark at first and, and it's just that first glimmer of light. Not noon or full daylight, just enough to say the night is ending.
Malachi promises In Malachi four, two, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings and Zachariahj. Uh uh, um, John the Baptist's father sings, and Luke chapter 1 78 by the tender mercy of our God, where the day spring from on high has visited us.
The day, spring does not wait for the darkness to ask permission. You understand that, right? It simply arrives and darkness starts to lose its ground. It shows up, and the darkness has to go, it has to flee, it has to bow, it, it it's chased out by the light, so to speak.
So I want you to think about this, this movement, especially with what we see, uh, here, uh, this pattern, if you will, in scripture.
A star rises before wise men find the child, right? A baby cries before we read about the demons trembling. A cross is lifted up before the tomb is open and a dawn breaks before anyone believes resurrection is possible.
Remember how confused and baffled the disciples were? God had to supernaturally open their minds in order to comprehend these things, folks. We know that as he walked with his disciples.
So God's light, when you think it always comes before understanding catches up. It always comes. Think about how early God said the seat of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Who could have known what that was about in all its glory and all its detail? Who could have known? God knew. God disperse the gloomy clouds of night.
Night in scripture is not just the absence of light, it's can, it can be used like darkness, metaphorically, fear, confusion, grief, waiting, silence. So this prayer is not merely God, please explain our suffering.
You've ever been there? I've been there. Right? We feel like if we just knew, we'd kind of help out a little bit. Please explain our suffering.
This is, this goes a little bit beyond that. It's saying break into it. Enter it, break into it. So Christ doesn't remove the night. Okay? By an argument. He removes it by his presence because Christ is the light of the world.
John eight 12 reads, again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. It's his presence as the light of the world in your life that makes the difference.
And so I, I've been there where you're struggling with fear, doubt, confusion, sin and all this. I, I just wonder there, there's a thing that, that always convicts me, that Jesus said to his, his opponents. In the gospel of John, he says, you searched the scriptures because you believe in them is eternal life. Yet these these are they the bare witness of me, they testified to me. He told them, he said, but you do not come to me that you may have life.
He doesn't deny that they searched the scriptures. He actually affirm, affirms that they searched the scriptures and he actually affirms that they searched scriptures because they believe in them as eternal life. But you have to come to a person.
Eternal life is what according to John 17 verse three? To know the one true God and his beloved son, whom he sent. Okay? His son.
And so this is my plea to anyone out here listening who feels like you're in darkness. Go to Christ, cry out to Jesus. Call upon his name. Seek him. The real him. The true him that came in, that manger that lived a sinless life, that died that sacrificial death on the cross that was buried, that was raised up, who appeared to his disciples afterwards, who ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high, and who will come back to judge the living in the dead and be with his people forever and ever and ever.
He's real. And you can know him. Oh, and you can, you can have him. He wants you to know him. He wants you to have him. He wants to shine his light in that darkness. He wants to do that. So I'm inviting you. Come to him, let him do that for you.
So sometimes we feel, again, it's the, we feel that we're not in full daylight sometimes, even now. Sometimes it feels like we're living pre-dawn still. We're tired. I get tired. We grieve. We're waiting. But the promise of advent and the incarnation is the sun has risen and night cannot win anymore.
There's a day coming, beloved, where if you were to look for the night, so to speak, if we can personify night and darkness for just a moment here, you could search high and low. You could look behind every nook and cranny. It's gone because the light of Christ shining. Such a day is coming.
And if you sense like a glimmer of, of hope in light right now. That's not just wishful thinking, that's Christ already at work. Some of you need to hear that. I think there's, but a little glimmer.
Don't despise small beginnings. After all, think of the rod of Jesse. Think of that, that light that just pierces out on the horizon. Those are things of small beginnings and that's how our Lord came.
Oh Come Thou Key of David
Isaias Viñales: I'll try to speed up. Oh come thou key of David. The key of David comes from Isaiah 22 and it has taken, uh, up again in Revelation three, seven.
Listen to this, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, the words of the holy one, the true one who has the key of David who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
A key here symbolizes authority. Christ doesn't merely point the way. Remember what John the Baptist said? I'm, I'm not, he, he did not see himself as it, right? He pointed to him.
This is, this is not what Christ does. He doesn't merely point to the way. He is the way, the truth in the life. And he holds the key to life. He opens that door. He doesn't negotiate access, he grants access.
This is actually what marveled people in the gospels. Here's Jesus teaching in a house and it's packed and people can't get inside. And so, uh, uh, paralytic and his friends are, are like, literally like create a hole. Can you imagine a hole being bused right here? And someone's getting lowered down, you know, through the roof.
And when Jesus sees their faith, he said, son, your sins are forgiven. And there's an uproar. They say, who can forgive sins but God alone?
And so Jesus says, which is harder to say, rise up, take up your mat and walk, or you know your sins, son, your sins are forgiven? So that you would know that the son of man on Earth, on Earth has authority to forgive sins, I say to you, rise up take up your mat and walk.
And what happened? He did. He holds the key. He holds the key.
You see what was locked by sin, what was locked by spiritual exile, what was locked by death is unlocked by the son of David himself.
A door, think of this, it shuts in Eden. A way is barred by the cherubim in the flame. A tabernacle opens but only for priests into the inner, inner inner place. A veil stands in the temple, thick, heavy, unyielding. But then a key turns at the cross and the veil tears from top to bottom and tombs open and what no one could ever enter is now called home. Today you will be with me in paradise.
This is not because of, because of human pro, uh, progress or merit. This is because he who has the keys has opened the door. Open wide, our heavenly home.
Notice the prayers not show us the door, but open the door. Heaven is not entered by our merit. It is entered because Christ unlocks what we could never access on our own. And the one who opens the doors, the one who walks through it with us. With us.
Make Safe the Way that Leads on High
Isaias Viñales: Make safe the way that leads on high, the Christian life, oh, I'm so thankful for this, it's not a tight rope. Picture, a tight tightrope. Right? And on the bottom, they're all these all consuming flames.
The Christian life is not a tight rope walk, uh uh, over damnation. Okay? It's more like a secured road. Yes, a narrow road, but a secured road guarded by the authority of Christ. It's protected by the king himself. So the same key that opens heaven also locks away what would destroy us.
What was it that Christ told Peter? Simon, simon, behold Satan demanded to have you, that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned, when not if, when you have turned, strengthen your brothers. Close the path to misery, amen.
For today, this doesn't mean suffering disappears, as we know. Some of us has suffered greatly. This is why we look forward to when misery will be no more. For today, it means misery no longer has the final word. Okay?
Christ closes the road that leads to meaninglessness, to despair, death, a life separated in eternity without God. He shuts the door on sin's dominion. He bars the path that ends in ruin.
See, where as in Genesis, the flaming sword barred our first appearance from the Tree of life, and Revelation, the tone shifts and we read these words. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
So some of you feel shut out. Shut out by guilt, shut out by failure, shut out by fear. Advent declares the door is not jammed. The lock is not broken. The key, Jesus, has arrived. And he is, he's opened the door.
This is why we want him to come back. He's come, but there's so much more ahead, so much more glory, so much more life, so much more joy. So much more peace.
Closing Prayer
Isaias Viñales: Please pray with me.
Heavenly Father, oh, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for coming. I, I'm at a loss for words, Lord, that you, my creator, the one who sustains all things by the word of his power, would come for me, would come to rescue, deliver, and give me life. I'm so undeserving. Thank you for coming. Jesus, thank you for coming.
And thank you that you will come again. Thank you that you haven't left us and that you've given us your spirit. And praise God we have one another to encourage one another in the faith, but Lord, we joy the cry of Revelation 22 where you said, I will come again. And where the bride, your church responds. Come Lord Jesus.
Amen.