Come, Emmanuel!

Annunciation -- JESUS MAFA, Cameroon

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

(Isaiah 7:14 ) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.

God Himself has given a sign to His people. As we barrel down the highway toward Passion week, it is int the same as during Advent, when the signs of the season are everywhere and proliferating. Lights, greenery, swirling red and white stripes, even ornamental reminders of the manger, the sheep, the shepherds, and the angels adorn the public squares of our cities and towns. These are the signs, but no one is stopping to really read them.

This is Lent, as we commemorate ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD and our signs are different, especially this year.

They are signs of a heart cry.

Some are lonely, frustrated, worried, fearful, or dismayed. Others are depressed. There is no one who is unaffected by our time in history. If we but look just a bit beneath the surface, we will see pain, longing, and confusion.

People do not know to call their deepest need, salvation, redemption, or reconciliation, but they know that they do have a need. They do not know that the deepest answer is Emmanuel, God with us, but they know that they long for a presence that transcends the moment.

Emmanuel's people recognize the signs of brokenness out of their own experiences and show forth the sign of His presence.

They are signs of hearing for God has heard.

God has indeed heard the heart cries of people. As He heard the crisis of the Israelites in Egypt and raised up Moses, so He has heard those of our generation. He has sent His Son for all people of all time and our time is now.

This is our message of “God has heard, and He has come to be with you” to a world that will find it difficult to believe.

They are signs of hope.

People seldom pray without a sense that they might be heard. They hold out some inkling of hope with every strand of tinsel that they hang. When they sign a card that says, “peace on earth,” at Christmas or even “Happy Easter” in the spring,  they are entertaining the notion that peace and happiness are possibilities.

As Paul stood in Athens and reinterpreted the  statue to the unknown god and named Him as the true, one and only God of the universe, let us recapture and declare the meaning of the signs around us and use them to point to the One sign He has given us from Heaven.

O come, o come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel

Who waits in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice, rejoice. Emmanuel shall come to thee. Oh Israel.