O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (part 2)

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 reads, "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Yesterday, in discussing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, I made the point that Christ came not just to keep us from being lonely, but to free his covenant people from bondage.  This bondage can be to many things, but ultimately it is to death.  That is why the Immortal clothed himself with mortality and allowed himself to be laid in a feed trough…that we, his children, might one day put on immortality.

I love the confidence that knowing this gives a believer.  We can boldly (almost tauntingly) proclaim to death that it no longer holds sway over us.  This is exactly what Paul does when he proclaims, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” and it is what the English poet John Donne did when he wrote,

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.

And it is that same hopeful, longing confidence with which we can sing

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 you, O Israel!

For when Christ took on human flesh, he did so with a plan.  And according to that plan (to borrow the words of another hymn) he died, eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.  May we all rejoice in this fact throughout this Advent season and beyond!

Previous posts in this series:

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (part 1)