We just sung the hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." We sang it last week in our worship service, and the week before that. We will sing it again next week, and the week after that. We will sing it 5 times total this Christmas season. The reason we will sing it so often this Christmas season, is because it is the title of my sermon series this Christmas season, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." We are longing for God to come among us. But it also expresses the Christmas spirit so well. Before the coming of Jesus, the Jews were longing to see the Messiah come. To the extent that we can put ourselves in the place of the Jews, we too can long to see the Messiah come, which is the point of the Advent season, preparing for the coming of the Messiah.

The lyrics of the hymn put forth exactly the heart of my sermon series this Christmas season. The title is a prayer, longing that God would come among us. The lyrics of the hymn all follow up and expand on this longing, taking terminology from the Old and New Testament to describe how it is that God has promised to come and dwell among us. This hymn is one of the oldest of the Christmas hymns that we sing today. It dates back to before 800 A.D. Not in the form that we have it today, but in the seed of the ideas behind the hymn. The exact form of the hymn didn't come into being until the 1800's, when John Mason Neale found the lyrics in a Latin Catholic hymnal. Neale found these words to be so rich, that he translated them into English.

Originally, the lyrics began, "Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel." Later, of course, it was changed to "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Every stanza begins the same way: "O come, O come!" That's why this hymn has been referred to as the "Great O's." The great longings of the heart for God to come and right the wrongs. Every line of this hymn expresses a prayer of longing: "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer, our spirits by Thine advent here; O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things, far and nigh. O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind."

This is only four of the many stanzas from the hymn. Here are some others: "O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny; O come, Thou Key of David, come and open wide our heav'nly home; O come, Thou Branch of Jesse's stem, unto your own and rescue them! O come, Thou Bright and Morning Star, and bring us comfort from afar! O come, O come, great Lord of might, who to your tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times did give the law in cloud and majesty and awe."

These words do a good job of presenting the hope and expectation of the Jews during the days of Jesus. But such a hope was not only present in the days of Jesus, they were present throughout all of the history of Israel. The words of this hymn are so rich that one person called this hymn "a condensed study of the Bible's view of the Messiah—who he was, what he represented and why he had come to Earth. The song's lyrics reveal the unfolding story of the Messiah" [Ace Collings, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 127].

This is what I'm aiming for in this series: to help you see the "unfolding story of the Messiah," particularly throughout the Old Testament, to help you see that this longing for the Messiah to come has been the constant cry of Jews for centuries. In our approach to this topic, I'm not planning to look at single, isolated verses. Rather, I'm wanting us to see the great movements in the Scripture that draw us to see how Israel constantly longed for their Messiah to come.

Last week, if you remember, we looked at the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, all written by Moses. We began with the fall and the curse of Genesis, chapter 3. In Genesis 3:15, God made a promise. It was a promise of defeat. It was a promise of victory. It was a promise of defeat to the serpent. It was a promise of victory for all of us. God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). This is the first time that the gospel was proclaimed in all of the Scripture. That the power of Satan would be overturned through a human being that would come from the woman.

Last week, as we worked our way through the book of Genesis, we saw how needed this was. The world was so wicked, that God was ready to destroy it all. But he couldn't, because he promised to defeat Satan through the Messiah. So, he destroyed all the world, except for Noah and his family. We saw the promise of the coming Messiah repeated through God's call of Abraham, that in him "all the families of the earth" would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8), that is, the Messiah would come through his seed, of the nation of Israel.

Yet, the Messiah didn't come right away. Rather, the LORD first built a nation, the people of Israel. From that mighty nation, God would bring forth his Messiah. He would look like the redeemer that took them out of slavery in the land of Egypt. He would look like the perfect law keeper, that we all failed to be. He would look like Moses, as the ultimate prophet. This week, we will look at Joshua, and Judges, and the period of the Kings. Each of these periods of Israel's history will teach us a bit about the character of the Messiah.

Again, I plan to approach this week much like I did last week, by sharing with you some of my chapter summaries. Last week, I told you about a book that I wrote entitled, "My Bible Summaries." I showed you my first draft of the book. I told you that I had some edits to make. The font was bad. The spacing of the charts was bad. There was much editing to do regarding the text. Well, I sent my second draft off to the printers. I have a second draft copy that I received in the mail yesterday. It still has some edits, but not many, few enough that I'm confident to print these books in bulk. I'm going to send off an order to the printer this week, so that I will have a copy for every family in the church on Christmas morning, my gift to all of you. If you want to read through the Bible with me this year, and work on your own Bible summaries, I will have an extra book for you. So, for instance, if there is a married couple in the church, and husband and wife are both planning to use this book this year, involved in some group for accountability, I will have two copies for you. If there are some older children who plan on working through the book as well, I will have a copy for them as well.

So, let's start with Joshua. (I encourage you to open in your Bibles to Joshua). Again, like last week, I want to share with you my chapter summaries. Joshua begins like this: "Joshua 1: God commissions Joshua: be strong and courageous. Joshua commands the people." At this point in the history of Israel, if you remember, Moses has stepped off of the scene, and Joshua has taken over leadership of the people of Israel. The task of Joshua is to lead the people into victory by conquering the promised land. The main message that God gave to Joshua is found in Joshua 1:9: "This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua would need courage, as he would lead the people of Israel into a war-zone. He was to conquer the land that was set before them.

Notice in verse 9 the promise that God gives to Joshua of his presence. "The LORD your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). That's a subtle reference to Emmanuel. Emmanuel means, "God with us." Here, at the beginning of Joshua, we see a similar promise. "God is with you" (Joshua 1:9). This is what the people of Israel longed for, that God would be with them. This is what we celebrate at Christmas time, of God being with us! In Christmas, of course, God being with us is God coming into the flesh as a baby. But for Joshua, "God being with us" meant that his presence would be with Joshua to help him accomplish all that God has for him, as a conquering hero. Is it any wonder, then, that the Jews of the first century thought that the Messiah would come as a conquering hero, who would overthrow the Romans? Indeed, there will be a day when Jesus does this, only it's not at his first coming. Yet, this is the longing that Israel had for their Messiah, a conquering hero. Indeed, this is what we see God's presence meaning for Joshua.

Let's continue on with my summaries. "Joshua 2: Rahab hides two Israelite spies and ties a scarlet cord in her window." (I would love to spend some time here thinking about this great event when the spies came into the home, but we can't). "Joshua 3: Israel crossed the Jordan with the ark in the middle. Joshua 4: Twelve stone memorials: Joshua builds in the middle, the people built at Gilgal. Joshua 5: Kings fear Israel, who is circumcised and keep Passover. Manna stopped. Captain of the LORD's host."

You can turn over to Joshua, chapter 5. In this chapter, we see this mysterious man appear to Joshua. He identifies himself as "the commander of the army of the LORD." I believe this to be the pre-incarnate Christ. That is, an Old Testament sighting of Jesus. Let's read the story.

Joshua 5:13-15
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

I believe that this is a sighting of Jesus, God in the flesh. First of all, because of Joshua's response: worship. The commander doesn't prevent his worship, but accepts it. (Only the LORD does that). Second, because of the commander's command. "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy" (Joshua 5:15). And Joshua did so. This takes us back to the burning bush of Exodus 3, when the LORD appeared to Moses in the land of Midian, to summon him to go to Egypt to lead the people out of slavery. When the LORD appeared to Moses, he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). Surely, Joshua had heard Moses tell the story of how the LORD had appeared to him at the burning bush. When the commander of the army of the LORD told Joshua to do likewise, he was certainly ready to comply. Indeed, this is what we read in verse 15 (of Joshua 5). "And Joshua did so" (Joshua 5:15).

This is the character of the Messiah that Joshua presents: The Messiah would be a Conqueror. He would be the one to lead Israel in victory over her enemies. As the story of Joshua unfolds, you see how important it is for God to be with his people. Here's my summary for Joshua 6: "Joshua 6: Jericho destroyed. Rahab and her family is saved." It's a great story. Again, I wish that I had time to tell it. Israel marches around the city of Jericho every day for a week. Then, on the seventh day, they march around the city seven times. The priests blow their trumpets. The people shouted (Joshua 6:20). And "the wall fell down flat" (Joshua 6:20). The people of Israel routed the city, and rescued Rahab (who had hid the spies in chapter 2). It was a great time. But, "the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel" (Joshua 7:1).

This is my summary for chapter 7: "Joshua 7: Ai defeats Israel. Achan found out by lot. Achan's family stoned and burned." That's what happens when the LORD is angry. He lets you manage on your own strength. In this case, Israel was defeated by Ai. Only after repentance does Israel experience the victory. "Joshua 8: Israel burns Ai by ambushing behind the city. Stone altar at Mount Ebal (Deut. 27)." That's the picture that Israel had of their Messiah, a conqueror, who would come and destroy their enemies. "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear."

Let's move on in Israel's history to the time of the Judges. This is told in the book of Judges, the next book after Joshua. Here's my summary for Judges, chapter 1: "Judges 1: Judah and Simeon defeated the Canaanites. The other tribes did not drive them out." As great as Joshua was, all didn't turn out so well. Two tribes were successful in conquering the Canaanites and claiming the land that the LORD had promised to give them, namely, Judah and Simeon. Yet, the other tribes didn't do so well. That is, as good as Joshua was as a conquering commander, Israel needed a better commander than Joshua. This is painfully clear in Judges, chapter 1, when you read of the failures of the tribes of Israel. "But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem" (Judges 1:21). "Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants" (Judges 1:27). "Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites" (Judges 1:29). "Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants" (Judges 1:30). "Asher did not drive out the inhabitants" (Judges 1:31). "Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants" (Judges 1:33). "The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain" (Judges 1:34). It's a sad story of failure on the part of Israel.

Then, in chapter 2, we get the reason. Here's the first part of my summary for Judges 2: "Judges 2: The angel of the LORD rebukes Israel."

Judges 2:1-4
Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you." As soon as the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.

This is a sad day for Israel. There was reason for Israel to weep. They had been disobedient to the LORD, and failed to enter the promised land completely. But God wasn't done with Israel. He had to be faithful to his promise to crush the serpent by the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). He had promised to bring a Messiah through Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Here's the rest of my summary for Judges 2: "Judges 2: The angel of the LORD rebukes Israel. Joshua dies. God provides judges. Israel continues to rebel." This chapter sets up the entire story of Judges: God provides judges. Israel continues to rebel. God provides judges. Israel continues to rebel. God provides judges. Israel continues to rebel. The book of Judges is a cycle, going from bad to worse. These judges were a bit of a reprieve from their distress.

Let's read a bit of Judges, chapter 2.

Judges 2:15-19
And they were in terrible distress. Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so. Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

Did you notice the term that was used for these judges? They were "saviors." "Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them" (Judges 2:16). They were saviors. There are twelve "saviors" described in the book of Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. Yet again, none of these were the sort of savior that Israel needed. They needed an ultimate Savior! This is what we celebrate at Christmas time. The coming of the ultimate Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord! It's what all of the Old Testament was waiting for and anticipating.

This Savior is better than all of the other saviors. The saviors of the book of Judges were temporary. Our Savior, Jesus, is eternal! The saviors of the book of Judges saved them from their oppressors. Our Savior, Jesus, saves us from our greatest oppressor, sin! Oh, trust this Savior!

Let's move on. We have seen the history of Joshua foreshadow the Messiah being a Conqueror. We have seen the history of the Judges foreshadow the Messiah being a Savior. Now, we will see 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings foreshadow the Messiah as a King. Again, in the spirit of surveying the entirety of the Old Testament, there is no way that we will be able to go through all four books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. These books cover more than 500 years of history. These books tell of more than 40 kings who reigned in Israel and Judah. These books comprise more than 10% of the entire Old Testament. It's impossible to cover everything in detail. Yet, as is my point this Christmas season, these books teach us of our need for Emmanuel to come.

1 Samuel begins where the book of Judges ends, with the final judge, Samuel. But, like all of the judges, Samuel wasn't enough for Israel. Here is my summary from 1 Samuel 8: "1 Samuel 8: Samuel's sons turn aside. Israel asks for a king. Samuel warns them about kings." 1 Samuel 8:4-5 are the key verses: "Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, 'Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.'" Obviously, the LORD did not like this, as he was their King. Yet, he understood. The LORD told Samuel, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).

So the story continues on. Here are some summaries of mine from 1 Samuel: "1 Samuel 9: While searching for Kish's donkeys, Saul meets Samuel. 1 Samuel 10: The Spirit of the LORD came upon Saul, who prophesies and is chosen by lot to be king. 1 Samuel 11: Saul leads in defeat of the Ammonites. 1 Samuel 12: Israel affirms Samuel's integrity. Samuel warns Israel to obey the LORD during Saul's coronation." What a strange event that was. When Saul was becoming king, Samuel said that it all was a bad idea. Yet, Samuel pledged, "Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you" (1 Samuel 12:23). Surprise, surprise, Saul proved to be a disaster. Saul was a bad king. He sinned by playing the part of a priest (1 Samuel 13). He sinned by disobeying the LORD when defeating Amalek (1 Samuel 15). He sinned by summoning the Medium of En-dor (1 Samuel 28).

Eventually, David, a man after God's own heart, became King. David was a good king. The most important chapter of David's reign comes in 2 Samuel, chapter 7. Here is my summary: "2 Samuel 7: The LORD covenants with David. David responds in praise." David observed that he dwelt in a house of cedar, but God didn't have a house. He merely had a tent. So, David set out to build a house for God's name. He went to Nathan, who thought it a good idea. Then the LORD appeared to Nathan and said, "I never asked you to build me a house. You won't build the house for me. But your son will. But I have something better for you."

2 Samuel 7:12-13
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

That's a glorious promise. One of the greatest in all of the Bible. There would be a king forever! The people of Israel asked of every king after David, "Is this the one?" And none of them were the one. It wasn't Solomon. It wasn't Rehoboam. It wasn't Jeroboam. There were some good kings: Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Josiah. But most all of them were bad.

It wasn't any of the kings of Israel. None of them. None of those kings were good. When you think about the kings of Judah, they had some good kings. Rehoboam was bad. Abijah was bad. Asa was a good king. Jehoshaphat was good. Jehoram was bad, Ahaziah was bad. Athaliah was a queen. She was terrible. Joash was good. Amaziah was good. Uzziah was good, Jotham was good, Ahaz was bad. Hezekiah was a great king, but he still wasn't the one according to this prophecy here. Manasseh was like the worst of all kings. Amon was awful. Josiah was very good, but Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah were all terrible.

The message you get here from all the kings, when you go from 2 Samuel into 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and you read the story about all those kings (we're talking about more than 40 of them), is that none of them are quite like this promise here of 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 and 13. "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."

Who's that? Of course, it's Jesus. We're talking about him. The one that they were longing for. But the failure of all the kings up until the time of exile, when everything was destroyed, Jerusalem destroyed, Israel exiled, Judah exiled into Babylon, Israel destroyed, and everything's gone. They're like, what happened to our kings? Where was our king? "Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel. Yes, we made a mistake with Saul, and we made a mistake with all the other kings, but will you establish your king on the throne?" That's what they were longing for.

In comes Jesus. Do you remember when the Magi came, the wise men came from the east? Do you remember their question? "Where is he who was born king of the Jews? We've come to worship him" (Matthew 2:2). They understood that Jesus was coming as the new king. Jesus, when he preached, what was his message? "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Jesus clearly understood that he was the king who was coming. When there is a king, you need to bow in complete submission to him. It's really the message that we have: you need to bow totally unto that king.

Joshua wasn't quite the conqueror that we thought everyone could be. None of the judges were quite the savior. David wasn't the best king either. But it was Jesus who accomplished all these things. You see, I'm just catching the flow of Scripture from the broadest, biggest perspective this Christmas season.

Next week, we're going to look at the prophets. We've seen the Pentateuch with Moses. We have seen, this time, the history of Israel and how it prophesied a king. Next week, we're going to look at the prophets and how they're anticipating a Messiah as well. They're all crying out as well, "O come, O come, Emmanuel." That's my hope, that that is your prayer this Christmas season. Capture the flavor of what it was like for Israel at the time when they needed a Savior. They needed the Messiah to come.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on December 11, 2022 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.