Advent Through the Lens of Four Christmas Songs

First Sunday of Advent 2010 AD

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Part 4

Matthew 1.23

— Verse 4 – Dayspring – Luke 1.78.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Dayspring is a name used of the Messiah when Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied by the Spirit concerning his son:

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1.76-79.)

Zacharias’ prophesy evokes God’s promise of the “Sun of Righteousness” as well as the return of Elijah, both of which we find in Malachi 4. There, the Lord promises that the coming of the Messiah will be a double edged sword.  It will be the “great and terrible day of the LORD” (Mal 4.5) in which God will make the arrogant and the evildoers of the land like chaff (Mal 4.1); but it will be a day of joy for those who fear the Lord’s name, for the “Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall, [and] you will tread down the wicked” (Mal 4.2-3).  God also promises to send “Elijah the prophet” as a forerunner (Mal 4.5-6), whom Jesus identifies as John the Baptist (Mat 11.14).  The day of the Lord is when the Lord comes near.  Because God is light (1John 1.5), when He comes near, He dispels darkness and shines light on all, which necessarily results in judgment — an exposing (and therefore a sorting out) of the righteous (who love the light) and the unrighteous (who hate the light).  (John 3.19-21.)  When the Lord came nearest of all is when He came as Emmanuel, God With Us.  The former prophets were like moons, reflecting the light.  Emmanuel was the Light (John 1.4).  With His birth, the Sun of Righteousness arose, and Day Sprung forth from on High:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  (Heb 1.1-3.)