Today we’re sharing excerpts from our new seasonal studies, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and Easter. Order your copies or see free samples today at Lifeway.com/Emmanuel and Lifeway.com/EasterStudy.
First up, here is an excerpt from this year’s new Advent Bible study—O Come, O Come, Emmanuel:
“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”1
This year, we’ve experienced sorrow on a global scale. Perhaps you’re reading these words years after they were originally written, but you no doubt remember the coronavirus pandemic that swept our world into a season of fear, death, and heartache.
Every year, no matter the scale, we all experience sorrow—individually and communally. Every year holds its share of loneliness, hurt, and tragedy—of brokenness. This year, and every year, as the days on our calendar dwindle, our hearts cry out with some of the last words in the Bible, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20b).
Advent is a season set aside to celebrate that Christ came to us as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and to look forward with anticipation to the moment when He will return as our triumphant King. It’s a season to rejoice!
We’ve chosen the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” as the theme for this Bible study. It’s a song that has been sung by Christ’s followers for more than 150 years. I love the verbs found in the chorus. (Hang with me.) The call to rejoice is present tense.
“REJOICE! REJOICE!”
This is a call to action. Rejoice now, O Israel! Sing praise! Be full of joy! Celebrate!
The second sentence of the chorus is future tense.
“EMMANUEL SHALL COME TO THEE, O ISRAEL” (EMPHASIS ADDED).
These familiar lyrics emphasize the past, the time before Christ’s first coming. They help us remember that Israel, God’s chosen people, once longed for Him to come and rescue them. God’s children have been united by the same heart cry throughout the years, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Come be with us.
While they lived in loneliness, in sorrow, in hurt, in tragedy, in the sheer brokenness of our world, Israel begged God to send a savior. But even as they pleaded for rescue, they rejoiced.
Though it’s a precious piece of church history, this song isn’t Scripture. Though it wasn’t God-breathed, it accurately reflects the stories of God’s people recorded in the Old Testament, as well as the longings of our hearts today.
Israel could rejoice as they cried out for a savior because they believed in the promises of God. Our God is faithful, and we know He will fulfill every word He has spoken. Jesus Christ fulfilled all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20). So His people can rejoice in what’s to come.
In the same way, even in seasons of uncertainty when the brokenness of our world weighs heavily upon us, we can rejoice too. We can be a people full of joy even now. Emmanuel will come to us again. We can trust it because He said it. He promised, “Yes, I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:20a).
As we look back at the stable where Jesus arrived that first Christmas, we can rejoice, celebrating another promise kept. As we look forward, longing for the day of Christ’s second coming, we can celebrate with singing. Though we mourn in lonely exile here, we celebrate with great hope that the Son of God will soon appear.
Now, and always, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
1. John Mason Neale, trans., “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” Baptist Hymnal (Convention Press, 1991), 76.
Want to learn more about O Come, O Come, Emmanuel? View a free sample at Lifeway.com/Emmanuel.
And here are some fun wallpapers for your desktop and phone! Click the images below to download!
Next, here is an excerpt from our new Easter Bible study—Easter: Behold Your King:
Easter has become a part of the fabric of our culture, especially in the United States. Almost immediately after Valentine’s Day, the life-size cupids succumb to aisles littered with bunnies, chicks, and pastels. Folks who wouldn’t claim to be “religious” even celebrate Easter, popping a pack of PEEPS® into their carts on the way out of the store.
One of the reasons we love Easter is because, in many ways, it signals the long awaited arrival of spring, bursting with new life and new hope, just when we think we can’t handle the doldrums of winter one moment longer.
Many of us get wrapped up in the joys of the celebration and the extravagance of Easter services without understanding what it’s actually all about. I think we’d all agree, Easter was a significant event—otherwise, why are we still marking the occasion thousands of years later? But do we really understand the deeper meaning?
That’s the heart behind this year’s Easter study. We want to take five weeks together to intentionally and prayerfully pull back the curtain, asking God to help us understand the big picture of Easter—surely everything we’ve learned in these Passion plays wasn’t wrong—while also exploring some of the deeper meanings of what God was doing in Jesus’ death and resurrection and the days leading up to these events.
Our main focus in this study will be on Passion Week—the last few days of Jesus’ thirty-three years here on earth. We’ll move chronologically through these days, watching Him purposefully and lovingly walk toward the cross. Then, we’ll see Him resurrected, modeling new life, defeating fear of death and sin forever.
I think you’d agree, peoples’ last actions and last words carry great weight. In the final moments of our lives, we only want to communicate the important things, the most true and pure things to the people we love most. In exploring Passion Week, we are watching Jesus finish well. Being fully God as well as fully man, He knew His time was short. We will witness Him making sure He said what He needed to say to His family and followers whom He loved so dearly. We will see Jesus walk through the hardest assignment God the Father has ever handed out. We will watch Him suffer with unrelenting perseverance, integrity, and purpose.
We’re going to unpack several of the Old Testament prophecies and how they were fulfilled in the last days of Jesus’ life. We’re going to examine some of the meaning and intention behind Jesus’ activity during Passion Week. And we’re going to see how Jesus’ actions thousands of years ago speak directly to our everyday lives now and our eternal lives forever.
As we’ll explore together, the first century world was languishing in pain and suffering and injustice, with no hope in sight. Jesus burst on the scene offering an “unorthodox” (pun intended) way to new life and joy—just when He knew we couldn’t handle this world of darkness and hopelessness a moment longer. He sacrificed Himself on the cross, died, and rose again the third day to bring us inexhaustible purpose and unspeakable joy now and forever. Jesus’ suffering was meant to bring you new life. If you ask me, that’s the best news there ever was.
Augustine is famously quoted as saying, “We are Easter people and alleluia is our song.”1 As followers of Jesus, understanding the beauty and importance of His sacrifice allows us each to add our voices to the alleluia chorus of worship that’s been sung by believers throughout the ages—one that will be sung for all of eternity. A sacrifice of praise that’s more than deserved for Jesus’ spotless sacrifice for us. And while we’re on this side of heaven, we are uniquely positioned to point others to Him as our glorious Savior and our mighty Lord. We pray this study will fuel your joy and hope in being loved by Jesus. We pray it will spur you to intimate worship of Him. We pray it will lead you to tell others how Jesus came to save them too.
The chorus needs your alleluia. Let’s start warming up our voices.
1. William H. Shannon, Silence on Fire: The Prayer of Awareness (Crossroad Pub., 1993), 146.
Want to learn more about Easter? View a free sample at Lifeway.com/EasterStudy.
And here are some fun wallpapers for your desktop and phone! Click the images below to download!
