There could hardly be better news for the people of Israel. Oppressed by the Egyptians, they called out to the God of their fathers. Their cry, far from falling on deaf ears, was heard by the one who created the heavens and the earth, the skies and the seas. God heard them, knew their plight, and came in might to deliver them.

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.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

“Great Lord of might” hardly seems an appropriate handle for the son of Mary. In his infancy, needy, dependent, vulnerable—like every other human babe. In his youth, submissive to his parents. In his few adult years, despised, rejected, misunderstood, the scorn and derision of the “lordly” of the land, killed.

And yet…

Almighty on the Mountain

The old Latin text of the traditional Christmas hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” reads, “Veni, veni, Adonai” (“Come, come, Lord”) and then remembers the great theophany of God on the mountain of Moses. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one who rescued his people from enslavement in Egypt with “an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6), came down with “thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud” and with “a very loud trumpet blast,” wrapped in fire (Exodus 19:16, 18).

Here was El Shaddai, “God Almighty” (Exodus 6:2), the God of might who made covenants with their forefathers, who kept his promise to conquer their enemies, who caused the waters to turn red with blood, to stand in a heap, to turn from bitter to sweet, to burst forth from a flinty rock on a parched plain. Here was the one who served his people meals in the wilderness—manna, the very bread of heaven.

Here was Adonai (the Latin rendering of Yahweh in Exodus 6:3), who promised to take the pitiful people of Israel, the least of all the nations, and make them his own with a staggering twofold promise: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7). Here was the one who addressed Moses from the burning bush and the people from the flaming mount, in grace giving them the law.

There could hardly be better news for the people of Israel. Oppressed by the Egyptians, they called out to the God of their fathers. Their cry, far from falling on deaf ears, was heard by the one who created the heavens and the earth, the skies and the seas. God heard them, knew their plight, and came in might to deliver them.

Rejoice! Rejoice, O Israel! For here, truly, is God with us—Immanuel.

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