Advent Through the Lens of Four Christmas Songs

First Sunday of Advent 2010 AD

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Part 3

Matthew 1.23

Verses 3, 5, 7 – Rod of Jesse, Key of David, Root of Jesse’s Tree – Isaiah 11.1, 10; 22.22; Rev 3.7; 22.16.

3. O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny; From depths of hell Thy people save, And give them victory over the grave.

5. O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.

7. O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree, An ensign of Thy people be; Before Thee rulers silent fall; All peoples on Thy mercy call.

These verses all center around the imagery of David and his throne.  And they present a riddle, for they refer to the Messiah as the Rod (or Branch) of Jesse and also as the Root of Jesse’s tree (Isa 11.1, 10).  How can he be both?

But that riddle is only part of the vexing enigma which is Israel.  Israel was always at war with herself, her calling, and her destiny, and was always self-destructing and missing out on her inheritance.  David came as the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, the Shepherd King.  But David at the height of his glory stole another man’s wife – a girl half David’s age.  He impregnated her and then murdered her husband (as well as a few other unfortunate men who happened to be nearby) to cover it all up.  So, if David was the man after God’s own heart (and he was!), where does that leave Israel (and the rest of us)?  Fourteen generations of Davidic kings later and Israel was still in captivity (as Matthew points out in his genealogy (Mat 1.2-17).  Israel needs a new kind of Son of David to rescue her and sit on her throne.  But what difference will it make if he is just another descendant of David?

That is where the riddle enters the enigma.  Jesus Emmanuel, Jesus the God-man, is both the Rod of Jesse and the Root of Jesse’s tree (Isa 11.1, 10; Rev 22.16).  He is the Son of David, but he is also the Son of God.  Here, we have finally a different kind of Son of David, one who truly holds the Key of David, who can “open wide our heavenly home,” and none can shut it (Isa 22.22; Rev 3.7).  David, the man after God’s own heart, could not himself escape “Satan’s tyranny,” but Jesus the Root and Branch of David is immune to it.  He alone gives “victory over the grave”.