O Come, Emmanuel 5: Day-Spring

My fifth Christmastide reflection on that beautiful carol, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, focusses upon its third verse’s first two lines:

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;

‘Day-spring’ has no place in the Authorised Version. It is likely the original author’s, or translator’s, expression to describe Christ’s role as Light-Bearer. The following lines talk about gloom, night, darkness and shadow; the verse begins with God’s wonderful remedy for such: light. Jesus Christ does not simply hold the light, reflect the light or even point to the light: He is the Light. His face is like the blazing sun which He hid when He assumed a human body. He is a ‘spring’ of bright, vigorous daylight in a gloomy world, for He is the source of light, as well as its Creator.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:4-5

This beautiful light brings greater cheer than any tree, tinsel, fairy lights or winter sunshine could ever provide. 

This is the real meaning of Christmas.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

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

O come, O come, thou Lord of Might
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law,
In cloud, and majesty, and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

From the text of the 1851 translation by John Mason Neale of the twelfth-century hymn Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, published in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861)