Old lyrics. New meaning.

Have you ever watched a movie that you hadn't seen since childhood and realized how completely you had misunderstood the plot.  I have done that several times.  I did it also with the pledge of allegiance.  "And to the republic for which it stands..."  I remember the day I realized that we were not saying "witch," but "which."  I seriously pictured a witch on a broomstick every time I said the pledge in grade school. 

I listened to "O Come O Come Emmanuel" today, a song I grew up reading from a hymnal.  I knew the words, but did not know my vocabulary.  "O come O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel."  Wow.  That is beautiful.  God's people were held captive by sin (as in Lamentations 1:5), but he loved us so much that he sent his son as a ransom to free us and gather us back to Himself!  Not just the Jews, but the gentiles too.  Romans 6.  "Rejoice! Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel."  Repeat.