O Adonai!

December 18 O Adonai!

O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the burning bush
and gave him the Law on Sinai;
Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.
(LSB 357)

Listen to Chaplain Daenzer sing it here.

Tonight, we will recall that not only is our Lord the Logos, the logic of the universe, but He is at one with Yahweh, with Adonai. There is no discontinuity between the Old and New Testament revelations. For the same Lord stands at the center of both. It was He, the divine Son, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush announcing His determination to rescue His people from their slavery, for He had seen and known their struggles (Ex. 3:1–12). And it was He, the Eternal Logos, who gave the very Law of God, the Ten Commandments, as a priceless gift to His people that they might understand what a life of love truly looks like, see how far they have fallen, and cry to Him for the mercy and salvation that is in Him alone (Exodus 19–20). To this Lord, this Adonai, who spoke and who speaks through the words of the Old Testament, we join in the cry:

“Come with outstretched arm and redeem us!”

Outstretched arm? We think of the infant in his mother’s arms nursing, as his tiny fingers curl around hers. We think of the man who reached out his arm and touched lepers and raised the dead. We think most of all of the man who stretched out His arms on the wood of the cross that He might save us, opening His arms wide enough to embrace a world.

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!
(LSB 357:3)