Hope can be defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. We all need hope. At the end of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, God’s people looked, with hope, toward the coming Messiah. There was no word from God for 400 years.
“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” is a great carol centering upon Israel’s longing for the Messiah and humanity’s deliverance.
Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
Charles Wesley helped his more famous brother, John, started the Methodist movement. As a writer of more than 8,000 hymns, his songs played an important part in birth of the Methodist movement. This song was first published in in his Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord in 1744. The popular hymnal was reprinted 20 times during his lifetime.
One of the enduring strengths of this song is the fact that it doesn’t retell the nativity story. Instead, it focuses on a hunger with which we can all identify. In the book of Mark, we read:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 1:1–8.
True believers hope for the true Messiah, both then and now. Today, many people look for the commercialized, popularized Jesus. True believers look for the true, biblical Savior. John was baptizing people in a new type of baptism. Judaism required ritualistic cleansing in pools. They also required converts to Judaism to be baptized. John brought a new element to baptism. He was baptizing unto repentance, or turning away from sin. He called for confession of sin. This was novel.
Repentance, turning from sin and turning toward God, is required for salvation. Many people focus only on God’s love and ignore His justice, failing to repent. “Repentance” means a “turn-about,” a deliberate change of mind and direction. “Forgiveness” means to remove or cancel a debt or offense. When one repents and turns toward God, God forgives.
John drew a multitude of followers, yet looked toward a deliverer, the Messiah, declaring that He was more powerful than John. John was not even worthy to slavishly bend down and untie the sandals of the coming Messiah. John also declared that while he was baptizing with water, the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity. Jesus would baptize with the power and presence of God, Himself.
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus. Today, as we anticipate Christmas, we must remember Christ’s arrival at Christmas and long for his return. Just as Israel longed for a Messiah, we long for salvation for and from a troubled, fallen, sinful, and cursed world. We know Jesus will come, that He has already won the battle, and is King of Kings. IT IS THIS MESSIAH’S BIRTH WHICH WE CELEBRATE AT CHRISTMAS!
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