Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus 

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“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”  

 

And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But you shall be named the priests of the Lord,
They shall call you the servants of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
And in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore, in their land they shall possess double;
*Everlasting joy shall be theirs.  -  Isaiah 61:1-7

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.  

                                                                                                                                       -  Isaiah 61:10-11

“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.” These opening lines of a hymn by Charles Wesley (1744) capture the spirit of Advent, in which we anticipate and celebrate Christ’s coming as the Savior of the world (see John 3:16).

 

The season of Advent began a few days ago, and in many churches people have already sung this song to focus their celebration of Christ’s coming. This song speaks to the hope the prophet Isaiah had before the coming of the Messiah, the promised Savior of God’s people. The people were in exile, and the theme of being set free and blessed and comforted offered great hope.

 

Focusing on Jesus Christ as the Savior, this song offers us hope as well: to be set free from our sin and to find our rest in Christ alone. It helps us to remember what God’s people longed for. It also helps us to remember what we long for: that Christ will come again to end all suffering and sorrow and give us full life forever.

 

Whenever we are dealing with difficult situations, we can sing this song with fervent hope, trusting that Jesus will come again. We long for his return to free the world from all its suffering and to comfort all who mourn.

 

 

 

 

 

The devotional message, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”, was written by Pastor Brian Kuyper, and appeared in “Today”, www.todaydevotional.com, December 1, 2021.  Used here with permission from the website.