Come Thou Long Expected Jesus: Pt. I

Last Christmas, I wrote about the song, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. As I was thinking about this Christmas and wondering if I wanted to tackle a song (even though I still have two chapters of Daniel to publish at some point – I’m so sorry!). I was drawn to the song, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. Interestingly, both of these songs were written by Charles Wesley. Good theology makes for wonderful worship music! I think I’m going to divide this into four parts. So, let’s jump into this marvelous song!

“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.”

I think the first important issue to address here is which “coming’ Wesley is referring to. See, this is a Christmas carol, but he is not merely referring to his first coming. Yes, verse two confirms that he came as a baby around 4 BC. However, this coming, this invitation, is actually looking forward to his second coming. Many of the best Christmas hymns actually point to his return (i.e. Joy to the World). The great writers understood that his birth was intricately related to his return. He came to earth for a purpose the first time – to redeem mankind. His work of redemption is finished, but his work of restoration has a second act. There is more to the story.

He has been long expected. If you trace the prophecy back to Genesis 3:15 through a promise made to Abraham, to the renewal of his promise to Jacob, to the choice of Judah (which didn’t make much earthly sense), to a man named Salmon who took Rahab (a foreigner who *might* have been a prostitute) as a wife, to a man named Boaz who became a kinsman redeemer for another foreign woman, Ruth, to a youngest son that everyone else overlooked named David, to a son few people remember named Nathan, to a virgin village girl betrothed to a carpenter…you realize that that baby’s cry on a night that was not very silent had been long expected. However, it was not the arrival that most people expected. They were not looking for a helpless infant born in a cave. They were looking for a victorious king. They were looking for freedom, but not the freedom that Jesus offered.

He came to free them from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). He came to remove their sins instead of merely covering them as they had practiced for more than a thousand years on The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). He came to free them from the rituals that could not redeem. He came to deliver them from their sin, but they did not see sin as their primary problem. Too often, we find ourselves in that same position. Jesus is offering us freedom, but we would rather have something else. We would like a Jesus who will satisfy our wants. Instead, he will determinedly give us what we need. What a love, (frustrating at times, but still love) that knows best. He is the eternal, all knowing God who will always deal with the source issue – not just the symptoms.

Wesley highlights two aspects of what Christ has done for us (and continues to do as we prepare for his return). He releases us from our fears and our sins. Not only does he deal with the weight of our sins, but he also releases us from fear. We need to have our sin removed. Only the perfect God-Man’s death could do that. He removed our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). However, as anyone knows, when we sin – even though we know he dealt with our sins on the cross, we often struggle with guilt. There is often an element of fear – what if I’ve messed up too much? What if he isn’t big enough to take care of this? What if I’ve exhausted his patience? What if loss is overwhelming? What if this year is too different because of an empty chair? What if COVID is an endless cycle? What if finances overwhelm? What if…Yet Wesley reminds us that Christ is sufficient to take care of both. He calms our fears because perfect love cannot coexist with fear (1 John 4:18). If we are resting in his perfect love, then he is sufficient to deal with our nagging guilt, the uncertainty, and the lies whispered to us by the enemy of our souls, but also the source of our sins – the nature that divided us from himself.

When we are trusting him as our sufficiency, we can find rest. This time of year is so hectic. The demands on our time are extreme. It is easy to feel that the to do list will never be finished. Even good things like ministry or church gatherings can feel overwhelming. Yet he invites us to find our rest in him. Now, I don’t know if this will actually result in a calmer schedule, but it will definitely result in a calmer heart. He never intended us to find our identity, hope, or rest in anything we can produce. We can’t impress, decorate, or smile our way into rest. That is only found in the person of Jesus Christ. He has already come once. He is coming again, but in the meantime…in this liminal space between his comings, he invites us to find rest in him (Matthew 11:28-30). The lights, presents, songs, cookies, and all the other trimmings will only provide temporary happiness. Jesus is the only one who can produce genuine rest.