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
Much of the time we spend Christmas remembering that Jesus came to Earth. So why would we sing a song that begins with us imploring Jesus to come? This hymn so evidently captures the reality that we live in: the already and the not yet. Already, Jesus has come to Earth living as fully god and fully man. He became a part of His creation and took on sin and death. We now live enjoying the blessings of Jesus’ work. However, we still live longing for the day that Jesus returns.
While this song has a calm and gentle melody, the petition we sing in this song is far from calm. “From our fears and sins release us”; “hope of all the earth”; “now thy gracious kingdom bring”; “rule in all our hearts.” These are not mundane requests. These are passionate longings from people who know their only hope is that God will come and deliver them.
Exodus 2:23-25 says, “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
The people of Israel clearly had a deep desire for their suffering to be relieved, and while we don’t live in the same time as the Israelites, the longings we experience are still deep. As we sing this song throughout this advent season, let us remember that our God hears us, sees us, knows us, and one day He will come to “Raise us to thy glorious throne!”
— Kimber Callen