Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus!

Sermon Summary:

This Advent message invites us into one of Scripture’s most profound promises: hope that spans from the Garden of Eden to the new heaven and new earth. Through Isaiah 11, we discover that God’s plan of redemption isn’t just surviving the chaos of world powers and political machinations—it’s actively transforming all of history. The prophet Isaiah, writing 700 years before Christ’s birth, saw with spiritual eyes a shoot emerging from the stump of Jesse, a branch that would bear fruit when all seemed lost. This isn’t just poetic language; it’s a declaration that hidden life exists even in what appears dead. When Israel was reduced to stumps—their mighty forest cut down by Assyria and Babylon—God promised new life from David’s lineage. But here’s the stunning twist: this branch is also called the ‘root of Jesse,’ meaning this promised one existed before Jesse himself, threading back to Eden’s promise of the woman’s seed. Jesus fulfills this in ways both humble and glorious—raised in Nazareth, a town whose very name echoes ‘netzer’ (branch), born into Jesse’s humility rather than David’s royalty. We live between two advents: celebrating Christ’s first coming while eagerly awaiting his return. The wolf and lamb haven’t yet lain down together, but they will. Our hope isn’t wishful thinking; it’s settled confidence in God’s faithfulness. The kingdom has invaded this present age, and we’re citizens of the age to come, living with the assurance that what God promised at Christmas, He will complete when Christ returns.

Watch The Service Here

Sermon Points:

Key Takeaways:

• Biblical hope is defined as a settled confidence in the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God
• Isaiah 11 was written 700 years before Jesus, prophesying a shoot from the stump of Jesse that would bear fruit
• The imagery of the stump represents Israel’s judgment and apparent defeat, yet life remained hidden within
• Jesus is both the “root” of Jesse (existing from eternity, tracing back to Eden) and the “branch” (David’s descendant)
• Jesus was raised in Nazareth, which connects to the Hebrew word “netzer” meaning branch
• Matthew’s Gospel serves as a bridge between the Old and New Covenants, containing five major sermons paralleling the Torah
• The Advent season theme focuses on the kingship of Jesus through an acrostic: Born the King, Identity Gift, Now and Not Yet, Go Now
• God’s plan of redemption survives and transcends all political and worldly powers throughout history
• We live in the “already but not yet” – the kingdom has been inaugurated but not fully consummated
• Christ will return to establish a new heaven and new earth where peace will reign completely

Watch other Sermons Here

Scripture References:

• Isaiah 11:1-10 (primary focus)
• Isaiah 10:33-34
• Jeremiah 23:5-6
• Haggai 2:7
• Matthew 2:22-23
• Romans 15:8-13
• Revelation 22:16
• Revelation 22:20

Stories:

• The historical account of Israel’s division into northern and southern kingdoms and their eventual conquest by Assyria and Babylon
• Samuel’s visit to Jesse’s house to anoint the future king, where David was initially overlooked as the youngest son tending sheep
• The exile of Jewish leaders including Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (known by their Babylonian names as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego)
• Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem for the census because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David
• The biographical account of Charles Wesley, the 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, who wrote 4,500 published hymns including “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” in 1744, inspired by Haggai 2:7
• The settling of Nazareth by David’s descendants after the exile, naming it after the Hebrew word for “branch” (netzer)

Sermon Transcript:

And everybody said amen, right? Well, I think that today I need to begin my message with just a brief rebuttal from what we heard last Sunday morning from Cindy. What do y’ all think?

No, I’ve already done that. I did that at home, so you don’t have to be a part of it anyway. But how about Cindy Wiles? Last Sunday, I was so happy to hear from her. She’s awesome.

And grateful that the Lord has put her in my life and in our life. Well, obviously you know that our theme for this entire year is flourishing together, rooted in Christ. And we are about to make the transition to the second part of the flourishing journey, where we will learn together what it means to flourish together transformed on the Jesus way. We’ll begin that in January, but we have one more segment of 20, 25 in our liturgical calendar, and that’s the Advent season. And so our theme for Advent is the King.

And all year long, underneath everything we’ve done, we have allowed Matthew to be our guide. We have had readings from Matthew’s Gospel on Wednesdays. I have been teaching through the entire book of Matthew, which we have completed now in the pastor’s Bible study. We’ve had Bible readings from Matthew all year long. And starting this next Sunday, we’re going to use Matthew again to guide us.

But when you study Matthew’s Gospel, it’s a huge document, if you will, 28 pages long. And it covers the entire life of Jesus, from his birth, from his genealogy, really, to his birth, and then his life and ministry, his teachings, his death, burial, resurrection, and then commissioning of the church and scholars as they’ve tried to somehow get their hands around Matthew’s Gospel. They have offered us various ways to look at Matthew’s Gospel, lenses through which we can focus and try to better understand why Matthew tells the story the way he does. Because Matthew combines both a chronological journey as well as a thematic one. When you’re reading Matthew’s Gospel, there are some folks who say, well, Matthew, his gospel focuses on the person of the Messiah, the proclamation of the Messiah, and the passion of the Messiah.

And I like that very simple outline of Matthew’s Gospel. But you don’t want to miss this when you’re reading Matthew because it’s the first book in the New Testament, and it’s the first book in the New Testament for a reason. It’s the bridge between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. That’s why Matthew is the first one. And so when you’re looking at Matthew’s Gospel, you’ll Notice that he includes five major sermons from Jesus.

If you happen to have a red letter edition of the New Testament, you’ll notice these huge sections, red letters. In other words, these are long messages from Jesus. And most scholars believe that those five messages connect to the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. And so Matthew is communicating something to us theologically as he shares the story of Jesus, that he was a committed Jew, reared as a Jew in Israel, and now he’s converted to Christ. And he wants us to know that this is a story that’s connected to God’s work throughout history.

And so his book is connected to the Old Covenant, the law. So as we make our way through the Advent season, here’s what I’ve decided to do. Starting next Sunday, we’re going to focus on the Kingship of Jesus. And so the sermons are going to be built around an acrostic. Let me just show you what I mean.

Next Sunday morning, the sermon is entitled Born the King, Ne’ er a prince. And then the next Sunday, I identity gift, a message from Matthew 16. And then on the 21st, now, and not yet, a message from Matthew 4. And then on December 28th, a message entitled Go Now. And it is based upon Matthew 9.

And we’re going to just focus together on the Kingship Jesus. Now, there’s another way to read Matthew’s Gospel. Some scholars say you can read Matthew’s Gospel through the lens of all of his quotations of the Book of Isaiah. There are 10 direct quotations from the Book of Isaiah in Matthew’s Gospel. Isaiah being this significant major prophet in the Old Covenant era.

And so once again, Matthew’s connection to the Old Covenant as he shares the story of the New Covenant is quite profound. And so, since Matthew depended on Isaiah, we’re going to launch the Advent season with the Book of Isaiah. So if you’ll look with me @ Isaiah 11, you just heard Jason read these verses a moment ago in the lighting of the Advent candle. And so let me reiterate them again as we think about this message today. Come, thou long expected Jesus.

Isaiah 11, verse 1. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. This beautiful poem from Isaiah will serve as the basis for our conversation this morning. And so what is the message of Isaiah? It really is a Message of hope. We just lit the first Advent candle.

It’s the candle of hope as we traditionally understand it. Those of you that are in adult Bible studies today, many of you will be studying a lesson about hope. Well, what is hope? Well, you know, as an Auburn fan, I’m familiar with the word hope. We.

We depend on that a lot. But I want you to think about hope a little differently than we do as Auburn fans, because that’s usually a hope against. Hope is how we refer to it. But in the Bible, the word hope is found many times, Old Testament and New Testament. In the Scripture, hope is this.

It is a settled confidence in the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God. That’s what hope is. It is a settled confidence, and it’s rooted in the faithfulness and the trustworthiness of God. It basically means that God can be trusted if God says something true. And if God says something is going to happen, it’s going to happen, and you can trust him.

And so followers of Jesus have trusted in that hope since the very beginning. In fact, we just sang this hymn, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. Beautiful hymn. It’s hymn numbered 83 in your hymnal. Let me just remind you of that first stanza.

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 Strength and consolation Hope of all the earth Thou art dear Desire of every nation Joy of every longing heart. Well, those words didn’t just magically appear in our hymnals. They were penned by Charles Wesley. Do y’ all know much about Charles Wesley? You know, he was the 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley.

Let’s just clap for Susanna. Don’t y’ all think we should we see her in heaven. We just need to say you’re thank you so much and let her say you’re welcome. Her children were incredibly influential people. Charles had a famous older brother, John Wesley.

Charles was an incredibly gifted person. Do you know that over his lifetime, he died in 1788, he published 4,500 hymns.

He still has 3,000 hymns that he wrote that have yet to be published. What are y’ all doing?

I want you to think about how he’s influenced us, Charles Wesley. You can look him up in the hymnal. He wrote Rejoice the Lord is King. He wrote oh for a thousand tongues to sing. He wrote Savior like a shepherd lead us Jesus lover of my soul and can it be and if Come Thou long Expected Jesus, which he wrote in 1744, was not enough for Christmas.

He also wrote Hark the herald angels sing. And then just. Just to make sure you celebrate Easter, he wrote, Christ, the Lord is risen today. Come on, Charles. Great job.

Thank you. Someone asked him this hymn, Come. Thou long expected Jesus. Why did you write that hymn? Here’s what he said.

I was reading the scripture one day, and I began to reflect upon the hope of Israel. Haggai27 was the text he was reading. I shake. I will shake all nations. And what is desired by all nations will come.

And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty. Dear desire of nations, come. And he connected that promise and prophecy in Haggai 2 with Jesus. So with that said, let’s spend just a minute or two on Isaiah 11 if we can do that. What is the context of Isaiah 11?

Well, God shares a word of promise and hope amidst the judgment rendered through the power of foreign powers like Assyria. That’s what’s really happening in Isaiah 11. So let’s just do a little Biblical and Israeli history. Can we do that? When Israel was delivered from the Egyptians and God rescued them from Egypt, and then they made their way into the land that God had given to Abraham.

When they arrived, they made their way across what was called the Promised Land and made it their own. And they lived in the promised Land, and they conquered most of their foes. And eventually they cried out for a king. And God gave them a king, King Saul. But you remember that King Saul, he struggled in his own person, and he was challenged by so many things.

But God had another king in waiting from the lion of Judah. And his name was David. He was the son of Jesse. And David became king, and he became the king for Israel that they would always have in their minds as the ideal king. He was the greatest king in the history of Israel.

And so the Kings who ruled after him, so many Israelites wanted their king to be just like King David. They longed for the days of King David. But Israel, if you remember after Solomon died, divided into two nations, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And the northern kingdom kept the name Israel. But the southern kingdom, they took on the name Judah from their major tribe.

We get our word Jewish from the word Judah. And so the tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, with a handful of Levites, just integrated throughout those two tribes. Jerusalem was their capital, and their king was a descendant of King David. And they believed that they were special in God’s sight. Jerusalem was their capital.

It was the city of David. And the Israelites to the north also believed they were Special in God’s sight. And over time, both of those countries had to deal with the foreign powers around them who were much larger than they, much mightier than they. And so they were surrounded by Egypt to the south and multiple empires to the north and to the east. And so the Kings of both Israel and Judah had to figure out how to manage their way politically and militarily through those tumultuous times.

It was very difficult because the powers that be wanted to conquer Egypt. And so there was this constant battle between the Egyptians and pick one of the empires to the north and to the east of Israel. Israel was right in the middle. And so they were always in the conflict. So guess what the Kings did?

They made pacts with either Egypt or pick one of the other empires. Are y’ all still with me? They’re just trying to survive. Sometimes a king would listen to God, sometimes he wouldn’t. And so the fate of the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah was in the hands of these Kings.

And so when we get to the story of Isaiah, Isaiah was a prophet in Judah. And so he was speaking to the king, who was a descendant of King David. He was in his court. He offered him all kinds of counsel and advice. Sometimes the king would listen to Isaiah, sometimes he wouldn’t.

King Ahaz turned a deaf ear to Isaiah, and he negotiated a deal with the Assyrians because he thought the Assyrians might come in and conquer them one day. And sure enough, the Assyrians came and conquered the northern kingdom and destroyed it. And all that was left was this small nation known as Judah. Then Hezekiah became king, and Isaiah spoke into the ear of Hezekiah. Hezekiah warmed up to the Babylonians.

Isaiah warned him against it. Isaiah said, you need to be faithful to God. Hezekiah was fearful of the Babylonians. And so Isaiah told him, he said, one day they’re going to plunder us. This particular relationship is problematic.

And sure enough, in 586 BC, the Babylonians came all the way into Judah, into Jerusalem, and they destroyed the city of Jerusalem. They burned the temple to the ground, and the people of God were shocked. How in the world could God let this happen to us? And how could he let this happen to Jerusalem? And how could he let this happen to the temple?

And then to add insult to injury, the king of Babylon took most of Israel’s leaders and deported them all the way back to Babylon. People like Daniel and Hananiah and Azariah and Mishael, you know them by their Babylonian names.

Shadrach Meshach, Nebadnego. When you get to heaven, don’t call them that. Those aren’t their names. Their names are Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael. Was a hard time for Israel.

And eventually the Persians took over. And the Persians allowed the Jews to come home. And they did. They came back home 70 years later. They built their temple again, they built Jerusalem again.

But guess what? They weren’t a nation. They had no king. Isaiah prophesied about it. He talked to them about the days they had been exiled.

He actually spoke to them later in his book about when they came back home. And so God gave Isaiah this profound vision. Here’s the question on the minds of the Jews. Is our God weaker than the God of the Babylonians? Is our God the God of all the nations?

Or is he just the God of our nation? Is there one larger God and we just have a tribal God? And the question that hinges in the moment of Isaiah’s lifetime in the exile and all the way up to the time of Jesus is can God’s plan of redemption for humanity survive the powerful nations machinations in the ancient world? Can God’s plan of redemption for humanity, all humanity, survive the machinations of these political and powerful nations in the ancient world? I would tell you that’s still a question on the table for us.

Do we believe that God’s great plan of redemption can survive the machinations of all the political powers on earth today? The Jews had that very question. But here’s what the Jews are going to have to learn. And we should already know. The Lord, he’s not just the God of history, he is the redeemer of all of history.

And the Jews are going to have to learn that because God was not done with them. And so into that mix. Are y’ all still with me? Isaiah speaks. And Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, with the eyes of faith, he spans the horizon of history.

And he saw the hand of God at work some 700 years before Jesus was born. He penned these words that we just read, Isaiah 11. And you know what it is? It’s a message of hope. So let me walk you through it real quickly.

Let me start with this. In Isaiah 11, we read Hope foretold. God promised to bring forth new life from the stump and the root of Jesse, who’s the father of King David. If you still have your Bibles open, I want you to look with me in Isaiah 11. Here’s what he says.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse and from Him a branch that will bear fruit. Do you see that? Now if you go back and read chapter 10, look at the last verse of chapter. I mean, look at verse 33 and 34, chapter 10. God paints a picture through Isaiah to Israel.

And he says, assyria, Judah, y’ all are mighty forests. And I’m going to cut you down to a stump. And when God’s judgment came, Assyria is going to conquer Israel in the north in 722 B.C. babylon is going to conquer Judah in 586 BC and the mighty forest of Israel. And now nothing but a group of stumps.

The trees have all been cut down. And so here’s what God says. When you look at yourselves and you envision the mighty forest that once was, and now all you’re doing is looking at a bunch of stumps. Y’ all got that image in your mind. He says, I want you to watch because there’s one stump.

I want you to pay attention to it. And what Israel was supposed to do was look at that stump and go, there’s life in it. Life that’s hidden now. But look what’s happening. A shoot has emerged.

There’s life in the stump, hidden for a season. Hope for the future. Jeremiah, who will write years later after Isaiah, will write this in Jeremiah 23. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved.

Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called. He will be called the Lord, our righteous Savior. Here’s what you need to know. After Jeremiah and Isaiah penned those words, the theologians of Israel were captured by these messages.

And in their imaginations, they. They began to preach about and teach about and write about the branch of David that this shoot would come and it would ultimately be here. But let me show you this. I may have skipped over, so let me go back. Make sure you understand this word branch.

I want you to look at it with me. The word branch. If you’ll see that in verse one in Hebrew, that is the word Netzer. Let’s say that out loud. Cindy made y’ all say Greek last week.

Say a little Hebrew today. Netser.

Most Hebrew words are made up of three consonants. It’s a very simple language. It’s just hard to read that. N the tzade, TZ and R. That’s the core of that word Netzer. Okay?

That’s the word branch. Want you to hold on to that. But there’s something else in this text, y’, all, that’s so profound, I just don’t want you to miss it. And I’ll be honest with you, there have been times when I was studying Isaiah years ago, when I skipped over this, and the Lord has brought it continually to my attention. I want you to look at verse 10 of Isaiah 11.

It says this. In that day, here’s the hope, the branch, the shoot of Jesse. In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. You see that? The root of Jesse.

Now, isn’t it interesting that in Isaiah, he doesn’t say, a branch from David.

He doesn’t say, a shoot from David. He says, a shoot from David’s daddy, Jesse. Do y’ all remember when Samuel went to visit Jesse? And God told Samuel, one of Jesse’s sons is going to be the new king? Y’ all remember that story?

And Samuel gets there and says, jesse, where are all your boys? And Jesse brought all his boys out and said, there they are. He said, one of them is going to be the king. There they all are. And Samuel went, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

Definitely not. Nope, nope, nope.

Is that it? Y’ all remember what Jesse said? He said, well, I mean, I got a little boy out in the sheep pen. I mean, you know, my young boy, but I mean, he’s just a kid. Samuel said, bring him in.

Who did he bring in? David. And God said to Samuel, that’s the one. Anoint him. Here’s what God is saying right now.

A shoot is coming from Jesse. Turns out he’s got one more boy, one like David. There’s going to be another David. A shoot coming from Jesse. A branch from Jesse.

But I want you to look at this. Look at verse 10. Don’t miss this. It’s not just a branch from Jesse. It’s the root from which Jesse himself came.

Now, come on, y’. All. You see, a root’s different than a branch, right? A root’s different than a shoot. Jesse came from this root.

This root has been there from the garden of Eden when God said, the woman’s seed one day will arise. That’s the root of Jesse. And so God is promising something altogether different. The hope of Israel dates all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In fact, the hope of all of humanity dates all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

The root of Jesse is that messianic thread woven from the creation story into our story. Come on, y’. All. So 700 years before Jesus, Isaiah writes about it. And guess what happens 700 years later?

The Babylonians are gone. The Assyrians have been destroyed. The Persians have been conquered. The Romans are now in power. And now we come to hope fulfilled.

At Christmas, we celebrate the fulfillment of this hope. Jesus is the Christ. He’s the son of Jesse. He’s the son of David. He’s the root and the branch.

Jesus is going to fulfill all the messianic prophecies from the prophets of Isaiah. He is the root, he is the branch. But isn’t it interesting when the way Isaiah wrote it, he didn’t refer to the royalty of David. He referred to the humility of Jesse. Well, when Jesus is born, he’s going to step into the humility of Jesse.

No one really even knew who Jesse was until his son was pronounced king. And so, in the spirit of that humility, Jesus is born. And I want you to notice where Jesus grows up. Y’ all remember he was born in the city of David, right? Born where?

In Bethlehem. Where was he reared, though? Where did he grow up? In Nazareth. Remember?

Well, the branch. You remember Hebrew. Can we say it again? Netzer. Guess what?

That word also forms Nazareth. Because as best we can tell, David’s descendants, after the exile, settled a really small village in northern Israel, and they named it Netser the branch, not even knowing what that ultimately was going to mean. And that is exactly where Jesus will be raised. So even though Jesus is born in the city of David, he will be raised in a home in an area that was settled by the descendants of David. As a matter of fact, Luke will tell us that Caesar Augustus declared that everybody needed to be counted.

And where did they have to go to be counted? Y’ all remember, where’d they have to go to register? They had to go back to their original home. And what does the Bible say about Joseph? Joseph had to go to Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David, because David’s descendants settled that village.

There were about 500 people in Nazareth when Jesus lived there. That’s why one of those guys in the story will say, can anything good come from Nazareth? But let me tell you what Matthew saw in that. Matthew reads Isaiah 11, and he understands when Jesus is raised, it’s the fulfillment of that prophecy. So let me read it to you.

Matthew 2:22. But when Joseph heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been born in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets. He would be called a Nazarene.

Isaiah 11. Still speaking 700 years later, Paul saw that Messianic thread in the hope of Israel. And here’s what Paul says in Romans 15. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed, and moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written.

Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles. I’ll sing praises of your name. And again Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations. In him the Gentiles will hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, hope is fulfilled.

In fact, go all the way to the last page of the Bible, Revelation 22. And here’s what Jesus says. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root of the offspring. Now Jesus says he’s the resurrected, ascended Lord.

He’s not just the root and offspring of Jesse. Here’s what Jesus says. I’m the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. Hallelujah. He’s now king and recognized as king.

And here’s what I want to say to y’ all this morning. He’s not done, y’. All. God’s not done. Hope was foretold by people like Isaiah.

Hope was fulfilled in Jesus. But now you and I are living in this era. And the word of God still speaks to us. Even the ancient prophet Isaiah still speaks to me and you. Because we have hope for the future, the story continues to be written.

God has given us hope for the future. He’ll send His Son to earth again to make all things right. In other words, we are still looking for God to make all things right. In fact, if you still have your Bibles open, look at Isaiah 3 and notice what Isaiah says some 700 years before Jesus in verse 3, the second part of verse 3. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears.

But with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he’ll give decisions for the prayer poor of the earth. He’ll strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. With the breath of his lips, he’ll slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt in faithfulness.

The sash around his waist. And then. Listen to this. Y’ all want to know what’s coming? Here’s what’s coming.

The wolf will live with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf and the lion and the yearling together. A little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear.

Their young will lie down together. And the lion will eat straw like an ox. An infant will play near the cobra’s den. And the young child will put its hands into the viper’s nest. And they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Hallelujah. Come on, y’. All. Amen. Isaiah’s eyes span the future, and he provided a message of hope.

But he looked even beyond the Advent, the first advent of Jesus, and he prophesied there was still more to come when the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Because God is still at work. Because here’s what’s happened. This present evil age in which we live has been invaded by none other than God himself through. Through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the branch of Jesse.

And he came and established the kingdom of God on this earth. And so the age to come has now intersected this present evil age. And you and I live as citizens of the age to come that inaugurated eschatology. And the day is coming when there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth. Because Jesus birthday, his life, his teachings, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension has changed everything.

But it hasn’t fixed everything yet.

Thank you, Allison. She asked me to add that word. Yet he hasn’t fixed everything yet. But I’m here to tell you, just like his promises came true at Christmas, he. His promises will come true at the return of Jesus.

And one day, there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth and Eden is going to be restored. And the Bible says in Revelation 20, verse 20, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. So when you and I sing this hymn, we don’t just sing it for Christmas. Come.

Thou long expected Jesus. We’re singing it for the end of all time. We join together in faith and hope, and we say to the Lord Jesus even so, come, Lord Jesus. What a glorious day that’s going to be. Hallelujah.

Let’s pray together.

Well, Father, we love you. We thank you. Thank you for Christmas. Lord is. I just pray that we will see the story of Christmas connected to the big story, the grand story, the grand sweeping plan of redemption that is yet to be ultimately consummated.

But one day, we believe, we want to thank you for the hope spoken through the prophet Isaiah into the life of Israel and ultimately for all of us. And we thank you for that message of hope that still lives and breathes within us. And so we say with Charles Wesley, come, thou long expected Jesus. Amen.