“Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”

Series Introduction

Welcome to the first Sunday of advent! My name is Charlie Jackson, and I serve on the staff of Covenant Life as one of our ministry directors. It’s my joy to preach Haggai 2:6-7 to you this morning. Haggai is a small book near the end of the Old Testament. If you turn to the middle of your Bible and hit Psalms or Proverbs, keep going to the right. Haggai is the third-from-the-last book of the OT. If you’ve gone the Zechariah or Malachi, then go left one or two books. Matthew is too far. We’ll look at chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. The chapters are the big numbers, and the verses are the small numbers.

Today’s sermon is the first in a series of five sermons we’re calling, “The Songs We Sing.” Each sermon in this brief series will look at one of the Advent songs we love to sing and explore the rich Scriptural truths that led authors to compose these beautiful hymns. The songs God’s people sing should come from the clear truth of his word in every season, and it’s good for us to take a look at the word of God to gain a fuller understanding of what we’re singing and why. Wouldn’t it be magnificent if our depth of exploration into God’s word leads to greater joy in Christ, who has come and will come again? Well, that is our aim. Over the next several weeks, we’ll look at the following hymns: today’s, which is Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, Joy to the World, Of the Father’s Love Begotten, and finally for Christmas Eve, O, Holy Night. I cannot wait to explore these and sing them with you! As a side note, we sang a newer version of Come Thou Long Expected Jesus this morning. Our church has enjoyed that more modern styling in recent years. If you’d like to come back and sing a more traditional rendition, I invite you to return this Friday for our Lessons and Carols service, where we’ll sing over a dozen wonderful advent songs and hear several Scripture readings that teach us on the Advent of Christ.

One last point of introduction about the series: each of these sermons have been also been thematically arranged with the traditional Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Traditionally, many churches will light candles that align with these themes. Today, we light the hope candle. As the weeks of Advent progress, we will light an additional candle per week as we progress toward Christmas Eve, which will culminate in the Christ candle, the flame from it being used to illuminate each candle of the congregation.

Today’s candle reflects our hope in Christ, who fulfills God’s all promises and will come again.

(Light the candle)

Let us pray.

Lord God, we long for the hope of a new day, a better day, a day when pain, hunger, sadness, sickness, and death are eradicated, and all things are made new. We know that you are the light, and this world is filled with great darkness. Even as we light this candle, we are reminded of how Christ came into the world as the great light that drives out darkness and provides hope to all mankind. And so again we look unto you, the great hope for all of us, even today. We want to see your glory. Show us what we ought to long for in your word, we pray, and take this sermon and its meager offering, and use it for your glory and our good we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Sermon Introduction

In 1744, while meditating on Haggai 2:7, Charles Wesley wrote these words: “Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.” In our world, this hymn exists in 745 different hymnals to gladly and joyfully usher in the Advent season – a time when we remember the first coming of Christ and look forward to his return. In Wesley’s world, 1740s Britain, a cold and dreary reality persisted. Life was hard. The class system that dominated Britain’s society left the working poor with little hope. The industrial revolution had not yet brought sweeping societal change, and many suffered from low wages, food shortages, and poor health. Life expectancy was only 40 years among adults, and a meager 25% of children born in London between 1730-1749 would live to see age 5. Just imagine for a moment if that were the case among us? Though we regularly see the frailty of human life, the quality of life we generally experience today is not the same as it as it has been for most of human history. The overwhelming amount of human existence has revealed our utter frailty. It was Wesley’s experience, as he observed the difficulty endured by the least in his society, namely the destitute orphans and the working poor, that led him to meditate on the passage before us today, and to author a simple poem that echoed Israel’s waiting for the Messiah, and our longing for the Messiah’s return.

Like Wesley, and those to whom he ministered, we long to be comforted and strengthened when our frailty is shown. No matter who you are, you long to be comforted and strengthened when you are weak and frail. Some of you have recently tasted the bitterness of death and disease in the lives of loved ones, or you have lost jobs, or you lament the waywardness of children, or the difficulty in seeing faith and repentance come to those who you’ve shared the gospel with repeatedly for years. What Wesley was reminded of, what his hymn helps remind us of, is that it is especially in light of our frailty and weakness when God provides us with all we need, so we should not fear in waiting with hope for Christ to return. In other words, as we longingly await the long-expected Jesus, God meets our every need in Jesus. We can be released from our fears and sins to find rest in him, for Christ is the hope of all the earth, the great joy of every longing heart.

We’ll look at Haggai 2:6-7 to see how we can reject fear and wait with hope, and we’ll see this truth from three perspectives on how God fulfills his promises: (1) Immediate fulfillment, (2) messianic fulfillment, and (3) final fulfillment.

Immediate Fulfillment

Let’s look at the immediate fulfillment of God’s promises. The book of Ezra informs us that in the year 538 BC, Cyrus, king of Persia, decreed that the exiled Jews may return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, which had been destroyed many decades earlier after the Jews had been deported by Babylon under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. This return from exile was critical for the worship of God’s people to resume, and for the promises of the Mosaic covenant to again be enjoyed. Cyrus sent them back with bountiful supplies to begin the work. Upon arrival, the people constructed an altar and offered sacrifices to the Lord on it. Two years later, the foundation of the temple was laid. But the work ceased due to oppression, discouragement, and fear from surrounding nations. The people gave up hope and did not act in faithfulness. A letter to Artaxerxes from Judah’s opponents warned the king that if the Jews rebuilt the temple and the wall surrounding Jerusalem, they would no longer pay tribute. So, Artaxerxes commanded that the work cease, and no progress was made in constructing the temple for 16 years. But, prompted by the ministry of Haggai, the people restarted the work, and after making an appeal to Darius, the work was reauthorized, and the temple was completed in 516 BC, 70 1/2 years after the first temple had been destroyed.

During the sixteen in which the work was suspended, the people spent their time and money lavishing their own homes while the Lord’s house lay in ruins. This caused God’s covenant curses to fall upon them. They would sow much, but the ground would yield little fruit. Haggai’s ministry called the people to obedience, but following the Lord was not going to be easy. They did obey, but became discouraged when they saw that the new temple would pale in comparison to the magnificence of the old Solomonic temple. That brings us to today’s text from Haggai 2. Haggai commanded them, from the leaders on down to each individual, to be strong and to work for the completion of the temple. Their obedience was motivated by the covenant promises of God he had made when they departed Egypt…God was with them, he had not departed from them, his spirit was among them, and they did not need to fear.

What does can we learn from this? That the discipline of the Lord is intended to lead us to repentance and blessing. Discipline is designed to lead us to repentance and receiving blessing from the Lord. God had not cursed the ground in order to make Israel miserable and just leave them there. No, he disciplined them to stir them from their self-serving ways and restore proper worship in Jerusalem, which would be for their good. When God disciplines us out of our sin, we may feel miserable for a time, but that is to leave a bitter taste in our mouths over sin so that we would obey and enjoy the fruits of obedience in the Lord.

Let’s now look at verses 6-7. This is part of what Haggai prophesied to the people concerning the rebuilding of the temple.

Haggai 2:6–7 ESV

6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

What do these words mean? Yet once more, in just a little while…in other words, “Be patient, it won’t take long for me to act, though you will need to wait patiently.” Sometimes, in fact, most of the time, you have to wait for God to act. God promised to shake all things in creation. From top to bottom, whether in the heavens or on earth, whether the sea or the dry land, God will shake it. When God shakes things, it is a result of his presence coming forth. Remember Sinai in Exodus? The mountain shook at God’s presence and voice. As one commentator said, “When God comes on the scene, his creation shakes.” And whereas Sinai shaking was limited to one mountain, at this time, all creation will shake. All the earth will feel the effect of the presence and work of God.

What is the immediate fulfillment? We see it in Ezra chapter 6. Darius made a decree that the work would continue, and that the materials needed for the work would be provided from his royal treasury, including the gold and other vessels from the previous temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken when the temple was destroyed in the deportation. God was restoring Judah’s fortunes to them! And not only were these possessions restored, but the needed sacrifices were provided as well.

God was faithful to the people to provide them with all they needed, and they did not need to fear. When their weakness was exposed and their sin was revealed, God did not leave them in this state of weakness. He made them strong. He provided what he commanded. And that’s a principle we can believe today. Whatever God demands from us, he also provides. He commanded for his house to be rebuilt, and he provided what was needed through the kings of the earth. He shook the nations, and the treasures of the nations came in. He required the people to be strong and not fear. And this was motivated by his covenant faithfulness and presence among them.

When God calls us to obedience, especially when we need to turn from our sin and walk faithfully, God provides everything we need as we await for him to act. While the Jews were awaiting God to act, God was working through foreigners to bring about a fulfillment of his promises. John Piper says, “God is doing a thousand things in your life, and you might be aware of three of them.” Fellow Christians, it is good and right to act strong and without fear when God calls us to obedience. While we await for him to act, we can trust he is working for our good and his glory, and the result will always be worth the faithfulness. And has given us everything we need through his spirit, his word, and his church for us to live faithfully. Since God has promised to provide all we need, we should not fear in living obediently, awaiting for God to act. The blessing the Jews received was the generous and just supply from Darius in order to complete the project, but more importantly, the presence of God met with them in the temple for worship upon its completion. What blessings await us for faithfulness?

Wesley’s hymns helps us to reject fear and await God’s action with great hope, for it reminds us that Christ was born to set us free. In our longing and waiting, Christ is our consolation, the great comforter when times are difficult. As he consoled the Jews through their return, even using his curses to drive them to his comfort, so he consoles us in our times of waiting hopefully for Christ’s return.

But before Christ can return, he had to come the first time. So, let’s look at how Christ brings some fulfillment of these verses, something Charles Wesley wrote of in his hymn. Let’s look at messianic fulfillment.

Messianic Fulfillment

When it would have been easy to fear, Wesley leaned into God’s promises through Haggai that the Lord is with the people, and that God would bring consolation, a word meaning, “comfort after a loss.” How did Wesley see this from Haggai 2:7, and potentially elsewhere?

I think there are two ways: Christ is the desire of every longing heart, and Christ brings a greater glory into the temple. Let’s try and connect these from Scripture.

First, Wesley would have read verse 7 like this: ”And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.” That’s the King James Versions. if you have the NIV, your Bible reads similarly to this as well. For Wesley, he read Christ as the desire of all nations, and that seems to be a reasonable interpretation of the Hebrew phrase that the ESV translates to “treasures of all nations.” Despite this, there is agreement among commentators that in Haggai’s time, the audience would have understood the language to mean that God would fill the temple with the greatest desires of the nations at the time, and that would have been what was most precious to them, which is their treasure.

But Wesley was looking forward to the great person of desire of all nations, a new figure likened to Solomon, but even greater, a man whose wisdom we have been studying in our series through the Proverbs, someone sought after for his wisdom and splendor, someone who provides answers to life’s deepest questions, someone who can provide true strength for our weaknesses, true satisfaction to our hopes, someone worthy of receiving honor and glory from every king and kingdom on earth.

Whether you view Christ this way or not, I believe we all share a similar longing for someone who can provide us with all the answers. Each of us has to reckon with our weaknesses, our frailty, and we long for strength. As your youth fades, so does your vitality. As your retirement account takes a hit, you long for good news about a better investment. As your loved ones pass away, you long for your love to return and be restored. No matter who you are, you will experience frailty. I read of a man this week who spends $2 million per year to avoid death. People are willing to do anything, look for anything, to avoid dealing with their frailty. We all long for an answer to this problem. Since God has promised to provide all we need to walk faithfully in repentance and obedience, it is worthwhile to explore Jesus as the answer to our great dilemma of frailty and weakness, our great strength and consolation, the hope of all the earth, the dear desire of every nation.

This is a theme found in Scripture in several places, but I want to trace this out specifically in Solomon, Isaiah’s prophecies, and Christ.

First, look at Solomon’s temple and stature in wisdom. We’ll try and trace this quickly. After the construction of the first temple, Solomon began welcoming foreigners who wished to see with their own eyes to confirm rumors they had heard of his splendor. In 1 Kings 10:1-10, Solomon welcomed the queen of Sheba, who came to Jerusalem with a great caravan of spices, gold, and precious stones. She asked him everything that was on her mind, and Solomon answered her thoroughly and with ease; the text says that nothing was too difficult for Solomon to answer. Imagine being able to ask someone absolutely anything and receive a thoroughly pleasing answer every time. I’ve wondered what she asked him, and the text only says that she asked him “all that she had on her mind.” For what it’s worth, the journey was not short; it was 1,200 miles by camel, or about a 3-month journey. I imagine lots of questions popped up in her mind to ask Solomon, like about the creation of the world, or the mysteries of God and life. Deep questions. All answered perfectly.

The queen also noted how happy Solomon’s people must have been, and how God’s “eternal love for Israel” has made Solomon king to maintain justice and righteousness. I believe the queen left Solomon’s presence a deep believer in God and a member of God’s kingdom. More on that later.

When Solomon’s kingdom split after his death, Isaiah eventually began to prophesy that one day, Isaiah 60:5-6, riches from Sheba would gain flow to Jerusalem. Isaiah 60:5–6 “5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.” This is emblematic of the nations coming to Christ. One of the signs of the messiah is that the nations will come to behold him.

Now, let’s fast forward and look at John 12. This is where it gets interesting. Crowds had begun to follow Jesus because he had raised Lazarus from the dead. The week of his passion, that is, the week of his death, more than just the local crowds were coming to see him. Let’s start in verse 20. John 12:20–23 “20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” The nations are starting to take notice, and they are coming to him like the queen of Sheba came to Solomon, coming to see if what they’ve heard about him is actually true. The glory of Solomon’s temple was breathtaking. And now it is time for the Son of Man to be glorified.

The next words out of Jesus’ mouth are shocking.

John 12:24 “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Instead of going global, receiving the praise of the nations in that moment, he spoke of his own death and what would come of it. His time for the nations to come to him at the end with their treasures and wealth had not yet come, because the weakness and frailty of the world still required his death. Jesus continues, John 12:25–29 “25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.”

God has shaken the heavens and the earth in Christ. A greater glory. A greater temple. A greater presence. A new covenant. And even Jesus himself saw himself as the greater Solomon. Remember the Queen of Sheba? It is her that Jesus references in Matthew 12:42 “42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” In other words, the Queen knew something about God that deniers of Christ tend to ignore, and that is that Jesus provides all the answers to our greatest needs. God is glorified to the utmost in Christ Jesus, the greater Solomon, God’s very wisdom personified, who laid down his life so that those who lose their lives in him would gain eternal life in him.

In Christ, the longing of our soul is realized. One who would willingly lay down his own life for the sake of the sheep. One who would bring about light into the darkness. One who would provide us with forgiveness of sin. Jesus said that he came into the earth Luke 24:46–47 “that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

The longing you have for comfort and strength in your frailty is found in Christ, who became frail on the cross to forgive you of your sins if you would repent and believe in him. Forgiveness, strength, and comfort are available in Christ Jesus. He is the desire of every human heart, and he brings a greater glory into the world. In his body is the new temple, destroyed for your salvation, but raised up on the third day in his resurrection from the dead. Haggai prophesied of the Lord working to rebuild the temple in the Old Testament, a resurrection of sorts. The greater resurrection is something Christ accomplished and offers to us. But we must take an ownership in our need…our weakness, our frailty, is because of our own sin. John Stott once wrote,

For there is blood on our hands. Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us (leading us to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done by us (leading us to repentance). Indeed, “only the man who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross,” wrote Canon Peter Green, “may claim his share in its grace.”13

John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)

This is the only way for you to be comforted in your frailty.

For Christians, we know that we can continue to live faithfully, especially when our frailty is shown, because we have seen over and over again in the blessings of salvation and the promise of Christ’s return. One day, the whole world will see the wonder of God’s grace in the face of Jesus Christ. They will see his kingly reign and rightly turn and come to him, or be cast out into utter darkness. The comfort we have and will receive in Christ will far outweigh the difficulties we endure in the world. We have no reason to fear when our weakness shows, or when the enemy seems to prevail, or when the world ridicules us. God will always provide, for he is with us and keeps his covenant by the gospel of Christ.

This brings us to the final fulfillment. One in which Jesus returns.

Final Fulfillment

Advent doesn’t only look back to the first coming of Christ; it anticipates his return. The author of Hebrews quotes our text from Haggai 2:6 in Hebrews 12:25–29.

Hebrews 12:25–29 ESV

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

The author of Hebrews has the Sinai event from Exodus in view, recalling those events and relating them to a future event, one that apparently has yet to occur. There is coming a day when God’s voice will speak again and shake all creation to remove all that can be shaken, so that those things which cannot be shaken would remain. God’s kingdom cannot be shaken. But can you? Will you remain? Or will your love for those treasures and other things that are created cause you and your treasure to be lost forever?

Wesley wrote, “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 own eternal merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.”

Jesus came to deliver us from this frail state, this weak position, this sinful nature that is opposed to God. He came not only to save us, but to reign in us, and now we look forward to his kingdom coming in fullest measure on earth. And Hebrews warns us not to ignore the voice coming from heaven before all creation is shaken by God. Will you receive him? Will you turn from your sin and look unto Christ alone for salvation? Turn to him in reverence and awe! Our prayer is that he will rule in our hearts and raise us to his glorious throne. We long for his return, and it may come soon. Indeed, we are asking for him to come again unto us. We have come to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” (Heb. 12:22-24). Will Christ rule in your heart? Will you turn from your sin and trust in Christ’s merit for your salvation? The invitation to repent and believe is open to you today. Do not ignore God’s voice. Christ is coming soon, and so believe while the opportunity persists. Perhaps this is the Advent season where you do turn and find God’s grace in Christ Jesus. After the service, find someone, one of our members, and talk to us about how you may become a member of God’s family.

Though we’ve sung the hymn already today, we have another opportunity to say, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus.” One of the final things Jesus told his disciples before his death was at the conclusion of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, an ordinance given for us to remember Christ and what he has done for us and our salvation. He said this in Matthew 26:29 “29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”” As we look to the return of Jesus and observe the Lord’s Supper, we long for the day when we will share in the fruit of the vine again with Christ. He is faithful to keep his promises to us. And since God has promised to provide all we need, even in our weakness, we should not fear in waiting for Christ to return. Rather, we should long for it with eager expectation, even as we observe this supper together.

Let’s pray.