Advent's Deep Meaning

The hymn "Lo, He comes with clouds descending", though originally written by John Cenick in 1752, was appropriated and altered by Charles Wesley in 1758 for the Methodists as an Advent hymn. Over the years, it became an Advent standard, not just of the Methodists, but of many other Protestant traditions as well. This hymn is regularly sung, in many churches, on the first Sunday of Advent. Reading the words, however, one might wonder what it has to do with Advent. After all, there is not much here about Bethlehem or babies in mangers and the like. Rather, it focuses more on the second coming of Christ.

As it so often does, then, the liturgy reminds the Church of a truth oft forgotten today. Advent was not established by the Church as merely a time to look back on the incarnation. Rather, in preparing our hearts to celebrate Christmas and the coming of the Christ child, the season of Advent reminds us that we are once again waiting expectantly for our Lord. Jesus has promised us that He will come back and the work that He started on earth so many years ago will be brought to fruition in the complete realization of His Kingdom, of which the Church is a foretaste. We again await our coming King, and no season reminds us of this truth better than Advent. For we, like our Fathers of Israel so long ago, long for our Messiah. The only difference is that we know His name and we know that He has already conquered death.

"Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.

"Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

"Every island, sea, and mountain,
Heav’n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, confounded,
Hear the trump proclaim the day:
Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come to judgment!
Come to judgment! Come away!

"Now redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear;
All His saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
See the day of God appear!

Answer Thine own bride and Spirit,
Hasten, Lord, the general doom!
The new Heav’n and earth t’inherit,
Take Thy pining exiles home:
All creation, all creation, all creation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!

The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
O come quickly! O come quickly! O come quickly!
Everlasting God, come down!"

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Here is another classic Advent hymn from the pen of Charles Wesley. Written in 1745, this hymn highlights what is often lost these days, that Jesus was the fulfillment first of Israel's hopes for a redeemer. And as the hope of Israel, Jesus was truly the hope of the world.

"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."

A Wesleyan Take on Advent

I am a Wesleyan, and one of the things that I love most about my tradition is the importance that we have always placed on hymnody. John Wesley never wrote a systematic theology, as many of the other great Protestant leaders (Luther, Calvin) did. But he and his brother Charles wrote a number of hymns for the people called Methodists to use in worship. Wesleyan theology comes through beautifully in the words of those magnificent hymns:

"And can it be that I should gain, an interest in the Savior's blood. Died he for me who caused his pain, for me? who him to death pursued?"

"Made like him, like him we rise. Ours the cross, the grave, the skies."

To express one's theology in hymns, as the Wesleys did, symbolically expresses the truth that all true theology is never divorced from worship. And that the church is the context for theology.

With this in mind, I have decided, as part of the preparation of my own heart to "prepare him room" for the coming of the Savior this Advent, to reflect anew on the wonderful words of the beautiful, but now oft forgotten, Christmas carols. I would like to share them with my readers. So as you check in here throughout these next few weeks, do not just read the words and move on. Use these wonderful words as a means of preparing your own hearts.

Because this is a Wesleyan take on Advent, I thought it would be appropriate to start with one of Wesley's best:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

"Hark! The herald angels sing
'Glory to the newborn king!'
Peace on earth and mercy mild.
God and sinners reconciled.

"Joyful all ye nations rise.
Join the triumph of the skies.
With angelic host proclaim:
'Christ is born in Bethlehem!'

"Christ by highest heaven adored.
Christ the everlasting Lord.
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the virgin's womb.

"Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate deity.
Pleased as man with men to dwell.
Jesus our Immanuel.

"Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace.
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Risen with healings in His wings.

"Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth.
Born to give them second birth.

"Hark! The herald angels sing.
'Glory to the newborn king!'"

Easter Sunday

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!"
-The Gospel of Luke


"Christ the Lord is risen today.
Sons of men and angels say.
Raise your joys and triumphs high.
Sing ye heavens and earth reply. Alleluia!!!"

"Love's redeeming work is done.
Fought the fight, the battle won.
Lo! The sun's eclipse is o'er.
Lo! He sets in blood no more. Alleluia!!!

"Vain the stone, the watch, the seal.
Christ hath burst the gates of hell:
Death in vain forbid Him rise,
Christ hath opened paradise. Alleluia!!!

"Lives again our glorious King.
Where, o Death, is now thy sting?
Dying once, He all doth save.
Where thy victory, o grave? Alleluia!!!

"Soar we now where Christ hath led.
Following our exalted Head.
Made like Him, like Him we rise.
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. Alleluia!!!"

-Charles Wesley


He is Risen indeed!