1. Jesus
2. Paul
3. John

During this Christmas season, I have been preaching a sermon series entitled, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." My burden in the series has been to capitalize on the phraseology of the song that we just sung, to show that this is really the cry of the Old Testament. Taken in its broadest scope, you see that something is wrong. Adam and Eve sinned, bringing the world into sin and death. God's covenant with Abraham was good and well, but soon his people were in slavery in Egypt. And as good as Moses was to redeem the people from Egypt, we needed a better redeemer. As good as all the judges were in saving Israel in their distress, we needed a better Savior. As good as all the best kings were, we needed a better king, a forever king who would sit on David's throne. And as the sheer number of prophets who came to Israel preaching repentance showed, ultimately, we needed God to come and give us new hearts, as promised in the New Covenant.

To all of this, those in the Old Testament cried out, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." That is, "O God, come and give us the Redeemer, the Savior, the King, who will ultimately deliver us." Last Sunday, of course, was Christmas morning, when we celebrated Emmanuel! God with us! God coming to earth! Indeed, God heard the cry of his saints in the Old Testament: "Emmanuel came!" And I want to continue this theme one more Sunday. This morning, I want for us to consider the New Testament. Because our cry is the same as those in the Old Testament. All of us, here today, should be crying out, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" The very fact that Jesus came the first time ought to give us the confidence that he will come again the second time.

So, I want to look this morning, in broad generalities, at how the New Testament urges us to cry out to God, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" I want to begin by looking at

1. Jesus

That's my first point: Jesus. Jesus taught that he was coming again, and that we should be ready for his coming, that we should be longing for his coming. Now, while he was on earth, this wasn't his emphasis. He didn't emphasize his second coming. He emphasized his first coming!

When he came on the scene, his first message was this, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). The kingdom was at hand, because the king was there. And Jesus spent much of his ministry showing people what the kingdom was like. He healed people, to show them that the kingdom of God will have no illness. He taught people the ways of God, to give them a vision of how the kingdom will be filled with righteousness. The majority of his time was spent in putting forth his Messianic credentials, showing people how he was, indeed, the expected Messiah.

Do you remember when the disciples of John the Baptist came and asked Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3). "Are you this 'Emmanuel' that we have longed to come?" And Jesus answered them by alluding to Isaiah 35, which describes what the Messiah will do,

Matthew 11:4-6
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Yes, he was "Emmanuel" whom his people called to come! It was clear. But the people were expecting something different! They weren't expecting God to come among them, meek and mild, laying his glory by. They were expecting the Messiah to come as a military ruler, not as a suffering servant.

Do you remember when Jesus was talking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? Jesus joined them on the walk, but was not recognizable by either of them. And Jesus asked them why they were so sad. They explained to Jesus how they had hoped in Jesus as the Messiah. They had "hoped" that he was the one to redeem Israel (Acts 24:21), that is, rescue Israel from the hands of the Romans. But, the "chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him" (Luke 24:20). Their hopes were dashed. Yet, there were rumors of an empty tomb, and they were confused.

And so, the resurrected Jesus told them,

Luke 24:25-27
O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

The broad outline of his talk with these disciples was surely that the coming of the Messiah was two-fold. The first time, he would come and suffer. The second time, he would come to rule and reign! This first coming, the disciples missed. They missed everything that we rejoice in regarding Jesus. That Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins! So that we might believe in him and experience the forgiveness of sins! The gospel! With hindsight, we look at the first coming with such great rejoicing that we often forget the glory of his second coming!

And that's what my point is this morning: We must not forget his second coming. We must long for his second coming! That's why we ought to cry, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." So, this morning, I'm overviewing the New Testament, demonstrating how we should long for the second coming. And Jesus taught his second coming. And he taught that we should long for it.

The clearest teaching of this comes in the Olivet Discourse, when Jesus is on the Mount of Olives, talking with his disciples about the future. If you want to open in your Bibles and follow along, turn to Matthew 24. Jesus talked about his second coming because of the questions his disciples were asking.

Matthew 24:3
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

And Jesus proceeds to talk about the signs of his coming, the things that we need to look for before he comes. We don't have time to look at the details this morning, but he describes a time of false teaching (verses 4-5) and wars (verses 6-7) and hostility against his followers (verses 9-11) and lawlessness and sin (verses 11-13). It all sounds much like the events of our day. And then, in verses 29-31, Jesus describes his coming with these marvelous words:

Matthew 24:29-31
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Such will Jesus come! In splendor and majesty and power and glory! And when he comes, he will gather his people—his elect—to be with him forever! We don't know when that day will come, but we should long for that day. We should be crying out, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" Throughout the rest of chapter 24 and chapter 25, Jesus tells us that we don't know when this day will come, but we need to be ready for it.

Matthew 24:36
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

So be ready for that day.

Matthew 24:42-44
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Be the faithful and wise servant (verse 45), who is doing the master's business, so that when he comes, he will find you serving the Lord. One of the best ways to do so is to cry out to the Lord, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." How's that for a broad overview of the teaching of Jesus regarding his second coming! But Jesus wasn't the only one to teach of his second coming. So did Paul.

2. Paul

Let's look at our second point. We have seen 1. Jesus. Let's now look at 2. Paul. Paul had a sneak peek at the coming of Christ, when he saw him on the road to Damascus. Paul saw Jesus alive and well, and he never forgot it. Paul longed for Jesus to come and set things right. Over and over again in his writings, he urges us to long for the coming of Jesus.

Consider 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. (You can turn there in your Bible, if you want). This was one of the first letters that Paul ever wrote to any church. He writes,

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

This is great encouragement! How much we ought to long for this day! The day when Jesus returns! To some believers, the coming of Jesus will come in the grave. To other believers, Jesus will come in the sky while they are still living! But, no matter how he comes, we will be with him forever! And so, we encourage each other with such words! We should long for such a day! We should cry out, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!"

Now, it's not simply that Paul shared the truth about what the coming of Jesus will be. He also gives us the ramifications of such a coming. Paul was writing to the church in Thessalonica, and he gets into some of those ramifications in his second letter to them. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. (You can follow along in your Bibles).

Paul begins this letter by commending the believers in Thessalonica for their faith and love (verse 3). He tells them of how their faith was growing exceedingly (verse 3). He tells them of how their love was increasing (verse 3). He boasts in them to other churches for their perseverance and faith in the midst of their persecutions and afflictions (verse 4). But this leads Paul to think about the coming of Jesus. When Jesus comes again, there will be a day of reckoning!

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

The coming of Jesus is terrible for those who don't believe in him! "Eternal destruction" (verse 9). "Away from his presence" (verse 9). "Away from his glory" (verse 9). But for those who believe, and trust in his name, we get to marvel at his glory! (verse 10). His coming is so great, that Paul calls it "our blessed hope." Turn over a few books to Titus. Here, Paul is writing to his pastor friend. He is telling him of the first coming of Jesus, and how we ought to long for his second coming. Consider Titus 2:11-14,

Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

This is a great summary of the Christian life. God's grace comes into our lives. We believe in Christ and we come to know salvation. God's grace in our lives teaches us to live a godly life in this age, as we wait "for our blessed hope." The New American Standard translates this "looking for our blessed hope." There's the eagerness, and longing. And what's our blessed hope? "The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" And why do we long for his coming? Because he has redeemed us and purified us to serve him! "Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).

The second coming of Jesus is what we ought to long for. To those in Philippi, Paul writes, "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). To those in Corinth, Paul writes, "You are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7). At the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul cries out, "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!" (1 Corinthians 16:22).

That phrase, "Our Lord, come!" is the Greek word, "Maranatha!" You have probably heard that word before. There are plenty of human institutions named after that Greek word. "Maranatha!" is a longing for the Lord to come, "Our Lord, come!" This is the cry of the New Testament, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Is this your cry? Are you longing for Christ to come? Perhaps you love the world? Perhaps your life here is too good? Perhaps you don't want your life to be cut short? But the longing of the New Testament is for Jesus to return, and right the wrongs, and bring us to himself. When you see bad things in the news, do you get angry? Or do you pray, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel?" We could talk much more about the coming of Christ in Paul's writings, but we must move on. We have seen Jesus teach this. We have seen Paul teach this.

Now, let's look at  

3. John

John wrote five books that are found in our Bibles. He wrote the gospel of John. He wrote the three small epistles, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. He also wrote the book of Revelation. And Revelation is all about the return of Jesus to this earth. (You can turn in your Bible to the book of Revelation). We see right in the first chapter of Revelation a few references to his coming. "Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come" (Revelation 1:4). He is to come, that is, Jesus! Jesus is coming! That's what the book of Revelation is all about.

We see further reference to the coming of Jesus in verse 7,

Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

This verse speaks of Jesus coming with the clouds. It references Zechariah 12:10, which describes what will happen when Jesus comes. Every eye will see him. And those who put him to death will weep when they see him, because they crucified the Lord of glory. We also see a reference to his coming in verse 8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come" (Revelation 1:8). Jesus is coming! This is the message of Revelation!

And there are different responses. There are those who hate his coming. Because they have refused to believe in him. They have refused to accept his rule over them. And they can expect the judgment of God upon them. But there are others who long for his coming. Because they have loved him, and believed in him, and served him, even to the death. The coming of Jesus will be their vindication.

Turn over to chapter 6. In this chapter, we see the Seals being opened, which signifies the beginning of the judgment of God upon the earth. When the fifth seal is opened, we find the martyrs under the altar of God.

Revelation 6:9-11
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Here were those who had been witnesses for Jesus (just like the book of Acts is teaching us to be). They were witnesses for him and had been killed as a result. We call these people Martyrs, who have given their lives for the faith. Did you catch their longing? It comes in verse 10, "They cried out with a loud voice, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'" (Revelation 6:10). It's like they are crying out, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

Turn over to chapter 19. This is where we see Jesus coming in his glory. This is the day when Jesus "comes" in triumph!

Revelation 19:11-16
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

This is our victorious King, coming to judge the earth! This is Jesus coming again! This is what we ought to long for. Now, turn over to chapter 21. We see the end of the world, as we know it. We see the new heavens and the new earth. We see the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (verse 2). I love weddings! It's all happy and hopeful! Who doesn't like a wedding? Who wouldn't want and desire to be at the wedding of weddings? We should long for such a wedding to take place, when God is with us!

Revelation 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Do you long for that day? Do you long for that day when the weeping and the sorrows and the trials of earth are gone? You know, holidays are great for many of us. But holidays are difficult for many, many others because of the brokenness of our world. I spoke to a man this week who told me, when I asked him how his Christmas was, he said, "Steve, I'm glad it's over." He said, "My life is different than yours, Steve." He's without family. He's got two daughters, but he did not open a single present this Christmas season. So broken is his family. I'm thankful that I received some gifts from my children, thankful for the pool rack and other things. But can you imagine people who don't receive anything? They don't know the joy of that. For some, life is good, but for others it's very difficult. Think of those at the rescue mission over this holiday season. Their families are broken.

But the idea here is that Revelation 21 says all that's going to be wiped away. Did you notice verse 3? It speaks about, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people." Emmanuel, God with us. We're going to be with God. This is the cry. When we say, "O come, O come, Emmanuel," that's "God be with us and dwell with us." Because we know that when we dwell with God in his glory, we will see him as he is. We'll be his children. We'll be perfect and there'll be no more tears. Do you long for that day?

It's the cry of the New Testament: "O come, O come, Emmanuel." One last verse. We're going to go to the very end of Revelation. Not the last verse, which says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all." But I want to look at verse 20.

Revelation 22:20-21
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

There's the affirmation: "I'm coming soon." And John then replies, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." "O come, O come, Emmanuel." That's how the Bible ends, on this cry that says, "O come." It ends with John praying, first of all, that God would come. Then he issues his blessing upon the people who are reading: "May God's grace be upon you all."

I just say, we've looked this whole Christmas season at "O come, O come, Emmanuel." Maybe we even think that "O come, O come, Emmanuel" is only for the Old Testament saints who were anticipating the coming of Jesus, and that maybe it ended at the birth of Jesus. But I'm saying that it goes on afterwards because we're not looking for his first coming. We're looking for his second coming. And we need to long for that coming, when God makes everything right.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on January 1, 2023 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.