Desire of Nations: The World is Still Waiting

For Christians, the Advent season points to a previous time of waiting. Advent carols like “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” capture this longing and anticipation. Advent reminds us of the time when the world waited for the Promised One, the Seed of the woman who would crush the head of the snake (Gen 3:15), the One who would bring blessings to all the nations (Gen 12:1-4), the Son of David who would always sit on the throne (2 Sam 7:16; Jer 33:17), the Suffering Servant who would take the sins of the world upon himself (Isa 53: 4-5). As “O Holy Night” proclaims, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining.”¹ The world waited for the Savior to appear.

Soon, we celebrate Christmas, which signifies the end of this waiting. One carol declares, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” We rejoice at Christmas because Jesus has been “born that man no more may die; born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” The waiting has ended. Jesus has come.

Christmas also points us to the coming day when we will wait no longer. Just as Jesus came as a baby, he will one day return as the reigning King. A lesser-known stanza of “Angels from the Realms of Glory” sums up what will happen when he returns:

“Though an infant now we view him,

He shall fill his Father’s throne,

Gather all the nations to him;

Every knee shall then bow down.”²

When that day comes, we will see what it truly means when we sing:

“No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.”

At Christmas, we also wait for that coming day when Jesus returns and sets the world right.

This Christmas, as we wonder at the coming of the newborn King and anticipate his imminent return, may we also recognize our commission to carry this good news to people who are still waiting. Some carols call Jesus the “Desire of Nations,”³ yet many nations have never heard of him. People around the world today are still in sin and error pining. They don’t know about the Joy that has come to the world because no one has ever told them. People living in darkness are still waiting to see a great light (Isa 9:2). The hope of Christmas should springboard us to pray for and go to the nations, whether they are across the world or down the street.

The hope of Christmas should springboard us to pray for and go to the nations, whether they are across the world or down the street.

The solemn reality of Christmas is that this beautiful new creation we now anticipate is only for those who have responded to the gospel message. So if “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” then what about those who have never heard (Rom 10:13 ESV)? We must echo Paul’s questions in Romans 10:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent” (Rom 10:14-15a ESV).

And the question that should linger, long after the gifts are unwrapped and the decorations put away until next December is this: Will we go to a world that is still waiting to hear Christmas’ good news of great joy (Luke 2:10)?

 

 

¹Song lyrics in this article are from The Worship Hymnal unless otherwise noted. Songs include “O Holy Night” with lyrics by John S. Dwight;  “O Little Town of Bethlehem” with lyrics by Phillips Brooks, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” with lyrics by Charles Wesley, alt. George Whitefield;  and “Joy to the World! The Lord is Come” with lyrics by Isaac Watts. The Worship Hymnal (Nashville, TN: LifeWay Worship, 2008).

²James Montgomery, “59. Angels from the Realms of Glory,” Hynmary.org, December 18, 2024, https://hymnary.org/hymn/AM2013/59.

³For an example, see “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” a traditional Latin hymn translated by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin. The Worship Hymnal.

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