DECEMBER 3, 2020    

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

God’s timetable is not my timetable. When God tells me to wait, I don’t understand. Then Advent comes along, and I’m reminded what waiting is and how to wait. In Genesis 22:18, we find that through Abraham’s offspring “all nations on earth will be blessed.” I believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. But how long did it take God to fulfill his promise?

In sincere prayer I often ask for this and I ask for that. Then, like rubbing a magic lamp, I expect God to do what I’ve asked right now or this week perhaps. Advent reminds me that God’s time is not our time, and God’s timing is right. In Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Next, in Isaiah 11:1, we are still waiting. He is from the line of Jesse, the father of King David: “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.”

Jeremiah 23:5-6 tells me He is from the line of King David: “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 .… This is the name by which he will be called: the Lord our righteous savior.” But we must wait; the time is not right. From the prophet Isaiah (Is. 7:14) we know that He was born from a virgin when the time is right: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you will call him Immanuel.” The name Immanuel means “God with us” and indicates the divinity of Jesus.

From the first announcement in Genesis to the birth of Jesus was maybe 4000 years. Now that is the definition of “Long Expected.” True to His word, God kept his promise.

Father, I need the spiritual gift of patience most of all this year, and I need it now.

Roger Bryant

Click here to see the complete 2020 Advent Devotional booklet.