Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas

144 Pages·2008·2.86 MB·English

by  Nancy Guthrie

Includes 22
Readings for Advent
C T
OME, HOU
LONG-EXPECTED
JESUS
Experiencing
the Peace and Promise
of Christmas
EDITED BY
NANCY GUTHRIE
C T
OME, HOU
LONG-EXPECTED
J
ESUS

C T
OME, HOU
LONG-EXPECTED
J
ESUS
Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas
EDITED BY
NANCY GUTHRIE
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Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas
Copyright © 2008 by Nancy Guthrie
Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.
Design and typesetting: Lakeside Design Plus
Cover design: Jon McGrath
Cover photo: Veer; iStock
First printing 2008
Printed in the United States of America
Chapter 2 Scripture quotations are from The New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © The Lockman
Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.
Chapters 3, 6, 8, 9, and 17 Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Chapter opening quotations and chapters 4, 13, and 20 Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapters 5, 11, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, and 22 Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International
Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan
Publishing House. All rights reserved.
The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent
and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission
of International Bible Society.
Chapter 15 Scripture references are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982, Thomas
Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
Scripture references marked phillips are from The New Testament in Modern English, translated by
J. B. Phillips © 1958 by J. B. Phillips. Published by Macmillan.
All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the authors.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-0180-7
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0417-4
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-0418-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Come, thou long expected Jesus : experiencing the peace and promise of Christmas / edited
by Nancy Guthrie.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4335-0180-7 (tpb)
1. Christmas—Meditations. 2. Christmas sermons. I. Guthrie, Nancy. II. Title.
BV45.C595 2008
242'.335—dc22 2008013262
BP 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Affectionately dedicated to
Dr. Wilson and Pam Benton
who incarnated the love of God
by making your home among us—
full of grace and truth
O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind;
Let me hear good tidings of great joy, and hearing,
believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose, my
eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat, to look with
them upon my Redeemer’s face, and in him
account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my
heart,
embrace him with undying faith,
exulting that he is mine and I am his.
In him thou has given me so much that heaven can
give no more.
—from The Valley of Vision
ontents
C
Preface 9
1. Contemplating Christmas 11
George Whitefield
2. Tabernacled among Us 17
Joseph “Skip” Ryan
3. The Maiden Mary 23
Martin Luther
4. Conceived by the Holy Spirit 29
John Piper
5. The Gifts of Christmas 35
Tim Keller
6. The Great Fulfillment 43
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
7. Joseph: Righteous and Kind 49
J. Ligon Duncan III
8. To Be More Blessed Than Mary 55
Jonathan Edwards
9. Have You Any Room? 61
Charles Spurgeon
7
Contents
10. The Word Was Made Flesh 65
Saint Augustine
11. For Your Sakes He Became Poor 69
J. I. Packer
12. Unto Us a Child Is Born 73
John Calvin
13. Wrapped in Humility 79
Alistair Begg
14. Shepherd Status 85
Randy Alcorn
15. Glory Revealed 91
John MacArthur
16. Good News of Great Joy 97
Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.
17. Seeing Jesus with the Shepherds 103
Francis Schaeffer
18. The Lessons of the Wise Men 109
J. C. Ryle
19. Gifts of Faith 115
James Montgomery Boice
20. Embarking on a Course of Redemption 121
R. C. Sproul
21. Those to Whom Christ Comes 127
R. Kent Hughes
22. A Christmas Longing 135
Joni Eareckson Tada
Notes 141
8
reface
P
M
y husband tells the story of a Christmas when his fam-
ily had to wait to open their Christmas gifts while he
went into his bedroom to wrap the gifts he had bought.
“What’s the matter, David?” his grandmother asked as he emerged
from his room with his stack of hastily wrapped presents. “Did
Christmas sneak up on you this year?”
I have found in my own life that I’ve too often allowed Christmas
to “sneak up on me.” I’ve allowed the busyness of purchasing pres-
ents and planning travel and participating in Christmas pageants
and parties to crowd out a quiet anticipation of the wonder of
incarnation. Too many Christmas mornings I’ve realized that while
my presents were wrapped, my heart was completely unprepared
to truly take in the Gift.
A while back a friend recommended a particular anthology
of readings for Advent. So early in December when I saw a large
display of the books in a bookstore, I purchased a copy and began
to read.
While some of the readings were interesting and inspiring, some
left me cold, and others left me confused. But when I came to one
particular reading, I just set the book aside. In a piece discussing
differences in the accounts of the birth of Jesus, the writer suggested
that Scripture doesn’t have to be historical to be inspired.
9