阅读经文 

“历世期待基督耶稣，恳求来临施拯救；赦我罪孽，去我惊忧，赏赐属天真自由。”查尔斯·韦斯利（1744年）的这首赞美诗的开头几句就抓住了将临期的核心，我们在其中期待并庆祝基督——世界的救主的来临。（参约 3:16）

将临期在几天前就开始了，在许多教堂里，人们已经开始唱起这首歌，旨在庆祝基督的来临。这首歌说的是先知以赛亚在弥赛亚——神应许给祂百姓的救主——到来之前的盼望。百姓在流亡中，因着得释放、得祝福、得安慰的主题带来了巨大的希望。

这首歌重点是宣告耶稣基督是救主，祂为我们带来了盼望：使我们从罪中得着释放，并在基督里找到安息。它帮助我们记住当时神百姓所渴望的，它也帮助我们记住我们所渴望的：基督将再次降临，终结所有的痛苦和悲伤，赐给我们丰盛的生命，直到永远。

每当我们面临困境时，我们可以带着热切的盼望唱这首歌，相信耶稣会再次来临。我们渴望祂再来，释放世界脱离一切的苦难，并安慰所有哀伤的人。

"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." These opening lines of a hymn by Charles Wesley (1744) capture the spirit of Advent, in which we anticipate and celebrate Christ’s coming as the Savior of the world (see John 3:16).

The season of Advent began a few days ago, and in many churches people have already sung this song to focus their celebration of Christ’s coming. This song speaks to the hope the prophet Isaiah had before the coming of the Messiah, the promised Savior of God’s people. The people were in exile, and the theme of being set free and blessed and comforted offered great hope.

Focusing on Jesus Christ as the Savior, this song offers us hope as well: to be set free from our sin and to find our rest in Christ alone. It helps us to remember what God’s people longed for. It also helps us to remember what we long for: that Christ will come again to end all suffering and sorrow and give us full life forever.

Whenever we are dealing with difficult situations, we can sing this song with fervent hope, trusting that Jesus will come again. We long for his return to free the world from all its suffering and to comfort all who mourn.