Even my close friend,
    someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread,
    has turned against me.

• Psalm 41:9

May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
    bring tribute to him.
May the kings of Sheba and Seba
    present him gifts.
May all kings bow down to him
    and all nations serve him.

• Psalm 72:10-11

The Lord swore an oath to David,
    a sure oath he will not revoke:
“One of your own descendants
    I will place on your throne.

• Psalm 132:11

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”.

• Jeremiah 31:31-34

“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.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

• Charles Wesley, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Caroling was such an important part of Christmas.  I was probably caroling before I could read.  I remember walking from house to house with other members of the youth group and even before I was old enough for youth group.  No one invited us in for cocoa and cookies.  All of that was waiting back at the church.

Last year, I dissected three carols during the Advent Season for quizzes.  I plan to do so again, but maybe in a different vein, and the carols that I choose will be special ones, at least for me.

The second of these carols for 2022 is Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.  When I was about 15-16 years old, maybe 14, my mother decided that she needed a tenor in the church choir for the Christmas Cantata.  Rather than purchase a real cantata, my mother pieced Christmas anthems from past years together along with some carols.  This carol was the first tenor that I ever learned.  The Roland Hugh Pritchard four-part harmony was complicated.  I was neither used to reading the bass clef nor accustomed to finding my note from the accompaniment or another part (assuming they were on key, and mostly they were).  For this one, I memorized it.  It formed its own tune in my mind.  I even volunteered at a youth group meeting to sing the tenor as a solo to show how it was its own tune but singing it in a choir was harder.  The tune went down the scale, but I was going up.  I had more eighth notes than any other part.  It seemed that I was running a sprint while the other parts, going in a totally different direction, were jogging.

The carol is about Advent.  Sure we can “expect” that the birthday celebration will occur on 25 December, but we must remember that the Advent Season is the anticipation of Jesus’ return.

For that purpose, the questions will be Bible references, in biblical order.  Like last week, they will correspond to a line in the carol.  The carol is quoted above.  It may be that a line might fit a couple of the verses, but this is for fun anyway.  Question 6 is answered with two lines from the carol, consecutive lines.

As for the Scriptures above, they are all Messianic prophecies.  In Psalm 41, it is prophesied that one who eats bread with the Savior will betray him.  Psalm 72 has only been fulfilled in part with the wise men worshipping the baby Jesus, but during the millennium reign, all nations will worship Him.  Psalm 132 talks about Jesus being a descendant of David.  And the Jeremiah prophecy talks about Jesus establishing a new covenant.

Only the Bible References are provided as “questions.” I was thinking of a key word, but they would give the answers away.  There are only eight verses to look up if you do not know them.  You may know the verse by heart, or think you know the gist.  Then, find the line of the carol that matches.  Note that many of these Bible References are from the New Testament, speaking of how Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies.

The Questions:

?	Scripture that is close to a line in the carol	The Line in the Carol
1	Deuteronomy 25:19
2	2 Samuel 7:16
3	Proverbs 16:6
4	Haggai 2:7
5	Matthew 6:21
6	Romans 1:16 (2 lines)
7	Romans 6:18
8	2 Corinthians 12:9

Messianic prophecies are scattered throughout the Old Testament.  There are many of them in Psalm 22 alone. Another treasure trove is Isaiah from about Isaiah 50-61.

When Jesus was asked by John the Baptist’s (Baptizer’s) disciples if He was the Messiah, Jesus said that they should tell John that the deaf hear and the blind see, etc.  Jesus was not evading the question, He was quoting Isaiah 35:5-6 where the deaf hear, blind see, lame walk, and the mute speak.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

?	Scripture that is close to a line in the carol	The Line in the Carol
1	Deuteronomy 25:19	Let us find our rest in Thee.
2	2 Samuel 7:16	Raise us to Thy glorious throne
3	Proverbs 16:6	From our fears and sins release us,
4	Haggai 2:7	Dear desire of every nation,
5	Matthew 6:21	Rule in all our hearts alone;
6	Romans 1:16 (2 lines)	Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art
7	Romans 6:18	Born to set Thy people free;
8	2 Corinthians 12:9	By Thine all sufficient merit

And here is a choir singing Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus. The carol starts at the two-minute mark.  Why they did not edit out the passing of the peace, I have no idea, but of all the choirs singing it, this is the closest to the version I memorized where I can barely hear a tenor or two trying to hit the notes, usually only hearing them clearly on the high notes, but with the carol memorized, I tuned myself to those notes.  I think it is sung by the First Methodist choir of Dallas, TX.  I have used another video from their collection, and they have a red-head who always knows when the camera pans by.  Sorry, that may have supposed to be a “secret,” but it seems they edited that better. In the other video it was obvious.  I apologize for the beginning, but my reason for choosing the carol was to hear that tenor sung by someone else.

With many carols, they have been set to various tunes.  Here is the “(Stuttgart)” version, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.  All I have on the church is St. Luke’s Ordinate Parish.

How about a little Bluegrass by the Fehr Family Band.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.