Biblical citations in the hymnal: Luke 19:28-40, Philippians 2:5-11, Ephesians 4:22-24, Daniel 7:13-14
Luke 19:28-40: "And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, 'Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, "Why are you untying it?" you shall say this: "The Lord has need of it."' So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' And they said, 'The Lord has need of it.' And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!' And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'"
Philippians 2:5-11: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Ephesians 4:22-24: "to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
Daniel 7:13-14: "'I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came on like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.'"
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Since the text is public domain, I'll post it in full:
The advent of our King
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must hymns of welcome sing
In strains of holy joy.
The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be,
Himself a servant's form puts on
To set His servants free.
O Zion's daughter, rise
To meet your lowly King,
Nor let your faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.
As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again
And His true members all unite
With Him in heav'n to reign.
Before the dawning day
Let sin's dark deeds be gone,
The sinful self be put away,
The new self now put on.
All glory to the Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever one
Through all eternity.
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Most of the first verse, particularly "And we must hymns of welcome sing / In strains of holy joy," seems to come from the Luke text. If we didn't sing the hymns, "the very stones would cry out" instead. There are parallel accounts of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem in Matthew 21:1-11 and Mark 11:1-11. The Matthew text quotes Zechariah 9:9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." There are the imperatives "Rejoice greatly" and "Shout aloud," which seem to be related to "we must hymns of welcome sing."
The second verse comes from the Philippians text:
The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be,
Himself a servant's form puts on
To set His servants free.
The first two lines also connect with the beginning of the Daniel text ("like a son of man" and "Incarnate").
The last two lines of the fifth verse ("The sinful self be put away, / The new self now put on.") clearly come from the Ephesians text.
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The third verse begins with "O Zion's daughter, rise." This isn't cited in the hymnal, but I think it's from Isaiah 52:2: "Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." That section of Isaiah is about the servant king, who's also mentioned in "The Advent of Our King."
While not a Biblical text, the first two lines of the fourth verse ("As judge, on clouds of light, / He soon will come again") seem to come from the Apostles' Creed: "He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."
While not a Biblical text, the first two lines of the fourth verse ("As judge, on clouds of light, / He soon will come again") seem to come from the Apostles' Creed: "He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."
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In Lutheran Worship it's titled "The Advent of Our God." As in LSB, it's the first hymn in the hymnal, although there it's #12. The text is considerably different in some places (indicated in italics):
The advent of our God
Shall be our theme for prayer;
Come, let us meet him on the road
And place for him prepare.
The everlasting Son
Incarnate stoops to be,
Himself the servant's form puts on
To set his people free.
Come, Zion's daughter, rise
To meet your lowly king,
Nor let your faithless heart despise
The peace he comes to bring.
As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again
And all his scattered saints unite
With him on high to reign.
Before the dawning day
Let sin be put to flight;
No longer let the law hold sway,
But walk in freedom's light.
All glory to the Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever one
Through all eternity.
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The first verse here, with its mentioning "the road" (on which people spread their cloaks), is slightly more specific in its reference to the Luke text (and the parallel accounts) than the first verse of "The Advent of Our King."
"Stoop" has a sense of height and depth that "deigns" lacks. The difference in height implied in the phrase "The everlasting Son / Incarnate stoops to be" also provides something of a similarity with a line in the Nicene Creed: "who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven" (my italics). Of course, the "stoop[ing]" is necessary for our redemption, so - to some degree - the fall into sin is represented as a literal fall here.
There's also a difference in specificity in regard to the "servant's form." "The Advent of Our King" has the indefinite "a servant's form" where "The Advent of Our God" has the definite "the servant's form." The Philippians text has an indefinite ("taking the form of a servant"), but I feel that the definite might be more applicable because Jesus - as true God - is the only one capable of "set[ting] his people free." The definite also seems to point toward the descriptions of the servant king in Isaiah (particularly chapters 52 and 53). It's not just any servant; it's that one.
