Text: John 5:19-47. Hymn: 336, Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.
I had read somewhere that some Alleluias were suppressed during the Advent season like during Lent, but nobody told Charles Wesley. 
This portion of John 5 isn’t typically an Advent text, but note how Jesus keeps saying he does nothing of his own. That puts a nice spin on the upcoming incarnation. Christ is completely obedient, keeping all of the Father’s demands in our stead.
John 5 is also a nice place to note how all the scriptures are about Jesus. The Scriptures are all read through the atonement of the Son of God. All of the miracles and things we debate today, e.g. creation, the flood, the sun standing still in Joshua, not to mention the resurrection itself, all point to a God who sees our sin and suffering and seeks to bring us back to life with Him without compromising His own holiness.
He comes with clouds descending, for a second time.
Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,
Once for our salvation slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Christ the Lord returns to reign.
Every eye shall now behold him,
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at nought and sold him,
Pierced, and nailed him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall their true Messiah see.
Those dear tokens of his passion
Still his dazzling body bears,
Cause of endless exultation
To his ransomed worshipers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea, amen, let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory;
Claim the kingdom for thine own:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.
TURRIE on 
Dan
This is such an interesting text! We get the thrice repetition of “deeply wailing” followed by the thrice repetition of “with what rapture.”
Between all of that is the phrase, “Those dear tokens of His passion.” It seems the word “token” is lost on me. I think of bus tokens, tokens of appreciation, and how a dollar used to get you four tokens at the arcade. These are hardly ways to describe the wounds of our Lord. After all, He was pierced for our transgressions; bruised for our iniquity.
The first entries over at dictionary.com are nothing at all like the token in my head. The second definition seems most appropriate.
2. a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof: Malnutrition is a token of poverty.
Evidence or proof. Those tokens, those wounds, are evidence that Christ was crucified and will be evidence of His return. Among all the other signs (descending with clouds, every eye beholding Him, etc.) Jesus will still have wounds. We will see them with our own eyes, believers and unbelievers alike. Some will be wail deeply; some will gaze with rapture.
Rapture is a particularly unusual word. Charles Wesley did not teach of the “rapture” and the thousand year reign. This rapture is about amazing awe and reverence at the sight of the Messiah’s return. For the Christian, the second coming is not to be feared; we wait with anticipation for this moment. Our tears will be joyful tears and not sorrowful ones.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Thou shalt reign and Thou alone!
Right on.
This is one of those situations where, we could try to update the language and blow the whole poetry of it, or we could find out what each of the words meant back then and appreciate the beauty of the text for what it is.
Indeed, “with what rapture” doesn’t mean some people will be disappearing from their cars!