Scripture Verse

Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30

Introduction

portrait
Franz J. Haydn (1732–1809)

Words: W. Lo­max Child­ress, in The Chris­tian Work­ers Ma­ga­zine (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Moody Bi­ble In­sti­tute, June 1917), page 793, alt.

Music: Aus­tria (Hay­dn) ar­ranged by Franz J. Hay­dn, 1797, pos­si­bly from a Croa­tian folk tune (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
W. Lomax Childress (1867–1936)

Lyrics

He is com­ing back in glo­ry,
In the blest mil­len­ni­um time,
With the chant­ing an­gel chor­us,
And the gold­en harps sub­lime,
Through the blend­ing blue in beau­ty
Will the hea­ven­ly host ap­pear,
And the saints shall rise to meet Him,
Crying, Je­sus Christ is here.

He is com­ing back in glo­ry,
Then the dead in Christ shall rise,
In the splen­dor of His pre­sence
That will fill the earth and skies,
And the dawn­ing of that morn­ing
To the won­der­ing earth will bring
All the ma­jes­ty, and the so­ver­eign­ty,
Of Je­sus Christ, the Lord and King.

All the tow­ers of time shall crum­ble
That were built up­on the sand,
But the man­sions of God’s chos­en
In bright ma­jes­ty shall stand;
Rolling tide, and migh­ty deep,
See the ov­er­whelm­ing flood:
Nowhere will there be a re­fuge
For the soul, save in Je­sus’ blood.

Come, you saints of God, be rea­dy
For adown the hea­ven­ly street,
Shining an­gels strew their gar­lands
For the com­ing of His feet;
Tribulation and fear will pass away,
Gone the dark­ness and the pain,
Bars of hell will break at last,
Christ has come to for­ev­er reign.