Scripture Verse

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Matthew 6:10

Introduction

portrait
Gunnar Wennerberg (1817–1901)

Words: Ka­ro­li­na W. San­dell-Berg, 1870 (Til­komme ditt rike, o Herre vår Gud). Trans­la­tor un­known.

Music: Till­komme Ditt Ri­ke Gun­nar Wen­ner­berg, 1870 (🔊 pdf nwc).

On April 17, 1869, two Swed­ish mis­sion­ar­ies, Kjell­berg and Elf­blad, were killed in Ku­na­ma, Abys­sin­ia (now Eth­io­pia). Then, ov­er the Christ­mas and New Year sea­son of 1869/1870, news reached Stock­holm that an­oth­er mis­sion­ary in the same area had died, sev­er­al oth­ers were sick and had moved to an­oth­er area for treat­ment, and the on­ly mis­sion­ary still in the Ku­na­ma area was at­tacked by the same peo­ple who months ear­li­er mur­dered the oth­er mis­sion­ar­ies.

Happily, though, the lone mis­sion­ary was saved. When San­dell heard the tid­ings, she wrote this hymn, and Wen­ner­berg com­posed the tune short­ly af­ter. The words first ap­peared in the in­au­gur­al is­sue of Mis­sions-Tid­ning­en in 1870, and the mu­sic in the se­cond is­sue.

portrait
Lina Sandell (1832–1903)

Lyrics

O Fa­ther, Thy king­dom
Is come up­on earth,
Thou rul­est in all Thy cre­ation;
Thou send­est Thy wit­ness­es, tell­ing Thy worth,
To call and en­treat ev­ery na­tion,
With news of Thy migh­ty sal­va­tion,
With news of Thy migh­ty sal­va­tion.

They lift up a light
Amid sha­dows of fear,
And love is Thy ban­ner above them;
No trou­ble shall touch them, no foes that ap­pear
Shall e’er from their loy­al­ty move them;
’Tis Thou dost up­hold and ap­prove them,
’Tis Thou dost up­hold and ap­prove them.

They go in Thy strength,
And they speak in Thy name,
With pow­er of Thy pro­mise forth far­ing,
And dur­ing the bat­tle the vic­to­ry claim,
Their trust in Thy strength is their dar­ing,
Salvation to all men de­clar­ing,
Salvation to all men de­clar­ing.