Scripture Verse

The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17

Introduction

Words: H. L. Fris­bie, in Hymns of the Se­cond Com­ing of Our Lord Je­sus Christ, ed­it­ed by Bai­lie Brown & Pe­ter Bil­horn (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Bil­horn Bro­thers, 1911), num­ber 25, alt.

Music: Pe­ter P. Bil­horn (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Fris­bie’s full name, or where to get a good pho­to of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Peter P. Bilhorn (1865–1936)

Lyrics

Lyrics

Have you heard about a meet­ing
That is com­ing ve­ry soon?
It may be at dawn or mid­night,
Or in glo­ry of the noon;
Jesus will be there ma­jes­tic,
With Him no­thing can com­pare;
For this meet­ing are you rea­dy?
Say, will you be there?

Refrain

Say, will you be there,
And the crown­ing glo­ry share?
If the trum­pet sounds at mid­night,
Say will you be there?
Yes, will you be there,
With the le­gions in the air?
Are you rea­dy to be caught up?
Say, will you be there?

Have you heard about this meet­ing
Of a vast, un­count­ed throng
Who will ga­ther when the trum­pet
Rolls its gold­en notes along?
There’ll be Da­vid, God’s sweet sing­er,
Leading bands of harp­ers fair;
Old Eli­jah and Eli­sha—
But will you be there?

Refrain

There will be the He­brew child­ren,
Who with­stood the fie­ry test;
And the dear­ly loved dis­ci­ple
Who re­clined on Je­sus’ breast;
And the Ma­rys with the Mar­thas,
Who brought spic­es rich and rare
To an­oint His brok­en body—
But, will you be there?

Refrain

All the saints of count­less ag­es
Will awak­en from their sleep,
And the liv­ing will be ga­thered
As a shep­herd herds his sheep:
And this long ex­pect­ed meet­ing
Will be held up in the air—
Are you rea­dy to be caught up?
Say, will you be there?

Refrain