5.18.2008

Sunday Hymn - Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand

The theme of the conference that I was at last week was 'glorification.' It is the completion of sanctification, the redemption of the world. It is the end of the struggle over sin. It is God making His dwelling place with His people. It is marked by constant praise, restored relationships, and all of creation finally fulfilling that purpose for which it was made: the glorification of God. This hymn expresses all that beautifully, and at the close, aids the worshiper in expressing the longing for that rest.

Ten thousand times ten thousand
In sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints throng
Up the steeps of light.
'Tis finished, all is finished,
Their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates,
And let the victors in.

What rush of alleluias
Fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps
Bespeaks the triumph nigh!
O day, for which creation
And all its tribes were made;
O joy, for all its former woes
A thousandfold repaid.

O then what raptured greetings
On Canaan's happy shore;
What knitting severed friendships
Up where partings are no more!
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle,
That brimmed with tears of late;
Orphans no longer fatherless,
Nor widows desolate.

Bring near Thy great salvation,
Thou Lamb for sinners slain;
Fill up the roll of thine elect,
Then take Thy power, and reign;
Appear, Desire of Nations,
Thine exiles long for home;
Shoe in the Heaven Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Savior, come.

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