The Blessed Hope

In faith we sing this song of thankfulness
For that deep comfort Christ’s belovèd share;
The blessed Hope of everlasting peace,
The Home in God’s high glory bright and fair;
Awhile we wander in the wilderness,
But that eternal Home awaits us there.

True is it that no heart may comprehend
The glory God prepareth for His own,
And what will happen when this age shall end;
But yet in vision Jesus hath made known
How fair and holy shall His Church descend,
Lit up with light of precious jasper stone.

And He shall give her honour in that day,
For unto Him all power and might are given;
In soul and body, freed from earth’s decay,
Her mortal semblance purified and shriven,
Shall she put on her beautiful array
Of new eternal Life, He brought from Heaven.

And Heaven and Earth, and all created things,
In wondrous beauty then shall be restored;
And we shall rest from all our wanderings,
Partakers of the nature of our Lord,
And made to God our Father priests and kings,
In light whereto the Angels never soared.

And He shall make His Church all heavenly fair,
With gold and pearls, and every radiant stone,
And reign in Holiness and Glory there,
And shine as suns and stars have never shone;
And He shall lead His Bride, His Joy and Care,
With blissful singing to His Father’s throne.

With eyes undimmed shall she her God behold,
Behold Him face to face, and walk by sight,
Not trusting only, as in days of old,
But seeing with her eyes eternal Light.
The great Salvation mystery shall unfold
In that high vision of Love infinite.

And then the Saints shall rest in victory,
Their weary battle-day is at an end;
Amidst the Holy Angels joy shall be,
That we and they can love as friend and friend;
We weep no more, for one with Christ are we,
In oneness love alone may comprehend.

And then shall be the blest Communion,
Of God’s dear children meeting from afar;
Within His burning Love they blend as one,
Yet each, according as His counsels are,
Shall have peculiar glory of his own,
As one star differeth from another star.

And God is all in all in that great day,
And He is their exceeding great Reward;
Their stream of Life, their beautiful array,
Their food, their joy, their radiance, Christ the Lord:
The music of their wondrous song shall say,
How great the joy that passeth thought or word.

And this is that eternal life of Heaven,
Laid up with Christ in God, the mystery
Of Resurrection Life which He hath given:
A Fount of living waters full and free;
A Life by which the gates of death are riven,
A Life which on the throne of Christ shall be.

And here in this waste wilderness begun,
So soon as we believe in Christ aright,
And quickened by the Spirit of the Son,
Receive Him as our only Life and Light,
As all the branches in the Vine are one,
So we are one for ever in His sight.

Now come Thou quickly, Jesus, from above,
Do Thou sustain us on the desert road,
And draw us after Thee by might of love,
Our Fatherland art Thou, O Love of God:
Once safe in Thee, no more shall we remove,
O Thou our everlasting sure abode.

Source: Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series) #92