Here are the words to the last verse of that wonderful hymn “How Great Thou Art” (Carl Boberg 1886):
“When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation, and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart,
Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim ‘my God, how great Thou art’ “.
Indeed, that will be a momentous, amazing event “When Christ shall come…..” In 1 Corinthians 15: 22-26 Paul writes “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”.
When Christ shall come……Jesus is coming before He comes at the end. He comes to us every day seeking fellowship with us, seeking a surrendered vessel for His life to flow through and demonstrate to a lost world the answer to searching hearts, hearts that don’t even know what they are searching for, until they are touched by the Saviour and made alive unto God.
“God is not far from every one of us. For in Him we live, and move and have our being”, Acts 17: 27-28.
Colossians 1:17, speaking of Jesus: “…..and by Him all things are held together”. Be encouraged, the world is not falling apart, things are falling into place for the return of the King, King Jesus!…..just as He prophesied in Matthew 24.
Jesus comes to us each day. We can make room for Him in every circumstance of the day we encounter. Every choice we make, every word we speak, every task we put our hand to…..will either please, or grieve Him. “Choose this day whom you will serve”…..God or the devil! All self serving has no place in God’s kingdom. Christ comes before His coming at the end.
Do you feel the quickening of the Spirit on these words in Isaiah 60:1-2 ? :”Arise, shine, for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you”. Ho! Now is the time to arise, to worship, to live close to the Lord in order that His light may shine through us. The light, the true Light, dispels the darkness.
King David had an army of mighty men, who were fighting men. God’s army of today are a company of ordinary people who are set apart by one factor: they have a single function to the loyalty of the Throne, not to a man. God fights our battles for us as we trust Him and obey His instruction. The battle belongs to the Lord! He does the work, His is the credit, the glory!
Our part is to lay our lives before Him, thankful for our joys, surrendering our problems to His solving and direction, listening for instruction and obeying. Trust and obedience grows maturity of the Living Christ in me and you. With maturity comes a growing reverence for our Almighty God and Saviour whom we live to serve.
The words of the song “An Army of Ordinary People”, (Dave Bilbrough) describe God’s army for this age:
“An army of ordinary people, a kingdom where love is the key,
A city, a light to the nations, heirs of the Promise are we.
A people whose life is in Jesus, a nation together we stand,
Only through grace are we worthy, inheritors of the land.
A new day is dawning, a new age to come,
When the children of Promise, shall flow together as one.
A truth long neglected, but the time has now come,
When the children of Promise shall flow together as one.
A people without recognition, but with Him a destiny sealed,
Called to a heavenly vision, His purpose shall be fulfilled.
Come let us stand strong together, abandon ourselves to the King,
His love shall be ours forever, this victory song we shall sing:
A new day is dawning, a new age to come,
When the children of Promise shall flow together as one.”
Photo by Marcus Dall Col on Unsplash
