Scripture Verse

After the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:29–30

Introduction

portrait
Richard W. Adams (1952–)

Words: Ri­chard W. Ad­ams, Feb­ru­ary 24, 2020 (pub­lic do­main).

Music: Aus­tria (Hay­dn) ar­ranged by Franz J. Hay­dn, 1797, pos­si­bly from a Cro­a­tian folk tune (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Franz J. Haydn (1732–1809)

Lyrics

Looking for our Lord and Sav­ior,
Coming on the clouds of Heav’n,
Clad in pow­er and shin­ing glo­ry,
Come to end the reign of sin.
Long fore­told by pro­phets, seers:
First the tri­bu­la­tion ends,
Then the sun and moon will dark­en,
And the stars shall fall from Heav’n.

All the hea­vens’ pow­ers are shak­en,
And ap­pears the sign on high,
That the Son of Man, re­turn­ing,
Once again to earth draws nigh.
All the tribes of earth now mourn­ing,
As they hear the trum­pet blast,
And they look on Him they pierc­èd,
Weeping bit­ter tears at last.

First He sends His reap­er an­gels
To up­root and bind the weeds,
Set in bun­dles for the fur­nace,
As be­fits their ev­il deeds.
Sown by Sa­tan’s ev­il mal­ice,
Children of the wick­ed one,
They refused to bend the knee,
And to bow to God’s own Son.

Then shall all the righ­teous shine forth
In their Fa­ther’s king­dom grand;
See them gathered from the four winds
And the earth’s re­mot­est land,
His elect from ev­ery na­tion,
All the saints Heav’n’s bor­ders hold,
All the child­ren of the king­dom,
Gathered to the Shep­herd’s fold.

So He se­vers just from wick­ed,
Rebels casts in­to the fire;
From the fur­nace hear the wail­ing,
Gnashing teeth upon the pyre.
All with ears, now hear the les­son:
Day and hour, no one knows;
So be rea­dy for the har­vest,
Be the wheat that gold­en grows.