Scripture Verse

Rejoice with joy unspeakable. 1 Peter 1:8

Introduction

Words: James B. Frank­lin, 1902.

Music: James E. Tho­mas (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Frank­lin (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Thomas,

portrait
James Thomas (1860–1946)

Lyrics

When we meet be­yond the por­tals
Of that gold­en ci­ty fair,
And around the shin­ing throne
Of God we stand;
Christ will be the first to greet us,
At the pear­ly gate He’ll meet us,
And we’ll know Him
By the nail prints in His hands.

Refrain

We shall know Him, we shall know Him,
When we’ve crossed death’s chil­ly tide.
Yes, we shall know my bless­èd Sav­ior
By the spear prints in His side.

By and by, when we have ga­thered
In that pa­ra­dise above,
Where our long de­part­ed
Loved ones we shall greet.
First we’ll look for Him in Hea­ven,
Who to us new life hath giv­en,
And we’ll know Him
By the nail prints in His feet.

Refrain

In that ci­ty bright eter­nal,
He, the King of glo­ry reigns,
And the an­gels at His throne
In re­ver­ence bow;
O pro­claim the won­drous sto­ry
Of the One who reigns in glo­ry,
For we’ll know Him
By the thorn prints on His brow.

Refrain

There is peace se­cure in know­ing
We may ne­ver go as­tray,
For we have the bless­èd Bi­ble
As our guide,
And we read with­in its pag­es,
He the rift­ed Rock of Ag­es,
We shall know Him
By the spear prints in His side.

Refrain

Yes, we’ll know Him by the nail prints
In His hands and in His feet,
By the spear prints in His side
Our Lord we’ll know,
If we had no oth­er to­ken,
There is evi­dence un­spok­en,
For we’d know Him
By the thorn prints on His brow.

Refrain