You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1:9–10
Words: Philipp F. Hiller, 1767 (Wir warten dein, O Gottes Sohn). Translated from German to English by James D. Burns in the Family Treasury, 1859.
Music: Nagpur Theodore E. Perkins, in The Christian Hymnal (Cincinnati, Ohio: Chase & Hall, 1875), page 268 (🔊 pdf nwc).
O Son of God, we wait for Thee,
We look for Thine appearing;
We bear Thy name, and on the throne,
We see Thy presence cheering.
Faith even now uplifts its brow,
And sees the Lord descending,
And with Him bliss unending.
We wait for Thee, through days forlorn,
In patient self-denial;
We know that Thou our grief hast borne
Upon Thy cross of trial.
And well may we submit with Thee
To bear the cross and love it,
Until Thy hand remove it.
We wait for Thee; already Thou
Hast all our heart’s submission;
And though the spirit sees Thee now,
We long for open vision;
When ours shall be sweet rest with Thee,
And pure unfading pleasure,
And life in endless measure.
We wait for Thee in certain hope—
The time will soon be over;
With childlike longing we look up,
The glory to discover.
O, bliss! to share Thy triumph there,
When home with joy and singing,
The Lord His saints is bringing!