10,000 x 10,000

ten thousand times ten thousand in sparkling raiment bright,
the armies of the ransomed saints throng up the steeps of light.
tis finished, all is finished - their fight with death and sin;
fling open wide the golden gates and let the victors in.

what rush of allelujahs fills all the earth and sky!
what ringing of a thousand harps bespeaks the triumphs nigh!
o, day for which creation and all its tribes were made!
o, joy for all its former woes a thousand-fold repaid.

o, then what raptured greetings on canaan's happy shore!
what knitting severed friendships up, where partings are no more!
then eyes with joy shall sparkle, that brimmed with tears of late -
orphans no longer fatherless, nor widows desolate.

bring near Thy great salvation, Thou Lamb for sinners slaine;
fill up the roll of Thine elect, then take Thy power and reign;
appear, Desire of nations, thine exiles long for home;
show in the heaven Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Savior, come.
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this is an appropriate follow-up to yesterday's post i think, since its about Jesus coming back. i especially appreciated this song's 3rd verse when so many of my friends were abroad in the fall of 2005. overall, the focus on healed relationships is beautiful to me, but so is the war-language. by now you probably have picked up on my "thing" for military talk, so this should not be surprising. the first stanza in particular is spectacular, speaking of us as "the armies of the ransomed saints." the kicker in this whole song for me is the idea that one day we will be finished fighting death and sin, both externally (like in the world, in our friends, etc) and internally (in our own hearts). we will be done. as paige brown says, it's the difference between D-Day and V.E.-Day ~ Christ has already insured the outcome by His life, death, and resurrection. now it's just a matter of formally ending the war. then we get to go home as "victors" - victors because of what Christ has done and given to us. gotta love that divine substitution thing. :)