Sunday Collect For the Breathtaking Second Coming of Christ

Collect for the Day

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 alleluias
Fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps
Proclaims the triumph nigh!
O day, for which creation
And all its tribes were made;
O joy, for all its former woes
A thousandfold 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 slain;
Fill up the roll of Thine elect,
Then take Thy pow'r and reign.
Appear, Desire of Nations;
Thine exiles long for home.
Show in the heav'ns Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Savior, come!

(This hymn-prayer was written by the Very Revd. Henry Alford who was for twenty years Dean of Canterbury Cathedral)

 

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2 Corinthians 5:1-10

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened-not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

 

Thought for the Day

Having compared our present circumstances to being like earthen vessels which contain our 'treasure,' Paul now talks about what is beyond the days of those earthen vessels which is "our heavenly dwelling." He doesn't talk about it as dying, but about that which is mortal being "swallowed up by life." What we consider to be living now is nothing when compared to that which awaits us. Then he tells us that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is our guarantee. This Greek word is hard to translate but it can be considered as a 'down payment,' or the 'appetizer' or 'hors d'oevre' of what is to come. We are given a glimpse into the lobby of eternity, as it were. Paul then assets that while we are here on earth we are away, the heavenly delight of eternity is that we will be "at home with the Lord." This is strong stuff but it gives the life we live now an eternal horizon, breathtaking and beyond words.

 

Thanksgiving for the Day

We praise and thank God for this picture Paul gives to us of our eternal, heavenly destiny.

 

From Richard Kew's Daily Devotional this week.