Christ Returneth!

Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

A physician can sometimes parry the scythe of death, but has no power over the sand in the hourglass.

-       Hester Piozzi (Mrs. Thrale), 1741-1821.

   There will come a day that the Creator and Curator of the Universe will come down the illustrious staircase of the Milky Way with the grace of a swan, yet with the roar of the Lion of Judah, and rattling the keys of Eternity:  “Gentlemen, it’s closing time!”  The sands of time will have run out, the end will have come and Christ will have returned. After all, Jesus has given us His word:

   Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.  (Revelation 1:7-8 ASV).

  How well I still remember Pastor Hannes Labuschagne singing this beautiful hymn solo (during the seventies) in Church one morning in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.  This charming Churchillian figure, modest in physical stature but a spiritual warrior and preacher with a booming, stentorian baritone of a preaching and singing voice.  His mother had died in 1920, when he was only four years old, pledging the little boy to God.  Three months later his father followed in her steps, overcome with grief.  The children were split up like dispensable puppies and disseminated to next-of-kin to be looked after and raised.

   During his university years at Stellenbosch and dormitory rooms had to be evacuated during recess, he often had had nowhere to go, and had to spend many vacations sleeping in a friend’s pantry while he parried the heartache of his missing family translating Andrew Murray’s works from English to Afrikaans, simultaneously earning some pocket-money for the next semester on campus.  He was a formidable, exciting and cultured orator, passionately in love with Christ and with the cosmic romance of the Second Coming.  Sadly, he was killed during the eighties in a bus accident while returning from an evangelistic campaign in Namibia.  Surely this story must resonate with many a reader who must have had the same type of experience one way or the other.   

   Today I echo H.L. Turner, James McGranahan (and Hannes Labuschagne's) vision and prayer: “O Jesus how long, ere we shout the glad song ‒ Christ returneth … hallelujah! Amen!”

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Christ Returneth!

(H.L. Turner, 19^th Century/James McGranahan, 1840-1907)

It may be at morn, when the day is awaking,

When sunlight thru darkness and shadow is breaking,

That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory

To receive from the world His own

It may be at midday, it may be at twilight,

It may be, per chance, that the blackness of midnight

Will burst into light in the blaze of His glory

When Jesus receives His own.

While hosts cry Hosanna, from heaven descending,

With glorified saints and the angels attending,

With grace on His brow, like a halo of glory,

Will Jesus receive His own.

O joy! O delight! should we go without dying,

No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying,

Caught up thru the clouds with our Lord into glory,

When Jesus receives His own.

CHORUS

O lord Jesus, how long Ere we shout the glad song ‒

Christ returneth! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John W. (1968)   Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Christ Returneth!’. Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.