Tag: Second Coming

The World Will Be Dissolved in Fire

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.

2 Peter 3:8-14

For this very cheerful reading for the Second Sunday of Advent this year (which comes right after the one about “give comfort to my people”!), to the tune of “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns” (MORNING SONG):

 The world shall be dissolved in fire;
 the elements dislimn
 to strains of th'everlasting choir
 in glorious praise of him.
  
 In praise of Christ, the living word
 God spoke before the world,
 that made all things when it was heard,
 creation all unfurled.
  
 In nothingness did Christ resound,
 and echoes filled the void,
 not now in silence to be drowned
 when all else is destroyed
  
 but at the end to sound anew,
 be spoken once again
 when earth and heaven are made new,
 the Father's Great Amen.
  
 Then lift your voice above the flame
 and join the angel choir.
 Sing out the Savior's glorious name
 within his love's bright fire!
Ragnarök after Surtr has engulfed the world with fire By Emil Doepler – Doepler, Emil. ca. 1905. Walhall, die Götterwelt der Germanen. Martin Oldenbourg, Berlin. Page 57. Photographed and cropped by User:Haukurth., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5208618

What Are You Owed?

To the tune FINLANDIA.

 What are you owed, that you demand in payment?
 What do you owe, and can you ever pay?
 The judge shall come and summon every claimant
 and in the scales each life and debt shall weigh.
 Then there shall be no pleading, no allayment
 when we shall stand with Christ upon that day.
 
 As you forgive, so shall you be forgiven;
 you shall receive what others have from you.
 So measured with the measures you have given,
 so you shall have in right and truth your due.
 The trumpet sound, the final seal be riven,
 and all shall end, and all shall be made new.
  
 They shall be kings, who now go empty-handed,
 and they shall laugh, who here make time to weep.
 The meek shall rise, shall lorded by and landed,
 and they shall live who now in stillness sleep.
 And all we lost or gave when Christ commanded
 we shall have back, and evermore shall keep.
  
 Your treasures bring and lay them in oblation
 before his feet, and ask naught in return,
 for you have all, his life and his salvation
 and else love—for what else do we yearn?
 Hold nothing back and have no reservation:
 You are his own, though all your world should burn.
By Rembrandt – collectie.boijmans.nl : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30798735

When God Appears

Getting all apocalyptic, up in here, which is what happens when you decide to read Psalm 68 during a pandemic. This was written for the 20th-century hymn tune FINLANDIA, which you may have sung as “This Is My Song.” It’s a beautiful, written by Jean Sebelius, and I would love to sing it more often.

When God appears, a face that angels hide from,
the earth shall quake and mountains bow their heads,
the valleys rise to see the clouds he rides on,
the sleepers wake, the living see the dead,
and all we had, all safety we relied on,
will melt as wax before the flames of dread.

But those who sought, who looked for God each morning,
will lift their heads, will not avert their eyes.
Who learned to see God's hand in every dawning
will have no fear when God sheds all disguise.
Their light will dawn to end the days of yearning,
and they shall see the Sun of Justice rise.

Then give us, Lord, the eyes to see you shining:
in every face, the image you have made.
Give us the hearts with other hearts entwining
to sense your grace in every way displayed.
That when you come, from ancient days designing,
we'll see your love and stand it unafraid.
By Jean Cousin the Younger, also called Jehan Cousin Le Jeune (lived c. 1522–1595). – Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France: 1500–1700. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press, [1957] 1999 edition. ISBN 0300077483. Page 99., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2874303

Noah

“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,* but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In [those] days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be [also] at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”

Matthew 24: 36:42
By Painters of Sultan Murad III – Zubdat-al Tawarikh (Illustrated manuscript)http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/Ext/Zubdat.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19900597
 Come look your last, my sons.
 We won't see it again:
 these fields, these hills, this earth, this sun
 will never be the same.
 And all that we have known
 God's rage is set to claim.
 Look once again, before it's done,
 before it starts to rain.
 
  What happens after this,  
 when all has been consumed?
 when we have laid one parting kiss
 on faces that are doomed?
 God's will: that's all there is
 to make the world anew
 and give us back what we have missed.
 Oh, let the rains come soon!
Karl Jenkins, Requiem, Introit.
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