Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

LSB #509 "Christ Is Surely Coming"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 5:25-27

Revelation 3:11:  "'I am coming soon.  Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.'"

Revelation 22:7:  "'And behold, I am coming soon.  Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.'"

Revelation 22:12:  "'Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.'"

Revelation 22:20:  "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.'  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!"

2 Corinthians 5:10:  "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."

Ephesians 5:25-27:  "25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."

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The "I am coming soon" from the various verses in Revelation appears at the hymn's beginning ("Christ is surely coming") and end ("'Surely I come quickly! / Come, Lord Jesus, come!'").  The "recompense" from Revelation 22:12 and the judgement from 2 Corinthians 5:10 appear in the first verse:  "Christ is surely coming / Bringing His reward" at the beginning and "Meet your Judge and Savior, / Nations near and far!" at the end.  (Incidentally, "near and far" is a merism.)

Ephesians 5:25-27 appears in the hymn's second verse:  "All by Christ made holy, / Washed from ev'ry sin."

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While the hymnal cites four verses from Revelation, it doesn't cite anything for the various names of Jesus in the first verse, all of which also come from Revelation.  "Alpha and Omega, / First and Last and Lord" appears in Revelation 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13.  "Root and Stem of David, / Brilliant Morning Star" comes from Revelation 5:5 and 22:16.

The lines "Thirsty ones, desiring / All He loves to give, / Come for living water, / Freely drink, and live!" come from Revelation 21:6:  "And he said to me, 'It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.'"  This is also similar to what Jesus says in John 4:13-14:  "Jesus said to her [the Samaritan woman at the well], 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'"