Lo! He Comes, With Clouds Descending
Lo! He Comes, with Clouds Descending
Lo! He comes, with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand, thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign,
God appears on earth to reign.
Every eye shall now behold Him,
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see,
Shall the true Messiah see.
The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshipers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture,
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea, Amen! Let all adore Thee,
High on Thy eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Everlasting God, come down!
Everlasting God, come down!
THIS HYMN was truly a team effort. The original version was penned by John Cennick, a land surveyor from Reading, England, who became a Moravian preacher. Hymnwriter Charles Wesley adapted the Cennick version, and then it was finished by two of Wesley’s followers. One of them was Thomas Olivers who had been a London cobbler; the other was Martin Madan, who loved to embellish Wesley’s hymns and probably added the hallelujahs.
As we await the coming of our Lord, about which this hymn is written, God’s kingdom continues to grow just as this hymn once grew. Preachers, cobblers, land surveyors, and those who embellish with hallelujahs build on one another’s efforts for the glory of God. They are just a few of the “thousand, thousand saints attending.”
Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him—even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen!
Revelation 1:7
From the book
