O Zion, Haste
O Zion, Haste
O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling,
To tell to all the world that God is Light;
That He who made all nations is not willing
One soul should perish, lost in shades of night.
Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;
Tidings of Jesus, redemption, and release.
Behold how many thousands still are lying,
Bound in the darksome prison-house of sin,
With none to tell them of the Savior’s dying,
Or of the life He died for them to win.
Proclaim to every people, tongue and nation
That God, in whom they live and move, is love:
Tell how He stooped to save His lost creation,
And died on earth that man might live above.
Give of thy sons to bear the message glorious;
Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way;
Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious;
And all thy spending Jesus will repay.
ONE NIGHT IN 1868, a worried mother sat up with one of her children who was critically ill. She prayed to the Lord to heal her child. She realized how quickly her comfortable lifestyle was jolted by the reality of something really important. And what is really important to God is the evangelization of the world. If God raised up her child, would she be willing to see him go out as a missionary to a continent like Africa, where David Livingstone was lost in the interior? Out of her inner wrestling with such questions, thirty-four-year-old Mary Ann Thomson wrote these words.
The hymn blends the messianic pronouncement of Isaiah 52 with the missionary call of Romans 10. For over a hundred years this hymn has stirred thousands to respond to God’s call.
O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
Isaiah 40:9-10
From the book
