The great Charles Wesley gave us today’s hymn. “Rejoice, the Lord Is King!” focuses our attention on his perfect majesty and our glorious hope. The Trinity hymnal has an extra verse, which is also in some of the oldest hymn texts I checked, so I assume Wesley wrote it too.
As a man said on his dying day, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
1 Rejoice, the Lord is King:
Your Lord and King adore!
Rejoice, give thanks and sing,
And triumph evermore.
Refrain: Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
2 Jesus, the Savior, reigns,
The God of truth and love;
When He has purged our stains,
He took his seat above; [Refrain]
3 His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and heav’n;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus giv’n: [Refrain]
4 He sits at God’s right hand
’til all his foes submit,
and bow to his command,
and fall beneath his feet. [Refrain]
5 Rejoice in glorious hope!
Our Lord and judge shall come
And take His servants up
To their eternal home: [Refrain]
He all His foes shall quell,
Shall all our sins destroy,
And ev’ry bosom swell
With pure seraphic joy.
(penultimate verse)
This hymn has been encouraging me for several years now. It would make a good Ascension Day hymn.
Oh, yes, I see that verse in the 1996 Lutheran hymnal. That’s stirring.