Poems and Short Features

Word Pictures

Jesus said, “Behold, I come as a thief” (Revelation 16:15). The apostle Paul informs us that Jesus was to come as “a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). He also explained that the Master would come with a “shout,” also with the “voice of the archangel,” and with the “trump a God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Certainly thieves do not blow trumpets and shout, nor did Jesus blow a trumpet when he left the disciples. But these are not contradictions. They are word pictures to help our finite minds comprehend more clearly some of the great factors involved in the second coming of Christ and what that event will mean to all mankind.

We know something about the manner of a thief’s coming. We know a little concerning the purpose of blowing trumpets. We are familiar with shouts of command. We know something of the characteristics of clouds, and what they signify. When we put all these together and add to them the many other illustrations of the Bible pertaining to Christ’s second coming, we begin to understand that what we are to look for is not a human being coming down through the literal clouds, setting fire to the earth and toppling over the mountains, but an upheaval of human society, leading to a conversion of mankind from selfishness and hate to love and sympathy; from war and destruction to peace and reconstruction; from sickness and death to health and life; from funeral processions to a great homecoming of the dead.

 —Behold Your King 

The Year of Jubilee

Blow ye the trumpet, blow    
The gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know,    
To earth’s remotest bound:
The year of Jubilee is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.

Jesus, our great High Priest,    
 Hath full atonement made;
Ye weary spirits rest:    
Ye mournful souls be glad;
The year of Jubilee is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.

Extol the Lamb of God,    
The all-atoning Lamb;
Redemption through His blood,    
To all the world proclaim:
The year of Jubilee is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.

Ye, who were sold for naught,    
Whose heritage was lost,
May have it back unbought,    
A gift at Jesus’ cost:
The year of Jubilee is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.

The seventh trumpet hear,    
The news of heavenly grace;
Salvation now is near;    
Seek ye the Savior’s face:
The year of Jubilee is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.

 —Hymns of Dawn, #24