The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
(Lyrics by John Brownlie)
I remember hearing and singing this hymn as a child. On hearing the first verse, I have always imagined a beautiful mountain landscape, a cool crisp morning, and a king and his men arriving on horseback. It is a perfect Advent hymn, as all verses focus on Jesus’ second coming, and like the Bible, it speaks in metaphor, or picture-language, about God’s promises to us of restoration and new creation.
This hymn focuses on the glory, bliss, and joy that followers of Christ will experience upon his return. We do not know exactly what that will be like–the images given us in Revelation and other passages are poetic, designed to help us understand something that we will not be able to comprehend until it happens.
One thing that we are assured is this, that as the hymn says, we can look forward to a day, “right shall triumph over wrong, and truth shall be extolled.” God has promised that his ultimate justice will prevail. As it is, even the best and most faithful human leaders make mistakes and fail us. The worst human leaders cause mass destruction and chaos. However, when King Jesus returns, justice will reign, and both Revelation (21:4) and Isaiah (25:8) promise that every tear will be wiped from our eyes.
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Traditional
Praise/Worship
