161. "Forever With the Lord!"

S.M.
by J. Montgomery, 1835
1
"Forever with the Lord!"
 
Amen! so let it be:
 
Life from the dead is in that word,
 
’Tis immortality.
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)
“For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15)
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:53-54)
2
Here in the body pent,
 
Absent from Him we roam,
 
Yet nightly pitch our moving tent
 
A day’s march nearer home.
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6)
“At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.” (Numbers 9:18)
3
Our Father’s home on high,
 
Home to our souls how dear,
 
E’en now to faith’s transpiercing eye
 
Thy golden gates appear.
“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)
4
Our thirsty spirits faint
 
To reach the home we love;
 
The bright inheritance of saints,
 
Jerusalem above.
“Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.” (Psalm 107:5)
“For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” (2 Corinthians 5:2)
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Colossians 1:12)
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2)
5
And though there intervene
 
Rough seas and stormy skies,
 
Though by no mortal vision seen
 
Thy glory fills our eyes.
“And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.” (Matthew 14:23-24)
“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:16)
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Hebrews 2:9)
6
There shall all clouds depart,
 
The wilderness shall cease;
 
And sweetly shall each gladdened heart
 
Enjoy eternal peace.
“And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.” (2 Samuel 23:4)
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