Hymn of the Week: Lord, We're Longing for Your Kingdom Come

This week's hymn picks up one of the great passions of my Christian experience: the call of God to go and preach the Gospel to all nations. We happen to be standing at one of the most exciting moments in all of history right now, with the prospect of reaching, within less than a decade, the first time ever when the Gospel will be planted and available in at least some portion of every tribe, language, people, and nation on earth. This song reflects the joy, hope, and expectation of that moment. It's set to the tune of a late 19th-century hymn about heaven, "Unclouded Day."

Lord, We're Longing for Your Kingdom Come

Lord, the harvest is ripe for the reapers' work,
With the multitudes waiting to believe;
Bring us close to the day when your glory fills
All the earth, like the waves o'er the sea!

     Chorus:
     Every tribe and nation comes,
     'Round the throne they raise their song!
     Lord, we're longing for the day when the task is done;
     Lord, we're longing for your Kingdom come!

Lord, you spoke in your promises to Abraham
That through faith all the nations would believe;
And you told the disciples when you left this earth:
"Go, the Gospel to the nations preach!"

     (Chorus)

Lord, the nations are waiting to hear your call;
They're longing just to know of your love;
So send out your church to bring in the sheaves
'Til the harvest-feast is met above!

     (Chorus)