We Shall See the King Some Day
Words: Lewis Edgar Jones (b. Feb. 8, 1865; d. Sept. 1, 1936)
Music: Lewis Edgar Jones
Note: In the late nineteenth century, Lewis Jones was a student at Moody Bible Institute, in Chicago. Billy Sunday, the converted baseball player who became an evangelist, was a classmate of his. Though Sunday went on to a wider ministry, both men started out working for the Young Men’s Christian Association (the Y.M.C.A.). Lewis Jones continued that work for years, and was also the author of many gospel songs, including Power in the Blood, and the present selection.
(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)
Queen Elizabeth was been on the throne from 1952-2022. Her Majesty surpassed her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, becoming the longest reigning British monarch in history. She has been a counsellor to fifteen prime ministers of Great Britain, from Sir Winston Churchill on, and advisor to over one hundred and seventy prime ministers serving in other parts of her realm.
Did you ever met her? Imagine being face to face with royalty. Likely some of us would be intimidated by such an encounter, and we’d tend to be tongue-tied, and afraid of doing something dumb and violating proper protocol.
Some years ago I became friends with a man who got very close to the queen on one memorable occasion. He had been a paratrooper and a radio man in the European conflict, during the Second World War. His stories of those days were fascinating. But he had another distinction. He was a member of the honour guard selected to meet Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at the airport, on one of their visits to Canada. Pretty exciting!
But the honour of serving the queen in that way, and of seeing her face to face, pales in comparison to the prospect of meeting Christ, the King of kings one day. He visited this earth once, long ago, presenting Himself as Israel’s King, but He was rejected. It was during the closing days when the Lord was on earth, when that presentation took place. It had been prophesied centuries before. Zechariah had said:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zech. 9:9
Those words were fulfilled by what is called Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. At that time:
“They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David [a title of the Messiah]! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matt. 21:7-9). Even the children took up the chant, much to the anger of the Jewish leaders (vs. 15-16).
Sadly, this exaltation, though infinitely worthy of Him, was superficial for many in the crowd. A week later they were crying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” (Lk. 23:20-21). Hours after that, He died, nailed to a Roman gibbet. His body was buried in a borrowed tomb, but on the third day He rose again, and forty days later He ascended back into heaven once more, where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
But that is not the end of the story. Isaiah and others prophesy of His return and coming reign, a reign that will last forever (Isa. 9:6-7). Now, we wait, “until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (I Tim. 6:14-15). And in that day, all His blood-bought children will see the King in all His glory (Rev. 19:11-16).
That’s the theme taken up by Lewis Jones’s song. (The second line of the refrain in the 1906 original was: “We will shout and sing some day.” It wasn’t until a decade later that the version found in the Cyber Hymnal appeared.)
(1) Though the way we journey may be often drear,
We shall see the King some day;
On that blessèd morning clouds will disappear;
We shall see the King some day.
We shall see the King some day,
When the clouds have rolled away;
Gathered ’round the throne,
When He shall call His own,
We shall see the King some day.
(2) After pain and anguish, after toil and care,
We shall see the King some day;
Through the endless ages joy and blessing share,
We shall see the King some day.
Questions:
- What are some appropriate things to do in the presence of an earthly monarch?
- What will our attitudes and actions be in the presence of Christ, the King of kings?
Links:
- 8 February 1865 – Lewis Jones Born
- We Shall See the King Some Day (The Cyber Hymnal)
- We Shall See the King Some Day (Hymnary.org)