The Cyber Hymnal ‎#6549

6549. Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand

1. Ten thousand times ten thousand
in sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints
throng up the steeps of light;
’Tis finished, all is finished,
their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates,
and let the victors in.

2. What rush of alleluias
fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps
bespeaks the triumph nigh!
O day, for which creation
and all its tribes were made;
O joy, for all its former woes
a thousandfold repaid!

3. O then what raptured greetings
on Canaan’s happy shore;
What knitting severed friendships up,
where partings are no more!
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle,
that brimmed with tears of late;
Orphans no longer fatherless,
nor widows desolate.

4. Bring near Thy great salvation,
Thou Lamb for sinners slain;
Fill up the roll of Thine elect,
then take Thy power, and reign;
Appear, Desire of nations,
Thine exiles long for home;
Show in the heaven Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Savior, come.

Text Information

• First Line: Ten thousand times ten thousand
• Title: Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand
• Author: Henry Alford (1867)
• Meter: 76.86 D
• Language: English
• Source: Year of Praise, 1867 (verses 1-3) and The Lord's Prayer Illustrated, 1870 (verse 4)
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: The glories of the final resurrection day perhaps have nowhere else been so triumphantly sung as in this hymn. Most of our songs are for the saints militant; this is for the saints triumphant. The victory of the redeemed is well described here by the great English theologian. It is not easy for a Christian believer to read these lines without feeling a quickening heartbeat in anticipation of the glories that are to be revealed in the resurrection...It was sung at the author's burial, out in the churchyard, after the solemn obsequies had been concluded in the cathedral where he had so often preached. Nutter, p. 323

Tune Information

• Name: ALFORD
• Composer: John Bacchus Dykes (1875)
• Meter: 76.86 D
• Incipit: 34412 31353 12132
• Key: A♭ Major
• Source: Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1875
• Copyright: Public Domain