"Men of Galilee," they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky?
This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come
back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven."
(Acts 1:11)
Image courtesy/StockCake
This same Jesus! Oh! how sweetly
Fall those words upon the ear,
Like a swell of far off music,
In a night watch still and drear!
He who healed the hopeless leper,
He who dried the widow's tear;
He who changed to health and gladness
Helpless suffering, trembling fear;
He who wandered, poor and homeless,
By the stormy Galilee;
He who on the night-robed mountain
Bent in prayer the wearied knee;
He who spake as none had spoken,
Angel-wisdom far above,
All-forgiving, ne'er upbraiding,
Full of tenderness and love;
He who gently called the weary,
'Come and I will give you rest!'
He who loved the little children
Took them in His arms and blest;
He, the lonely Man of Sorrows,
'Neath our sin-cursed bending low;
By His faithless friends forsaken
In the darkest hours of woe;--
'This same Jesus! When the vision
Of that last and awful day
Bursts upon the prostrate spirit,
Like a midnight lightning ray;
When, else dimly apprehended,
All its terrors seem revealed.
Trumpet-knell and fiery heavens,
And the books of doom unsealed;
Then, we lift our hearts adoring
'This same Jesus, loved and known,
Him, our own most gracious Savior,
Seated on the great white Throne.
He Himself, and 'not another',
He for whom our heart-love yearned
Through long years of twilight waiting,
To His ransomed ones returned!
For this word, O Lord, we bless Thee,
Bless our master's changeless name;
Yesterday, to-day, for ever,
Jesus Christ is still the Same.
Image courtesy/Worcestershire Archive
& Archaeology Service
"This Same Jesus!"
The Ministry of Song
(1871)
Frances Ridley Havergal
(1836-1879)
Prolific English Christian
hymn writer and poetess
