The inspiration for Anne Ross Cousin’s poem, “The Sands of Time are Sinking”, came from the dying words of a Scottish Covenanter leader, Samuel Rutherford, in 1661:
And glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel’s land.
Cousin used events in Rutherford’s life and his letters written to fellow Covenanters to write her 19 stanza poem. Throughout his life, Rutherford spoke often of the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ. The expanded essence of his thoughts captured in the poem are suitable food for many a pondering hour.
To know God is to know glory and perfection – lasting glory. The glories of this present world do not abide; they come and go. Men are strong for a few years but quickly weaken and pass away. The flowers shine with perfection for a few days or weeks and they too are gone. Even the heavens in this world are growing old and will pass away (Ps. 102:26). The heavens declare God’s breathtaking glory now, but it seems his new heavens and earth will be filled with glory to an extent that the greatest glory today can hardly be considered a shadow in comparison.
It seems that glory will also include Christ’s church. In Revelation chapter 21:
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
John goes on to describe the church as a beautiful city:
…and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The church despised and persecuted in this world will one day hear: well done thou good and faithful servant. Dusty and troubled but not distressed, down-trodden and despised by earthly rulers but not destroyed; her eyes are on heaven, from whence she looks for her Savior.
The best it seems to me, the church will be raptured, made ready in heaven, and will then return to a new earth, bearing the glory of God. What a future! It is hard to fathom that men, now broken and sinful, yet through Jesus Christ will one day bear the nature of God, that is, his righteous character. This is promise of the Gospel and is wonderful news! The fellowship with God that was broken in the garden of Eden will one day be completely restored. His children will know him and see him as He is and live.
It is good keep our sights on glory, especially heaven. The glory that is ours is only beginning. The greatest glory in the universe – the sun, the nebulae, billions of galaxies, the constellations – they are all a dim shadow compared to the glory that is coming.
* * *
With mercy and with judgment
Read the full poem here: https://founders.org/articles/the-sands-of-time-are-sinking/
My web of time He wove,
And aye the dews of sorrow
Were lustered with His love!
I’ll bless the hand that guided,
I’ll bless the heart that plann’d,
When throned where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel’s land.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom. 8:18
*From the film “More than Conquers” produced by Georgi Vinns from original camera footage smuggled out of the Soviet Union. Link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJBN1kXOaRY.
