There Many Shall Come from the East and the West
ELH 200
Magnus Landstad was a writer and translator of many hymns, and publisher of the 1870 Norwegian hymnbook that many Norwegian immigrants brought with them to America. This is one of Landstad’s greatest hymns. It is based on Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 8:11-12: “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven …” (ESV)
Our Lord sees in advance people from many nations sitting at the Supper of the Lamb in heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is a promise, so it is the Gospel. The hymn’s second verse preaches the Law, the message of warning, that many do sadly resist God’s grace and will be “eternally lost and unfriended.” But those who are saved are those who “hear when our Shepherd doth call/in accents persuasive and tender.” In verses 3-5 we are praying with humility that God’s work of grace would bear fruit in us: “O may we all hear … O that we the throng of the ransomed may swell … God graciously make us in heaven to dwell … God grant that I may of His infinite love/Remain in His merciful keeping.” This is underscored by the closing of every verse: “Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!”
