The Regions Beyond

Growing up, our church loved missions. My dad was my pastor and initially had his sights set on Ethiopia as a missionary. As he was preparing to begin his journey toward Africa, the communist took over Ethiopia, closing the field for missionaries. In God’s providence, dad was called to his home church in Bowling Green, Kentucky; however, his love for missions never waivered. That same love he demonstrated to all us was also passed on to us, too.

On this 938 Project Sunday, a world-wide missions prayer emphasis of the BBFI, our hymn of the week is The Regions Beyond. We grew up singing this song – one of John Birchett Sr’s favorites. This song emphasizes the passion of each person to get the gospel message to the millions in the world who have never heard.

Below you will find the lyrics, read a bit about the theology of the hymn, the story of the author, and be able to hear a congregation singing this hymn. Sing along, if you like, and rejoice in the opportunity to join in with The Regions Beyond.

The Regions Beyond Lyrics

The Theology

What a beautiful reminder to reach out to The Regions Beyond. The author reminds us of three important features of the importance of taking the gospel to every person on the continent.

First, there are millions who have never heard the message of salvation. The wonderful news of forgiveness of sins offered through Jesus Christ, Who came as the substitutionary atonement for their sins, has never been told these people. They have never heard of the love of God through Jesus Christ. Yet, there are other ‘lost sheep’ that need to hear the message from every land, nation, tribe, and tongue.

Second, we are called to take the gospel. In fact, as Jesus was leaving Earth for Heaven, He explained that He was sending the Holy Spirit to empower us to go tell the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Third, the author emphasizes what keeps most of us from sharing the gospel news with others – selfishness. The pleasures and comforts of the world often can be used by our flesh to keep us from going to others with the gospel. If this was true in 1904 when it was first published, think how true it is today in our culture. Although the world may consider us fools for leaving our comfort and ease in order to go tell others about Jesus, we must go.

 

The Author

A. B. Simpson, author

Albert Benjamin Simpson (December 15, 1843 – October 29, 1919), was a Canadian Presbyterian – turned Baptist – then turned C&MA preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism. Simpson published five song books, wrote hundreds of songs, and composed over 125 different tunes, many of which are about world evangelism. He was known for his passion for world evangelism.[1]

 

Enjoy This Media

Traditional congregational singing.

 

Here is the earliest published copy from Hymns of the Christian Life. No. 3: for church worship, conventions, evangelistic services, prayer meetings, missionary meetings, revival services, rescue mission work and Sunday schools #112 from 1904 [4]:

Here is a more modern version from my childhood hymnbook Favorite Hymns of Praise #448 [6]:

 

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