This Song Will Never Cease

O little lamb.  I know the journey has been long and the road hard for you.  I know the perplexity of life and the thunderous waves of competing voices make it so difficult to hear the only Voice that matters.  But do not fear, little one.  Do not fear.

Sometimes you thought you were holding on by a mere thread, with just the tip of a finger above water.  You could barely utter a prayer, nay even a word.  All you could offer was the wordless, inner groaning of faith.  And in moments of weakness you thought He might let go.  No.  Never.  As sure as God lives.  I say again, as sure as God lives, He will not let go.  He will not lose one.  Nothing will snatch you out of His hand.  Nothing.  These obstacles of despair are only an illusion because this world, and the things in it, and the desires of it, are passing away.  You are His and the water beneath your feet is as solid as crystal.  He has already overcome the world and so you have overcome—through faith.

In your dark moments, the darkest even, when all hope was lost, when your closest companions were guilt and shame, fear and regret, rejection and the scoffing of others, He was there.  He was closer.  When tears were your bread and trembling your cup, He sustained you with manna from Heaven, which is the true Bread of Life.  Did He not die when we were yet sinners?  Did He not bear all your sin upon the tree?  Does His love not burn even into the very pit of the grave for you?

You are not lost.  You are found.  Because you believe.  And nothing will separate you from His love.  Let no one deceive you.  Listen to the only Voice that matters.  That Voice proclaims: you are sealed with the Spirit of Life, you were bought with a price.  And in your fleshly frailty and weakness you know not the value you are to Him whose Voice is the only Voice that matters.  Listen.  And do not flail, but rest, for you are keeping His works, not your own.  And this is the work commanded to all men: that they believe in the One whom God has sent.  For he who believes in that One has already passed from death to life, but he who does not believe stands condemned already.

There is no condemnation for you.  Only righteousness.  You are righteous even as He is righteous.  You walk with God in the cool of the day and at night He alone is your blanket.  He sustains you in your rising up and your lying down.  Even as you wrestle with the flesh that seems so clearly condemned, know that your spirit is perfect.  You are a new creation in Him whose Voice you know.

And soon and very soon, very soon indeed, your broken body will be made right, clothed in a garment of brilliant white and crowned with a garland of glory, and with new eyes you will indeed see God, and triumphantly declare, "I am a child of God and He has lavishly loved me!"

Welling up inside of you and all the redeemed is a song that the angels long to hear.  They cannot understand or comprehend it in its fullness.  But Heaven will soon ring with its echos.  O little lamb, you have known the depths of darkness, the torment of sin within and without, the pain of betrayal, the despair of mortality, and the groaning of the righteous in an unrighteous world.  And you, along with your brothers and sisters, each dearly beloved, are about to experience the traversal from utter darkness to total light.  When your faith becomes sight and the mortal is swallowed up in immortality, then the song will arise from within you that shall never cease.

Now you will see what God did to create in you a song that never ceases—a free will offering of endless praise that comes from those who've known both total depravity and the eternal weight of glory—and the infinite gulf between the two.  And you will see how there was no other way for immortal God to fully demonstrate His limitless love, but to Himself die for His friends, the lost lambs, among whom you were once.  But you are lost no more.  You are found.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?'  But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.  I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.  Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep!  See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.  He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.'

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.  The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.  He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.  And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.  Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  And they sang a new song, saying:

'You are worthy to take the scroll
   and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
   and with your blood you purchased us for God
   from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
   and they will reign on the earth.'

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they were saying:

'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
   to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
   and honor and glory and praise!'

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

'To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
   be praise and honor and glory and power,
forever and ever!'

- - -

I was pondering upon the testimony of all the Christian songs and hymns that have been written over the past two millennia, and it dawned on me that I can't recall a single one, modern or ancient, that is compatible with anything other than sola fide in terms of salvation.  That actually gives me goosebumps when I think about it.  Consider how many thousands and thousands of hymns have been penned by worshipful believers over the centuries. Now, I'm not saying there isn't a solitary one somewhere out there with lyrics saying otherwise, but virtually all of them, from all traditions—even from denominations that teach something other than the gospel—have lyrics that proclaim salvation is from God alone.

And doesn't that make perfect sense?  Worship is other-directed adulation.  Works-righteousness is the very antithesis of worship because it implies glory and praise to someone other than God (or that God's glory in salvation is to be shared).  But all the glory and praise belongs to God alone because salvation belongs to the LORD.

- - -

Songs Legalists Can't Sing:

Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus,   Before The Throne Of God Above,   Speechless,   No Longer Slaves,   Resurrecting,   There Is Power In The Blood,   In Christ Alone,   Amazing Grace,   The Wonderful Cross,   Hope To Carry On,   We Delight,   Cornerstone,   Listen To Our Hearts,   Your Love Is Extravagant,   Voice Of Truth,   Sweetly Broken,   Be Thou My Vision,   My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less,   How Many Kings,   Give Me Jesus,   Are You Washed In The Blood,   There Is A Redeemer,   Shifting Sand,   Leaning On The Everlasting Arms,   Blessed Assurance,   Who Can Satisfy?,   Your Love Never Fails,   Welcome Home,   Worthy Is The Lamb,   This Is How It Feels To Be Free,   Because He Lives,   The Old Rugged Cross,   God So Loved,   Above All,   This Is Amazing Grace,   That's How You Forgive,   Wonderful Merciful Savior,   Call Upon The Lord,   Trust In Me,   I Wanna Sing,   What A Savior,   How Beautiful

See More: The Throne Room Playlist

- - -

"Thankful" by Caedmon's Call

I ran across an old box of letters

While I was bagging up

Some clothes for Goodwill

You know I had to laugh

That the same old struggles

That plagued me then

Are plaguing me still

I know the road is long

From the ground to glory

But a boy can hope

He's getting some place

But you see, I'm running from

The very clothes I'm wearing

And dressed like this

I'm fit for the chase

No, there is none righteous

Not one who understands

There is none who seek God

No not one, no not one

I am thankful that I'm incapable

Of doing any good on my own

'Cause we're all stillborn

And dead in our transgressions

We're shackled up

To the sin we hold so dear

So what part can I play

In the work of redemption

I can't refuse, I cannot add a thing

'Cause I am just like Lazarus and

I can hear your voice

I stand and rub my eyes

And walk to you

Because I have no choice

I am thankful that I'm incapable

Of doing any good on my own

I'm so thankful that I'm incapable

Of doing any good on my own

It's by grace I have been saved

Through faith that's not my own

It is the gift of God and not by works

Lest anyone should boast

Newer Post Older Post