At Harmony, we are a little weird. OK, we’re a lot weird. We meet in a bar restaurant hybrid, throw events like Block Parties, we use Twitter, and host God and Guinness. But we also absolutely love hymns. Hymns express in words what God has done in our hearts through the Cross of Christ. I’m going to be sporadically throwing out some hymns we sing, dissecting the lyrics, and explaining what they mean…and therefore why we sing them. I’ve done this on stage before in between music and preaching, but I think it’ll be good to have this archived on the wonderful internet. So here we go with the first one, Before the Throne. We’ll do this line by line.
Before the throne of God above, i have a strong and perfect plea.
When we stand before the Father, the Sovereign Creator-Judge of all, we have a reason to not tremble. We have an argument that is worth listening to…
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
Our plea before a Holy and Just God is not what we have done, but rather what our Great High Priest has done. His name is Love, not because it’s something He has done, but rather something He is. He constantly stands in our stead…justifying us consistently when we fall. We claim Him before man, and He claims us before the Father.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
Our name crossing His lips saves us from punishment from a Perfect God…and this is not a temporary thing. It is permanently engraved in Him and on Him. We are His forever.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
As long as our High Priest Jesus stands (which will be forever), there can be no voice heard against us…whether from the Great Accuser Satan Himself, from our enemies on earth, or from our own guilty conscience. There is no word that can be justly spoken against us…for Jesus stands in our defense.
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
When the great Accuser comes against us, he tries to tell us that we are guilty before God. We don’t measure up. We don’t act like Jesus. We don’t think good thoughts, say encouraging words, or do good deeds at all times. We fall short…way short. And Satan tries to remind us of this fact, but…
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
We can look to Jesus and know that Romans 8:3 is indeed fact for us: God has made us, the guilty, innocent before Him because He made Jesus, the innocent, guilty before Him. In that Great Exchange on the Cross, our sin has been ended once and for all (Hebrews 10).
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
This is indeed the Great, Glorious Exchange of the Cross: Jesus who knew no sin, nor had committed a sin became sin for us. And now, for those of us who claim Christ, we are attributed this great and merciful act of Jesus, and seen as innocent before a Holy God.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
In this God doesn’t “forget” the punishment for sin against His name…but He deals it out to His son. Jesus takes on the punishment (and God is made just…having punished for sin) while at the same time we are looked on as free from our weight and burden. We are now pardoned because of Jesus’ substitute.
Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
Look to Jesus…who by conquering sin and Satan and death has once again been risen and made perfect in Heaven as our sacrificial lamb, and the source of our righteousness/innocence
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
He is not only our Lamb and righteousness, but He is God in the Flesh…and therefore King over all that He has made and provided…including glory and grace.
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
We have been united with Jesus through the relationship of marriage (the Church is Jesus’ Bride), and we as individuals have been purchased by His blood. We cannot die, but it is merely a phase of passing into eternal life with Him after a joy-filled life here on earth.
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!
Our life, our identity, our value is not found in our clothes, our job, our house, our family, or our gifts and talents. Our life is found in Jesus alone. My identity lies with my Savior and my God. Apart from Him, I am nothing and no one worthy to be spoken of.
Amen.
Great, great thoughts! Just one thing: Unk’s is a restaurant.
I just heard this song at church today. Was so moved by it that I wanted to remember the words so I came home and googled it. Was directed to your website. Thank you for your comments.
Lisa