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 PrintableVersion The Music ExchangeThe last trumpetI've just been on a student conference, where the speaker took us back to Scripture to encourage us to live in the light of the end times. I'm still smarting from the old joke, 'If you don't know what eschatology means, it's not the end of the world', but the students seemed to appreciate it. What struck me is that Jesus is very clear about the physical nature of our resurrection: new bodies, new heavens, new earth, a city, meeting Jesus in the air, the throne, seeing God as he really is. Do I believe Jesus's promises about Heaven? Yes. Then Heaven exists, and I'm going there to be with Jesus for eternity. The physical decay that we see all around us drives us to hope in the physical perfection and eternal security that is ours in Christ. I'm so looking forward to Heaven. At the same time, however, the Holy Spirit also convicted me of the physical horror of Hell, and the deep terror of meeting God without a Saviour. The lake of fire, the gnashing of teeth, the worm that never dies. Do I believe Jesus's promises about Hell? Yes. Then Hell exists, and by the grace of Jesus, I have been plucked from the fire. Judgement in songGospel presentations like Christianity Explored and Two Ways to Live have served us well in teaching the 'bad news' of judgement alongside the good news of penal substitution, because it is essential to know from what we have been saved. However, in our songs, teaching on judgement has generally been sanitised. The problem of God's anger is mostly swept under the carpet. Even when judgement is mentioned in contemporary songs, it's nearly always in relation to God's anger at social injustice rather than at the rejection of his Son as Lord. There are a few which mention the phrase 'salvation from judgement', but most of these miss the true weight of what we have been saved from. To an unbeliever, this could just refer to the being saved from judgmental man, rather than the anger of God. It still seems to fall to faithful writers like Timothy Dudley-Smith and Chris Idle to help us to sing the whole counsel of God. Chris's 'O God, do not keep silent' is testimony to a man who understands the depth of his salvation. Here are two other songs, written in the last four years, which go some way to redressing the balance: 'Jesus is Lord' by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend (2003, Thankyou Music, admin. by Kingsway Music). Apart from these, songs which address the issue are very thin on the ground. Missing versesShying away from singing about the doctrine of judgement isn't just a modern problem. Here below are two verses which have mysteriously disappeared from their place in famous hymns. You won't find these verses in any hymnbook on your shelf (even if it's big and heavy and smells like your nan's caravan). It's not hard to see why the verses have been hidden away for over a century, but here they are anyway if you have the means to reinstate them. The first is from 'When this passing world is done' by Robert Murray McCheyne: When I hear the wicked call A quick search on the internet will reveal many more verses like this which, when sung, are deeply moving. I know that when we have sung them, tears have been shed, and that is a right response to a terrible truth that drives us to or knees. So let's recover the doctrine of judgement in our songs, just as in our preaching. We do so, not to delight in the death of the wicked, 'rather that he should turn from his way and live' (Ezekiel 18.23, ESV). Richard Simpkin© Evangelicals Now - March 2005 |
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