As I’m preaching through the books of the Bible right now, I’ve found that many themes are under-served in our hymns and spiritual songs. This week I am preaching on the book of 2 Samuel, through the lens of chapter 7. In chapter 7, we see God establishing his covenant with David. One of the points I want to make is the greater fulfillment of this covenant in Christ. Again, not much out there about this in our songs. So, I tried to come up with something.
For a song to sing in response to the message, I went to Isaac Watts and linked two of his hymns that speak to this theme – Psalm 21 and Psalm 89 (and part 6 of a longer version pf Psalm 89). I updated the language a little and moved a couple lines around in order to better make it fit the tune we will use, this arrangement of Before the Throne of God Above.
(In some ways I wish we could have just learned the Sojourn Music song, Warrior, which is also based on Psalm 21. But with VBS this week, I don’t think the music group is going to have that much time to practice!)
_
Christ the Son with Endless Days
Raised up in power to the throne,
David rejoiced in God alone,
But Christ the Son with endless days
Fulfills the triumph and the praise.
Honor and majesty divine,
Around His sacred temple shine.
Blessings of love present Him still,
With crowns of glory, not of gold;
With crowns of glory, not of gold.
Your hand shall find out all His foes;
And as a fiery furnace glows
With raging heat and living coals,
They’ll feel your wrath upon their souls.
That glorious hour, that dreadful day,
Wipes the reproach of saints away,
And clears the honor of your word:
Awake, our souls, and bless the Lord!
Awake, our souls, and bless the Lord!
Forever shall my song record
The truth and mercy of the Lord;
Mercy and truth forever stand,
Like heav’n, established by his hand.
Now let the church rejoice and sing
Jesus, her Savior and her King;
Angels his heav’nly wonders show,
And saints declare his works below.
Now let the church rejoice and sing
Jesus, her Savior and her King;
Angels his heav’nly wonders show,
And saints declare his works below;
And saints declare his works below.
MAGNIFY CHRIST 
Sojourn’s “Warrior” is excellent. If and I mean big dream in the sky sort of IF someone could learn the lyrics and guitar could be played, would you like this to be a “special” at the end? :-) No guarantees, but….there’s always trying! :-)
Absolutely! I would change it up a little though and go ahead and move into the full chorus after verse 2 (anticipating congregational singing later). So it would be verse 1, verse 2, chorus, verse 3, chorus, bridge, chorus (with maybe an axtra repeat at the end or something) –
David rejoiced in God alone
He was raised by grace to an earthly throne
But Christ the son demands our praise
For His kingdom has no end of days
Lord, you rejoice in victory
When another lost soul bows to its knee
Rising tide of righteousness
With the shield of truth upon your breast
Oh the warrior will conquer all
The world will fall before His feet
Oh the warrior will conquer all
The world will fall before His feet
Honor and majesty divine
Around his sacred temple shine
Grace and might so long foretold
In crowns of glory, not of gold
Your hand shall find out every foe
And as a fiery furnace glows
With raging heat and living coals
They will feel your wrath upon their souls
Oh the warrior will conquer all
The world will fall before His feet
Oh the warrior will conquer all
The world will fall before His feet
Earth and sea will give up their dead
The nations gathered before him
A day of glory, a day of dread
No one dares now ignore him
Oh the warrior will conquer all
The world will fall before His feet
Oh the warrior will conquer all
The world will fall before His feet
. . . Even the *hope* of that song for Sunday makes a day that got off to a bad start seem much better ;-)
Okay! I will, honestly, see what we can do! Sorry the day got off to a not so great start. I’m still searching for keys I think I left at church. Guess when I get there I’ll call somebody to let me in!
I think I’m still on that Kids Camp/VBS high…marveling at how God uses us as imperfect and sinful as we are to glorify Him!
Yeah, well, if you need a building key swing by my house. I didn’t check for van keys this morning and Melinda left with both sets so I’ll be working at home today (which makes things harder the kiddies, I think). I had set aside a key for Teri yesterday, but she didn’t use so it is still sitting on the table by the front door. It’s yours for the taking.
Also … forgot to say,’Yes!’ – this week really was a GREAT vbs for our church. I think that sometime in the next week or so it would be good to sit down with you and “debrief” thinking about what went well, what didn’t, etc.
Yes, would love to sit down and “debrief”! I just sent you an email about options for today – getting keys/kids/and my family up to church to clean up.
Great; yep got it and replied via email.