There Is A Song That Is Coming
We're in the Final Chapter
Can you hear it?
Swiftly crashing down around us is the transition of history as empires and ages grate against one another like fault lines in the earth’s crust. The purposes of God are being accomplished, some in ways clear and obvious, while others clouded with mystery. What is He up to in the world? How will the Church embody the power and personality of Christ in our day as we await His return?
From deep in my chest, heavy and pulling me forward, is the melodious answer: there is a song that is coming.
On the final page of this current volume of Mankind’s story are three simple words, sung together in cosmic unison by all things from all time before the throne of God Himself:
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD.1
The prophet Isaiah witnessed it, and John heard the sound in his apocalypse, too (book of Revelation). Often called the Sanctus in high-church liturgy or the trihagion (Greek = ‘thrice holy’), the people of God through the centuries have used this as a staple phrase in our songbooks to remind us of the complete Other-ness of the Creator. More than anything else, He is utterly unique in a way we could never understand.
Again, these words are crafted under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to take your imagination where it has never gone. They're meant to blow your mind with the thought that God is unlike anything you have ever encountered. They're meant to humble you with the realization that God is fundamentally different from you. They're intended to help you understand that who you're dealing with is Someone greater than anyone and everyone you have ever dealt with before.2
— Ben Fallon
Rumbling across time and space and grocery lists and medical challenges and soccer practice and Instagram reels and casualties of war and reunions with old friends and hard days at dead-end jobs is the stark reality that one day, we will all see the holiness of God. The veil will be lifted; there will be no more protection from His purity, His power and His unsoiled glory. You will be faced with it, you’ll confront it as He confronts you. And as His thumb flips that last leaf in the tome that is this side of Eternal reality, notes will start pouring through the spaces between the billions of souls assembled before Him.
Louder and louder, it will rise until it envelops His children like a thick blanket on a frosty evening on a mountain height. Harmonies will burst out like flowers coming alive for the first time, stretching with everything they have toward the Son Who planted them in the soil of existence with nothing but a mere prophetic breath. Joyful tears and laughter and spontaneous shouts and clapping will erupt in exultation of the Risen King of all things by those purchased by Him. And as He smiles and invites us through the doors of Paradise, a new book will be opened: “Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."3
My heart burns for that day. For the glory of the LORD to be manifest wholeheartedly through His Creation as we image Him purely and completely in perfect peace and unending joy.
I don’t know why I was compelled to write this morning. The Spirit of God prodded me to put this down, so I’m being obedient. Maybe someone out there needs to hear that there’s a reason for all of this rough terrain you’re trodding through.
There’s a purpose past the pain and heartache you’ve endured.
There’s a Judge Who is righteous and He remembers every obedience and kindness you’ve displayed in pursuit of the song. It’s going to be worth it.
Now I’m writing this through tears. That escalated quickly.
Friends, He is coming soon, and everyone will see Him. Jesus, the King of kings, LORD of lords, God of gods, perfection in front of our very eyes will be revealed, once and for all. Our most prestigious honor is learning the melody that ushers Him into His inheritance, His reward, and ours — the blessed union of God and Man together forever.
Can you hear it?
Read one of my poems about the New Creation here:
See Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8.
Fallon, B. (n.d.). The doctrine of holiness. Paul Tripp Ministries. https://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/the-doctrine-of-holiness-article
Lewis, C. S. (2005). The Last Battle. Harper Collins, 230.
Thank you. Holy holy holy is our Lord. This encouraged me today. Our time here is short, and all of heaven waits and rejoices. He was sad to send me back to earth after I visited. His greatest joy will be having all of His children there with Him.
You writing reminded me of this poem.
The Thorn
by Martha Snell Nicholson
I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne
And begged him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own.
I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart
I cried, “But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.
This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me.”
He said, “My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee.”
I took it home and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore,
As long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more.
I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace,
He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face