I. Eliza Hewitt (1851-1920, Lyricist)
Eliza E. Hewitt, a school teacher from Philadelphia, like many of the other song writers of her time, wrote her songs with the goal of teaching children the truths of the gospel. This hymn was first published in 1898. She is also the author of the words to the song "More About Jesus."
This song is intended to be a foretaste of that day in heaven
when the entire family of God is gathered for an endless celebration
of praise. This song will give you hope and will help to brighten
your day if you will sing it often and really listen to it's message
for you of keeping you "true, faithful, trusting, serving"
every day!
II. Verse 1-Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing His
mercy and His grace; in the mansions bright and blessed, He'll
prepare for us a place.
Isaiah 9:6, Matt 21:14-16, John 13:34-35 To sing concerning the love of Jesus is: to sing of his love for the father which motivated him to come to the earth, to sing of his love for the Apostles and disciples that were with him, and to sing of his love for all of man, in that, he gave his life for all. Love is the greatest of all motivations. We may be motivated to do a particular thing because of fear, greed, lust, responsibility, or commitment, but to do something out of love for someone else is the highest motivation that we can have.
1 Peter 1:3-5, Heb. 2:17 Jesus is the ultimate High Priest, because he is faithful and merciful. The fact that he became a man, "like unto his brethren", and the life of sinlessness that he lived, has made him to be the perfect High priest for us. He is able to understand and help us when we are tempted. Help from another person should always be appreciated, but help that comes from one who has walked a mile in the same shoes, seems to be a greater comforting and encouraging help. Jesus understands what it takes for us to live a righteous life-- he did it. John 1:15-18, Acts 15:7-11
Because we cannot earn our salvation we are dependent on the grace of Jesus to save us. As we mentioned before, Christ lived a perfect life, however, we sin and fall short of his perfect example. If we received our reward for even one sin, it would be eternal damnation. But because Jesus is merciful and gives us the benefit of his grace, we have a hope of eternal life, if we work diligently to do his will. John 14:2-3, Rev 19-22
Mansions really means places of abode. The new Jerusalem is described in great detail in the book of Revelation, along with the throne of God. If we are able to live such a life as to obtain a place with God and Jesus in eternity, the prepared place for us will be more beautiful and glorious than anything we can imagine.
III. Verse 2-While we walk the pilgrim pathway, Clouds will overspread the sky; but when traveling days are over, Not a shadow not a sigh.
Heb. 11:13, 1 Pet. 11-12. To be a pilgrim is to be a sojourner. In other words to have no permanent place to dwell. We as Christians are only on this earth for a relatively short period of time, even if we live to what society would term as a ripe old age. Our permanent dwelling should be in the mansions that Jesus has provided for those who follow him.
Have you ever been walking or bike riding and suddenly, the sky that had been so clear before began to become very cloudy, then before you know it you are caught in a rainstorm. Problems in this life are often that way. We go through life thinking all is right, and before we can even think about reacting, problems are upon us. The Christian knows that there will be sunny days and cloudy days. Our faith and confidence in God should make us appreciate the sunny days and to be able to get through the cloudy ones. The clouds that we encounter in our pilgrim walk, are the troubles, temptations and obstacles that block our righteous path and work to draw us away from God.
When our sojourning days are over, when we stand before God
and are either saved or condemned, the light of God will reveal
all, and will cause there to be no need for shadows for God will
be The Light. Problems will be left behind and the sighs that
result from the seemingly endless work of fighting sin will not
plague us anymore! Acts 26:16-18, 1 Pet. 2:9-10
IV. Verse 3-Let us then be true and faithful, trusting,
serving every day; Just one glimpse of him in glory will the toils
of life repay.
To be true and faithful is to be: trustworthy, dedicated, and devoted. God and Christ have proven themselves to be true, we must do the same in regard to them. Luke 16:10-12.
To be trusting is to treat others in a credible manner. Gullibility is looked down on by today's society, but the true humble servant of Christ learns to trust God, Christ and others. Even if our fellow man deceives us, God, Christ and the Holy Spirit will not. II Cor. 1:9-10, 3:1-6, 1 Tim. 6:17.
To be serving is to take the attitude and the actions of a
servant. Jesus is our greatest example of this. Matt. 20:26-28
The work that we do here in the service of the Lord is a small
price to pay for the ultimate reward that we receive if we truly
labor for him. When we truly love the Lord, we understand that
just to be in his presence will be more reward than we can imagine.
Rev. 14:13
V. Chorus-When we all get to heaven, What a day of rejoicing
that will be! When we all see Jesus, We'll sing and shout the
victory. 1 Thess. 2:19, 1 Cor. 15:54-57, Rev. 15:3.
What a glorious thought, that we can live forever with the best of all ages and sing to our God and shout out the victory that Christ has over death, the victory that we share in when we obey him.