There Is a Higher Throne
(Keith and Kristyn Getty)
Stepping Over the Horizon (Part I)
LYRICS (Click to minimize)
There is a higher throne
Than all this world has known
Where faithful ones from every tongue
Will one day come
Before the Son we’ll stand
Made faultless through the Lamb
Believing hearts find promised grace
Salvation comes
Hear heaven’s voices sing
Their thunderous anthems ring
Through emerald courts and sapphire skies
Their praises rise
All glory, wisdom, power
Strength, thanks and honor are
To God our King who reigns on high
Forevermore
And there we’ll find our home
Our life before the throne
We’ll honour Him in perfect song
Where we belong
He’ll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die
The Lamb comes as our Shepherd King
We’ll reign with Him
Hear heaven’s voices sing
Their thunderous anthems ring
Through emerald courts and sapphire skies
Their praises rise
All glory, wisdom, power
Strength, thanks and honor are
To God our King who reigns on high
Forevermore
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriter: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty
© 2002 Thankyou Music
CCLI Song #3994672 | CCLI License #632898
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:1-5a (ESV)
Fear of death seems to be a natural part of life. Children are born with no fear in their eyes, but slowly lose the light in their eyes as they grow older, until life has battered them down to a husk. And then they begin the sometimes decades-long process of waiting for their turn to pass over the threshold of mortality.
And indeed, death is an abomination. Anyone who has lost a loved one who is dear to them knows that none of the clichés of “it will get better some day” or “they still live in the stars” brings enough comfort. These are only abstract ideas, and they do nothing to quench the pain of losing a real, beloved person. Everyone who has lost still acutely suffers the wages of human sin, and they feel the brokenness of God’s image on earth. Every sickness and every death is a result of this distortion.
But praise the Lord for the depth of his redemption. Not only did he redeem the surface level sins of mankind, he hit it at the very core: death itself.
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (ESV)
Jesus Christ Himself knows death in and out. He knows what it means to lose a loved one, His pain cascading into a tear on His cheek, a drop of salt and water that contains all the depths of divinity and humanity at once. What more, He knows what it means to die! To feel the blood depart from His body, and the dehydration of death itself. Find comfort in this, O bereaved friend – Jesus knows.
And in His knowing, He redeems. He became pain, that our pain may be redeemed. He became sin, that our sin may be redeemed. He became death, that our death may be redeemed. The abomination that is death, which is not right in creation, has been made the portal through which we enter the courts of our Lord.
He is making all things new. All pain, all death, all tears, and all loss will be made right on that side. Dear brother, dear sister, I will see you on the other side!