I’ll Have a New Life

On the resurrection morning when all the dead in Christ shall rise,
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life….eternal
Sown in weakness raised in power, ready to live in paradise,
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life….Oh yes!

Chorus
I’ll have a new home of love eternal with the redeemed of God to stand
(Glory Glory, Never sad)
There’ll be no more sorrow, nor more pain, there’ll be no more strife (no strife)
Yes, raised in the likeness of my Savior, ready to live in glory land.
(In His likeness, I’ll be glad)
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life….Oh yes!

Free from every imperfection, youthful and happy I shall be
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life….eternal
Glorified with Him forever, death will be lost in victory
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life, Oh yes!

What a hallelujah morning when the last trump of God shall sound,
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life….eternal
Graves all bursting, saints a shouting, heavenly beauty all around.
I’ll have a new body, Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life, Oh yes!

Last week at the His Hands Extended devotion in Cleveland, Tennesee, Darlia Conn, wife of Lee University President Paul Conn, spoke and shared about God making things new and renewing things in our life.  To a group of mainly seasoned citizens, she reminded all of us that God is in the business of renewing and making things new no matter how long you have lived.  By God’s grace, He takes away the old and makes us new.  Old things have passed away. Behold all things are made new.  We receive Christ and He makes us new on the inside.  He gives us a new life.  Eternal life.  He gives us new mercies – morning by morning.  This thought of God making us new reminded me of this great Redback hymnal song – I’ll have a new life.

There are certain Redback songs that I have a special affinity for, and this is one of them.  Couple of reasons for that.  First.  It is a song where the bass gets to lead.  You don’t have many songs where the bass carries the lead, but in this song, you have got to have a strong bass to make it work.  As a “wanna-be” bass singer, I think it is awesome when the bass sings the lead.  Second.  This is a song I remember hearing at Sunday night singings at Southern Hills Church of God growing up.  A men’s quarter would get together, and someone would sing the high tenor and make you smile, and someone else would belt out the bass notes, and I would sit back and say to myself – “I wish I had a new voice and could sing like they can.”

I also like this song because the Cathedrals used to sing it.  The late great George Younce would sing this song, and if you can’t smile when you watch George Younce sing about heaven, something is wrong with you.  Here’s a link to a 1970’s Cathedral version of this song.  I want you to pay special attention to the suits they are wearing.  I guess at one time, these ties, sportcoats, and rust colored slacks were “new,” but boy looking back 40 years, they look really old to me.

Couple of comments on the lyrics:

• On that resurrection morning – I find this lyric very interesting in that I have always pictured the resurrection of the saints happening at night.  In my mind, I am fast asleep and the trump of God wakes me up, and me, wife, and my kids all meet the Lord in the air.  It is dark so we see His glory shine like the Sun in the middle of the night.  That’s the scene I have in my mind.  So the concept of the “resurrection morning” seemed a little odd to me.  But the reality is it will be morning somewhere when the Lord comes back.  It will be a Hallelujah morning somewhere on the Earth.  In John 21 after His resurrection, Jesus fixed the disciples breakfast by the sea.  I know we are going to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb because the Bible tells us so, but maybe, just maybe, the Lord will fix us breakfast on that resurrection morning.  Can you imagine the biscuits and gravy He could fix?  The more I think about it, the more I am longing for that resurrection morning.  How about you?

• Sown in weakness raised in power – This is a direct reference to I Corinthians where Paul tell us about our glorious, celestial bodies in Heaven.  Beginning in verse 40, the Apostle Paul says “There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”  I am looking forward to that day where we have a new body and when we have a new life.

• In His likeness, I’ll be glad – Romans 6 has some powerful truths about dying to sin and being alive in Christ.  In verse 4, Paul writes “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”  Paul tells us that we should die to sin while on this earth if Christ has become our Lord and Savior.  If we have been buried with Him through baptism, then we will share in His likeness – the likeness of His resurrection, and that makes me glad.

Over the next several weeks as we go through the Thanksgiving and Holiday season, you will probably see many commercials on TV about losing that extra weight gained during the holidays.  They will have before and after pictures of people’s bodies that have lost a ton of weight through a magic pill, or a tree-bark diet, or some unusual green beret, Navy seal exercise program.  I am usually skeptical of these commercials.  Do these people really exist?  I know I probably need to try one of these programs, but I am not confident that they will work.  I am not convinced that if I followed their program that I will have a new body.

But here’s one thing I do know and am fully confident of.  When the Lord returns for me (whether I am quick or dead), I will have a new body.  Jesus said “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  Paul said this “corruptible will put on incorruption”  This mortal will put on immortality.  I will get a new body.  I will have a new life.  And maybe, just maybe, I will have a voice where I can sing like George Younce.  I’ll have a new body.  Praise the Lord, I’ll have a new life.