Where We’ll Never Grow Old

I have heard of a land on the faraway strand,
’Tis a beautiful home of the soul;
Built by Jesus on high, where we never shall die,
’Tis a land where we never grow old.

Refrain:
Never grow old, never grow old,
In a land where we’ll never grow old;
Never grow old, never grow old,
In a land where we’ll never grow old.

In that beautiful home where we’ll never more roam,
We shall be in the sweet by and by;
Happy praise to the King through eternity sing,
’Tis a land where we never shall die.

When our work here is done and the life-crown is won,
And our troubles and trials are o’er;
All our sorrow will end, and our voices will blend,
With the loved ones who’ve gone on before.

For me, it is a dangerous thing to flip through old hymnals.  I come across so many songs that I know, and then, like last night, I come across a song in the Redback hymnal that seemed vaguely familiar.  I typically will scan the chorus and if I can’t come up with the tune in my head, it drives me crazy.  I can’t read music and can’t figure out the tune on my own, and so I have to go to Youtube and see if the Gaither’s have done a version of it.  I was not disappointed.  I found the attached video of this great old song, and somehow, some way, it seemed very familiar.

I don’t know why, but there is something really appealing about this kind of place – a place where we never grow old.  Maybe it is that I am getting older myself.  More gray hair.  More aches and pains.  More longing to do what I used to could do.  It’s not that growing old is all bad.  The Bible says some great things about the old.  Proverbs 16:31 says “The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.”  The Bible says Zacharias and Elizabeth were “advanced in years” but they were used by God in their old age.  Simeon and Anna, who was “great in age,” saw great things in their old age.  Old age typically brings wisdom and experience.  During our older years, we have more time to fellowship, to pray, and to study God’s word.  But old age comes with it’s challenges too.  Sickness, pain, loneliness, and the death of family and friends.  I get the sense, from this song, that the author has had some struggles in his older years.  Maybe physical struggles.  Maybe emotional struggles.  And he longed for that place where he would never grow old.  I, too, am longing for that place.  Not just because I don’t want to grow old.  But because I know that Heaven is so much better than what we have here on earth. Yes, the Lord blesses us with joys on this earth.  But these temporary joys will pale in comparison to the eternal joy we will have in Heaven.  That place where there is no more crying.  No more death.  No more sickness and disease.  How beautiful Heaven must be!!!!

Couple of comments on the lyrics:

• “Built by Jesus on high” – Jesus said in John 14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. 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.”  What kind of house do you think Jesus would build?  Shoddy?  Thrown-together?  Cheapest grade wood, and carpet, and cabinets?  Not at all.  The house that is built by Jesus on high will be perfect.  Without spot or blemish.  No cutting corners.  No hidden problems behind the walls.  A place that He has prepared for His children.  A place built by the Master Carpenter.

• “We’ll never more roam” – I hate to think of my journey through this life as roaming or wandering.  I like to think I have a plan. I like to think I am expertly executing my plans – day by day, week by week, and month by month.  But Peter calls us “pilgrims.”  Ones who haven’t found their final resting place.  The writer of Hebrews says we are more than pilgrims.  We are strangers.  We are sojourners.  We are roamers.  But there is a time and place where the roaming will cease.  No more wilderness wanderings.  No more dark valleys to walk.  We will never more roam.  Hallelujah!!

• “Our voices will blend” – As a person who loves good singing, there is just something beautiful about a congregation singing a song acapella.  It is awesome to hear all the parts and voices sing in harmony. I think it is even more beautiful when our hearts are in unison along with our voices.  A time of worship when God is exalted with worship that comes from clean hands and pure hearts.  But this lyric reminds me that I will also one day get to blend my voice with loved ones that have gone before.  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and loved ones.  We will sing together again one day.  Our hearts and our voices will join in song in praise to the King.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”   “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  I Corinthians 15.