I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.
Today’s song is Come and Praise the Living God from 1982.
I think that I remember singing it before 1982, but maybe back then, worship songs spread around before they entered hymn books. We’d just pick them up without reading lyrics on a book or screen. It’s one of several songs that had a Jewish folk feel to them.
Sadly, I find hardly any trace of it on YouTube. It was the sort of a song that we’d sing in new charismatic fellowships that would meet in homes and schools. It’s ironic that the only instance that I found, in addition to one buried in a Mission Praise video, was in a “churchy” setting. Some of these new songs eventually made their way into more established churches. I’d hate to see this one forgotten. Maybe I should sing it myself on YouTube, but I don’t think that I’d do it justice 😊.
A memorable line is the following:
We come not to a mountain of fire and smoke,
Not to gloom and darkness or trumpet sound;
We come to the new Jerusalem,
The holy city of God.
This is based on a verse from the book of Hebrews, which contrasts the fear felt in the Old Testament at entering the presence of God with the new and living way opened up through Jesus.
Of course, you can see people in the Old Testament delighting in the presence of God, and you can see people in the New Testament being overawed in the presence of God. But the key point is that now that Jesus has died on the cross for us, He has opened the way for us to approach the throne of grace with confidence. When he died on the cross, the veil in the temple, keeping people out of the most holy place was torn in two, symbolizing that the way had been opened. Here’s that section from Hebrews that contrasts the old with the new:
Hebrews 12:18-22
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
I generally end with a few other instances of the hymn, but I can’t find any. Today, I’ll just include a few other songs with a Jewish folk feel to them:
Hibernia Gospel 