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 old hymns.
Today’s song is When the Roll is Called Up Yonder from 1893.
1 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound,
and time shall be no more,
and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather
over on the other shore,
and the roll is called up yonder,
I’ll be there.
Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
2 On that bright and cloudless morning
when the dead in Christ shall rise,
and the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather
to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder,
I’ll be there. [Refrain]
3 Let us labor for the Master
from the dawn till setting sun;
let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over,
and our work on earth is done,
and the roll is called up yonder,
I’ll be there. [Refrain]
Anyone who believes that we merit heaven by our good works might see this as a boastful, presumptious hymn. How does he know that he’s good enough for heaven? But the writer would have believed in salvation by grace. No-one is good enough for heaven. Yet, all those who repent and believe in Jesus have the assurance of knowing that their names are written in the book of life. We’ll be in heaven because of what Jesus did, not because of anything we did. Yet, His grace and love motivates us to serve him – as can be seen in verse 3 of the hymn.
I remember the roll call in primary school I was six-years-old. The teacher would call our names, and we’d say “anseo” – the Irish word for “here”. And the writer rejoices at being enrolled in heaven. He wrote it after he called out a child’s name in a Sunday School roll call. The child was absent due to illness, and she passed away a few days later. And they sang the hymn at her funeral.
The Book of Revelation mentions books being opened on the day of judgement. It’s probably symbolic language – but even so – the symbols represent reality. Some books record all our sins. But the book of life records the names of all those who trusted in Jesus and had their sins wiped out:
Revelation 20:12-15
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
As a child, I remember hearing Louis Armstrong’s When the Saints go Marching In. It was only in later years that I discovered that song was about heaven. So, it’s similar to When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. Such songs don’t make us complacent. The more we think about heaven, the more heavenly minded we become.
Here are some other versions of today’s hymn:
