Song Stories: Lead Us to Heaven
I'll be posting a new song story every other day or so leading up to the mid-June release of our new CD "Wide Awake." For more information about the CD or our ministry please visit our website: http://www.rhythmofworship.com/
This was one of the first songs I started writing after we finished our second recording, Ascension. I vividly remember the context in which this song first started to emerge. We were on vacation at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina (where I have gone since I was a kid). I had gone for a morning run on the beach and cooled off in the ocean afterwards. Coming out of the water to head back to our condo I started singing, "The dust of the earth is on the throne on high." That is part of a quote that greatly intrigued me while studying about the ascension of Christ.
The full thought by John Duncan is: "The dust of the earth is on the throne of the Majesty on high." John "Rabbi" Duncan was a Scottish theologian of the nineteenth century. His statement is based on Ephesians 2:4-6: "But God, being rich in mercy...made us alive together with Christ...and seated us with him in the heavenly places."
This truth is further affirmed in the Heidelberg Catechism (Question/Answer #49):
Q. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us?
A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father.
Second, we have our own flesh in heaven—a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven.
This was one of the first songs I started writing after we finished our second recording, Ascension. I vividly remember the context in which this song first started to emerge. We were on vacation at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina (where I have gone since I was a kid). I had gone for a morning run on the beach and cooled off in the ocean afterwards. Coming out of the water to head back to our condo I started singing, "The dust of the earth is on the throne on high." That is part of a quote that greatly intrigued me while studying about the ascension of Christ.
The full thought by John Duncan is: "The dust of the earth is on the throne of the Majesty on high." John "Rabbi" Duncan was a Scottish theologian of the nineteenth century. His statement is based on Ephesians 2:4-6: "But God, being rich in mercy...made us alive together with Christ...and seated us with him in the heavenly places."
This truth is further affirmed in the Heidelberg Catechism (Question/Answer #49):
Q. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us?
A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father.
Second, we have our own flesh in heaven—a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven.
Other hymns also affirm this truth. Arise, My Soul, Arise has the line: "Five bleeding wounds he bears, received at Calvary." Crown Him with Many Crowns has the line: "Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hands and side, rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified" (Note the physical and present tense aspects of those lyrics).
This whole idea of "the dust of the earth" being on "the throne of the Majesty on high" was so profound for me because I used to think of both Jesus and heaven in more ethereal terms. The doctrine of the ascension caused me to think seriously about the present, physical nature of Jesus and heaven which the Bible describes.
Originally I played around with a little more movement, melodically, for the opening line. Allison felt like it needed to remain simple, keeping a kind of rhythmic feel so that it really opens up with the next lyric: "Where the Son radiates the Father's love." That line, by the way, is based on Hebrews 1:3: "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command."
Most of the lyrical content of the chorus is based on Paul's plea to "set your sights on the realities of heaven where Christ is seated in the place of honor at God's right hand" (Colossians 3:1). The second verse is based on what is known as the Sursum Corda. The Sursum Corda (Latin for "Lift up your hearts") is the opening dialogue to the Eucharistic Prayer in the liturgies of the Christian Church, dating back to the third century. The phrase is often used responsively in which the worship leader says: "Lift up your hearts." Then the people respond: "We lift them up to the Lord."
Obviously, this song has a variety of lyrical inspiration, and I probably gave you way more than you wanted to know! But I hope you realize that we songwriters take what we do seriously and really try, creatively, to impart profound and edifying truth.
Lead Us to Heaven
Paxson and Allison Jeancake
The dust of the earth is on the throne on high
The dust of the earth is on the throne on high
The dust of the earth is on the throne on high
The dust of the earth is on the throne on high
Where the Son radiates the Father's love
Lead us, Lord, to the throne above
'Cause we can hold this world too close, lose sight of our home
We can hold this world too close, lose sight of our home
So lead us to heaven, to the throne of grace
Set our hearts on one holy place
'Cause we can hold this world too close, lose sight of our home
We can hold this world too close, lose sight of our home
So lead us to heaven, to the throne of grace
Set our hearts on one holy place
Where Jesus is reigning, holding everything
Joined in the worship of our King, lead us to heaven
Joined in the worship of our King, lead us to heaven
Lead us to heaven
Lift up your hearts, we lift them to the Lord
Lift up your hearts, we lift them to the Lord
Lift up your hearts, we lift them to the Lord
Where the Son radiates the Father's love
Lead us, Lord, to the throne above
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