AMAZING GRACE: VERSE FOUR
Scott Bayles, pastor
Based on David Jeremiah’s Captured by Grace
First Christian Church, Rosiclare, IL
If you’re visiting with us this morning or you just happened to miss the past three Sundays, we’ve spent the last few weeks with our Bibles in one hand and a hymnal in the other as we’ve been exploring the man, the melody and the message behind John Newton’s timeless hymn, Amazing Grace.
Packed tightly into every single verse of this wonderful song is the message of God’s amazing grace—a grace so amazing that it transformed a ruthless slave trader into a tireless servant of Jesus Christ. Newton’s special joy as a pastor was to craft hymns to accompany his sermons. While the other hymns he composed have been long forgotten, Amazing Grace has endured for more than two hundred years and continues to encourage, uplift and inspire worshippers all over the world.
Within the lyrics of the first verse, we discover the captivating presence of grace, the compassionate purpose of grace, and the changing power of grace. In the second verse, we find the confusing paradox of grace and the connecting point of grace. The third verse highlights the comforting provision of grace and the confident promise of grace.
But it may surprise you that what we normally sing as the fourth verse to Amazing Grace wasn’t actually written by John Newton. The closing stanza you and I know and love first appeared in 1909. Edwin Excell, who was an accomplished composer, discovered a version of Amazing Grace that added these lines:
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shinning as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,
Than when we first begun.
Excell admired this version with its vision set in eternal glory, so he grafted these new lines to the existing ones and we’ve sung them that way ever since. Like the others before it, this final verse of Amazing Grace opens our eyes to two fantastic aspects of God’s grace, beginning with the compelling prospect of grace.
• THE COMPELLING PROSPECT OF GRACE
The opening lines of this final verse are as timeless as the hymn itself: “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shinning as the sun…”
Eternity—it’s a compelling prospect, isn’t it?
It excites hope and defies understanding.
If we could envision, just a little, what that world will be like, we would no longer fear death. If our limited minds could manage to hold the briefest glimpse of eternal glory, that vision would change everything about the way we live now.
John Newton had some idea of eternity and he had no problem with death. In fact, in his later life Newton’s letters and diary entries looked more and more to the hope of paradise that lay just over the horizon of his lifelong voyage. In 1804, he wrote plainly yet profoundly, “Time, how short! Eternity, how long.” His friends noticed a growing tendency toward morbid humor. He once told a colleague that he was “packed, sealed, and waiting for the post.” He was ready for heaven.
While he still possessed life and breath, however, he tended to his beloved sermons and hymns—Amazing Grace among the latter. While the final verse would be penned by another hand, Newton did provide three other seldom heard verses:
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endure.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
Forever. Our minds can hardly grasp the concept, yet Jesus promised it over and over. He told Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15 NIV). He assured the woman at the well, “those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:14 NLT). He announced to the scribes and the Pharisees, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24 NIV).
Many people today just hope for a long and happy life, but Jesus offers so much more. He offers forever. He offers eternity. The promise of eternal life is the heartbeat of hope. It’s what we, as Christians, long for and look forward to. As we grow to feel more and more in life the limitations of 24 hours and the limitations of a seven-day week, and the limitations of a month and the fact that there are only 12 months in a year through which to distribute the demands being made upon our time, we should marvel at the gift God has promised us. Because of his promise of eternal life we have an unshakable hope and a bubble of delight within—we are heading for forever! The apostle Paul put it this way:
“These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 4:17 TLB).
Paul knew that nothing in this life lasts forever. Paul knew that the hardship he endured was a slight momentary affliction in comparison to how long he would enjoy God’s presence. So he concluded that the troubles of this world are an extremely light burden compared to the eternal weight of glory. Millions, billions, and trillions of years do not even compare to the length of infinite time. Peter agreed. He wrote, “And after you suffer for a short time, God, who gives all grace, will make everything right. He will make you strong and support you and keep you from falling. He called you to share in his glory in Christ, a glory that will continue forever” (1 Peter 5:10 NCV).
What really matters—what is eternal and permanent—cannot be seen, touched, or measured. Only with the eyes of faith can people look … at what cannot be seen. Only with eyes of faith can they begin to understand, with God’s help, the eternal significance of their actions. A believer’s hope is not in this world. A Christian’s hope is not in the power and wealth that can be accumulated on earth. Instead, a Christian’s hope is in Christ—someone who cannot be seen at the present moment, but who has promised us eternity. I love how Robert Lewis Stevenson put it in brief poem:
The stars shall last for a million years,
a million years and a day,
But God and I will live and love,
when the stars have passed away.
Of course, the compelling prospect of eternity raises quite a few questions, not the least of which is—what are we going to be doing for all eternity? Well the answer to that question and the final ingredient of God amazing grace is revealed in the last line of the song, which speaks of the continual praise of grace.
• THE CONTINUAL PRAISE OF GRACE
What will it be like to experience forever? When we’ve been there ten thousand years what will we be doing? The hymnist’s answer: “We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’ve first begun.” God is going to grant us the bounds of eternity to praise the Name that is above all names. But even that biblical truth creates a challenge of comprehension for many of us. Honestly, who hasn’t timidly wondered, “Will we really be singing devotional songs for all eternity? Isn’t that going to get a little—um, boring?”
Maybe the idea of eternal continual praise is so foreign to us because whole hearted worship in this world is so rare. So few Christians have a truly biblical understanding of worship and praise.
Depending on your background, you may need to expand your understanding of worship. In The Purpose-Drive Life, Rick Warren explains, “You may think of church services with singing, praying, and listening to a sermon. Or you may think of ceremonies, candles, and communion.... Worship can include these elements, but worship is far more than these expressions. Worship is a lifestyle.”
Worship rises up from the heart and spills out over anything and everything we do. In Isaiah 29, God complains about worship that is half-hearted and hypocritical. The people were offering God stale prayers, insincere praise, empty words, and man-made rituals without even thinking about the meaning. God’s heart isn’t touched by outward exhibitions, but by inward excitement. God said, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13 NIV).
What was missing from their worship and what God desires above all is—our hearts. Worship isn’t just part of your life; it is your life!
The Bible says, “From east to west, from dawn to dusk, keep lifting all your praises to God” (Psalm 113:3 MSG). In the Bible, people praised God at work, at home, in battle, in jail, and even in bed! Praise should be the first thing you do when you open your eyes in the morning and the last before you close them at night. David said, “I will praise the Lord at all times; his praise is always on my lips. My whole being praises the Lord” (Psalm 34:1 NCV).
Everything you do can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory, and pleasure of God. Like Martian Luther said, “A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God.” How is all of this possible, you ask? By doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus and recognizing the presence of his Spirit while you do it. The Bible says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23 NIV). That’s the secret of continual praise—giving everything you do to God. Even work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of his presence.
When I first fell in love with my wife, I thought about her constantly: while eating breakfast, at the office, waiting in line at the grocery store, pumping gas—I couldn’t stop thinking about this woman! I often talked to myself about her and contemplated all the things I loved about her. Thinking about her like that helped me feel close to Ashley even when were a couple hundred miles apart. By constantly think about her, I was abiding in her love. That’s what real worship and praise is all about—loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and abiding in his love for you.
John Newton loved God and he couldn’t stop praising him. When his sight was failing him and his hearing nearly gone, some of his close friends tried encouraging him to retire. But he wouldn’t have any of it. Newton could only snort with distain and with a raised voice reply, “What!? Shall the African blasphemer stop while he can still speak?” He never stopped preaching and he never stopped praising God.
And now…he never will.
Conclusion:
It’s the best-loved hymn of all time, and it’s no wonder. It may have been penned by a former slaver-trader, but each word comes from the Spirit of God. When it’s announced at church, people tend to stand a little taller to sing it. They lift their voices a bit higher. And some, including myself, feel that for just a moment, they are catching a glimpse through the gates of heaven of God’s immeasurably amazing grace!
Invitation:
If you’re intrigued by the compelling prospect of grace—the prospect of eternal life—and you want to experience the continual praise of grace, then stand and sing with us from deep within your heart because when we’ve been there ten thousand years, beaming as brightly as the sun, we’ll have no less days to sing his praise than when we first begun and his grace will be more amazing than ever!
