This New Song

Recent experiences have led my wife and I to discuss how incredibly opinionated people can be when it relates to music. President Alvin F. Meredith, president of BYU-Idaho, said on a recent podcast, “I was actually thrilled that in April general conference of this year, the choir sang Amazing Grace. I’m from Tennessee and I love just that Christian hymn. A couple years ago I was with Elder Renlund when he had responsibility for overseeing the revisions of the new hymn book and I said, ‘Elder Renlund, please tell me Amazing Grace is going to be in the new hymn book.’ And he said, ‘I think it is.’ And he said, ‘I’ll tell you something else. It’s not going to surprise me if when we get to the other side, we find out that the whole war in heaven started over revisions of the hymn book.’ He said, ‘You’d be shocked at how much passion there is.’” There certainly is a lot of passion and differing opinions when it comes to music, and most people will likely be disappointed by some song that doesn’t make the new hymn book (or one they don’t like that did). But there is one song that, if it were put to music, none of us should oppose: Doctrine and Covenants 84:99-102. If it were there, the author of the lyrics would say Jesus Christ, for it was given by revelation with this introduction: “All shall know me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:98). But, it is unlikely to be in this version of the hymn book since it is a song, according to one scholar, “that will be sung after the Savior has accomplished all of His great works and has brought them to full fruition.” We may need to wait until the Millennial hymn book, and hopefully by then someone will have written music worthy of it!

            For me the theme of this revealed song is that the Lord will indeed gather His people. The song starts this way: “The Lord hath brought again Zion; The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel.” The second verse repeats this idea: “The Lord hath redeemed his people;… The Lord hath brought down Zion from above. The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath.” This refers to how the city of Enoch will come down from heaven and be joined together with the city of Zion—the New Jerusalem—that we are to build up. The people of God will be joined together for good, and the Lord will have gathered His people from across the whole earth. One of the great purposes of the Lord’s people being gathered together is that we will then be prepared for the Savior to be in our midst. In the third verse the song says, “The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength;… And she is clothed with the glory of her God; For he stands in the midst of his people.” With Zion finally built up and a righteous people established, the Lord will be able to come and dwell in the midst of them.

            I heard someone mention recently that the early Saints would be surprised if they were among us today at how little we speak about Zion. I think that is probably accurate and not a compliment: we should be focused more on the building up of Zion which was, as this song suggests, a focal point of the work Joseph Smith was called to do from the beginning. He taught, “The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory.” He also said, “We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object.” We know that at some future day we will return to Jackson County and physically build up Zion: “Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God. Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered. They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:16-18). We do not know when that physically will take place, but this scripture gives us the key to prepare: “Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—the pure in heart; therefore, let Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn” (Doctrine and Covenants 97:21). We must seek to become pure in heart and gather His children unto Him spiritually, and some day we will all gather in the Zion where Enoch’s city will come down and which will welcome the Savior for His return. And then, at that great day, we will surely sing this new song.