If you know me you know I\u2019m not a fan of Christian Rock or Contemporary Christian Music.\u00a0 I see the advertisements for the music on the News or online.\u00a0 The Rock band MercyMe was featured on Fox News one morning with vocalist Bart Millard.\u00a0 That caused me to read a little and watch the trailer for the movie, read the lyrics and listen to the song.\u00a0 I won\u2019t go to the movie and I have no need to buy the album.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a criticism of Millard\u2019s motive for writing the song.\u00a0 His father died in 1991 when he was 18 and he was searching for answers.\u00a0 This is the way contemporary believers find relief.\u00a0 Of course, Millard has won Dove awards and enjoys much popularity for his song and band.\u00a0 I only have a basic criticism of the song.<\/p>\n
The song \u201cI Can Only Imagine\u201d is asking the question what it will be like when we stand before God.\u00a0 The lyrics of the second and fourth stanzas read, \u201cSurrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel, will I dance for you Jesus, or in awe of you be still, will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall?\u201d\u00a0 I want to offer two thoughts.\u00a0 First, our authority for what heaven will be like or any other Christian belief must come from what is Written, not from our own imagination.\u00a0 What comes from our own mind is simple humanism.\u00a0 One can imagine or dream or think about these things all day but you still won\u2019t know anything for sure.\u00a0 Secondly, I searched the Scriptures for anyone who stood before God the Father or Jesus Christ in glory where any bodily action is described.\u00a0 I find only one action:\u00a0 falling on one\u2019s face in reverence and godly fear.\u00a0 Isaiah cried, \u201cWoe is me! For I am undone\u201d (Isa. 6:5); Ezekiel\u00a0 said, \u201cAnd when I saw it [the throne of God] I fell upon my face\u201d (Ezek. 1:28); Peter, James, and John saw the Lord transfigured and it is recorded, \u201cWhen the disciples heard it, they fell on their face\u201d (Matt. 17:6); when Saul of Tarsus (the apostle Paul) saw Jesus on the road to Damascus it says, \u201cAnd he fell to the earth\u201d and only later \u201cSaul arose from the earth\u201d (Acts 9:4, 8); and when John saw Jesus in His resurrected glory on the Isle of Patmos he says, \u201cAnd when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead\u201d (Rev. 1:17).\u00a0 Now I appreciate Bart Millard\u2019s attempt to think about when he gets to heaven and sees Jesus, but if revelation, not imagination, is any authority, our feet will not want to proudly stand or dance.\u00a0 They will fall at His lovely feet and praise Him for His grace that we are there at all!<\/p>\n
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