Vision

 This song was a blessing to me. Yes, because of the blood of Jesus I can go in. Hallelujah!

(You can download the mp3 at http://www.abigailmiller.com/)

He stood beside the gate of Heaven, waiting to go in,
And he wondered how this Holy Place could take a man like him.
With shouts of great rejoicing and with music then they came,
Of the angels standing by him he asked what could be their name?

“These are the company of prophets.  The goodly fellowship of souls,”
“Who spake God’s Word with faith and boldness; who blessed the poor,
and made the wounded whole.”

“Oh,” he fell upon his knees, and cried, “I am not one of these.”

He waited ’til another band of shining ones drew nigh,
They entered into Heaven with a “Hallelujah” cry.
He asked again, “Who are these?  Can you tell me whence they came?”
He seemed to see the answer in a burning tongue of flame.

“These are the company of martyrs, the mighty fellowship of Saints.”
“Who knew our Lord and walked beside Him.”
“Who ran the holy race and did not faint.”

“Oh,” he fell upon his knees, and cried, “I am not one of these.”

Then suddenly, a multitude was heard from far away.
Their voices rang with songs of joy like children at their play.
He saw Rahab, he saw David, Mary Magdalene and Paul,
And the thief who died by Jesus was the one who led them all.

“Who are these?!” he almost shouted at the angels.
“These are the sinners saved by grace!”
“The host of them who called upon the Savior;”
“Washed in Blood and justified by faith!”

And, Oh…he leaped up from his knees!
“Oh, I can go in with these!!!!”

“And I can go in, for my heart is free from sin.”
“I’ve been washed in the Blood, everlasting life to win.”
“I can rejoice, I can lift up my voice…I can sing…and I can go in.”

Oh, he thought there could be no hallelujahs and no cries,
For this lowly band of people by the world despised,
But as the scenes of heaven opened up before his eyes,
He saw the martyrs and the prophets, and the host of heaven rise,
And they sang, “I can go in.  For my heart is free from sin.”
I’ve been washed in the blood, everlasting life to win,”
“I can rejoice, I can lift up my voice…I can sing…and I can go in.”
“I can go in.”
“I can rejoice, I can lift up my voice…I can sing…and I can go in.”
“I can go in.”

I listened in on this morning’s message at Ephrata Christian Fellowship. Mose Stoltzfus used the following example to show how we as Christians can live at times if we do not accept the all sufficiency of Christ for our lives.

Homer and Langley Collyer were sons of a respected New York doctor. Both had earned college degrees. In fact, Homer had studied at Columbia University to become an attorney. When old Dr. Collyer died in the early part of this century, his sons inherited the family home and estate. The two men—both bachelors—were now financially secure. But the Collyer brothers chose a peculiar lifestyle not at all consistent with the material status their inheritance gave them. They lived in almost total seclusion. They boarded up the windows of their house and padlocked the doors. All their utilities—including water—were shut off. No one was ever seen coming or going from the house. From the outside it appeared empty. Though the Collyer family had been quite prominent, almost no one in New York society remembered Homer and Langley Collyer by the time World War II ended. On March 21, 1947, police received an anonymous telephone tip that a man had died inside the boarded-up house. Unable to force their way in through the front door, they entered the house through a second-story window. Inside they found Homer Collyer’s corpse on a bed. He had died clutching the February 22, 1920 issue of the Jewish Morning Journal, though he had been totally blind for years. This macabre scene was set against an equally grotesque backdrop. It seems the brothers were collectors. They collected everything—especially junk. Their house was crammed full of broken machinery, auto parts, boxes, appliances, folding chairs, musical instruments, rags, assorted odds and ends, and bundles of old newspapers. Virtually all of it was worthless. An enormous mountain of debris blocked the front door; investigators were forced to continue using the upstairs window for weeks while excavators worked to clear a path to the door.
Nearly three weeks later, as workmen were still hauling heaps of refuse away, someone made a grisly discovery. Langley Collyer’s body was buried beneath a pile of rubbish some six feet away from where Homer had died. He had been crushed to death in a crude booby trap he had built to protect his precious collection from intruders.
The garbage eventually removed from the Collyer house totaled more than 140 tons. No one ever learned why the brothers were stockpiling their pathetic treasure, except an old friend of the family recalled that Langley once said he was saving newspapers so Homer could catch up on his reading if he ever regained his sight. Homer and Langley Collyer make a sad but fitting parable of the way many people in the church live. Although the Collyers’ inheritance was sufficient for all their needs, they lived their lives in unnecessary, self-imposed deprivation. Neglecting abundant resources that were rightfully theirs to enjoy, Homer and Langley instead turned their home into a squalid dump. Spurning their father’s sumptuous legacy, they binged instead on the scraps of the world. Too many Christians live their spiritual lives that way. Disregarding the bountiful riches of an inheritance that cannot be defiled (1 Pet. 1:4), they scour the wreckage of worldly wisdom, collecting litter. As if the riches of God’s grace (Eph. 1:7) were not enough, as if “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3) were not sufficient, they try to supplement the resources that are theirs in Christ. They spend their lives pointlessly accumulating sensational experiences, novel teachings, clever gurus, or whatever else they can find to add to their hoard of spiritual experiences. Practically all of it is utterly worthless. Yet some people pack themselves so full of these diversions that they can’t find the door to the truth that would set them free. They forfeit treasure for trash.