We Have Come to the City
We have come to the city of the living God
Strong and shining, built by a skillful hand
Where no thief breaks in, and the gates are open wide
The dwelling place of God with man
There we see him, Jesus, the Righteous One
And we hear his voice like thunder speak
Shaking heaven and earth with a new and better word
No longer strife with God, but peace
Let us offer up our worship
As we’re entering our inheritance
A kingdom never shaken
A kingdom that will stand
For he has made us a people of his very own
Sons and daughters, welcome at his throne
And like living stones, we are built into his house
How can we keep from crying out?
Let us lift our voices with shouts of joy
As we’re entering our inheritance
A kingdom never shaken
A kingdom that will stand
For our God is a holy and consuming fire
Yet by mercy, we are not consumed
Christ at his right hand is our joy forevermore
At his right hand we will not be moved
So let us give our lives in living sacrifice
As we’re entering our inheritance
A kingdom never shaken
A kingdom that will stand
And let us lift our voices with shouts of joy
In his temple we cry, ‘Glory!
Glory to the righteous one,
Whose kingdom ever stands.’
Song notes:
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house… to offer spiritual sacrifices… You are…a people for his own possession.” 1 Pet. 2:4-5, 9
“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance… I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Ps. 16:6, 8
“The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness… and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’” Ps. 29:7-8a, 9a
“And I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb… and its gates will never be shut by day-and there will be no night there.” Rev. 21:22-23, 25
Much of this song is taken from Heb. 12 so while I won’t reproduce the chapter here, you are welcome to look at it in its entirety. I enjoyed weaving it together with scriptures from other places, some of which I included above. As a church musician I am often looking for music that fits with a particular passage of Scripture and sometimes it is pretty difficult to find anything about a topic. I wrote this song partially because of realizing there wasn’t anything similar to it, and partially because it is such a hopeful and glorious picture. The writer of Hebrews says, “You have come,” not one day you will come, but you have come already, “to the city of the living God.” There are of course some things that have not yet happened, but they are so assured to us that we have already come to them, and to God himself and to his people. And though God is a consuming fire, worthy of awe and worship, we have confidence as we approach him because of Christ’s offering on our behalf as it says earlier in Hebrews 10:19 and following: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus… and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart.”