Hymn Medley

FROM HIM, THROUGH HIM, TO HIM

I'm writing this to make clear to myself what each part in the medley means to me (or at least ought to mean to me).

How Great Thou Art, Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Here is a proclamation of God's character. His transcendent attributes stand eternally, an unshakeable foundation for the rich, glorious story about to unfold. Like a prologue to a novel, or a prelude to an orchestra, God's infinite worth and power and eternal immutability are told.
They shall soon be made known.

God of Heaven
The Triune God forms the universe, pouring out His glory. The pinnacle of creation, mankind, comes forth, bearing the image of God and a heart of worship. Man looks upon nature and marvels at its immenseness and beauty, which testify to its Creator's greatness. Snow floating from the skies, powerful waves upon the shore, the sun rising and bringing the day, all cause breathless wonder in people (although there was no snow before sin, my point remains).
Man also recognizes the providence of God, that He is the "Author of our days and hours", that He is in control of whatever happened and is to happen. Trusting in God's goodness and power, they sing "things to come are held secure".

Deliver Us
The tale takes a downward plummet, and perfection is stained. Sin enters the world and holds mankind in a death grip. Suddenly, the sound of the waves mean to us the wrathful, furious roar of God against us.
We've forsaken God, and have become slaves to sin. We could find no way back to God. All is lost.
"With the sting of the whip on my shoulder, with the salt of my sweat on my brow"
We suffer as we take pleasure in sin. We suffer spiritual death and look forward to a physical one and an eternal one. And it is no dream; it is real. We march towards the gates of hell and cannot stop.
"Elohim, God on high, can You hear Your people cry?"
How curious is this cry. "Your people"? Could it be that God has chosen a people to be free of these dark chains?
"Deliver us, hear our call; deliver us, Lord of all."
We really are hopeless. The wellspring of sin is too deep to be traced, and we cannot plug it. We try to be righteous, but days and months and years we have tried, only to find that we are completely in sin, that even our attempts to be righteous are sinful and blasphemous.
We turn to our efforts no more. We smash our fists against God's door until they bleed; we call and hope and crave that somehow, for some reason, this glorious King will answer these wretched little rebellious creatures.
It is the only hope we have.
"Deliver us to the Promised Land!"
The little assurance we have rests upon His unconditional promise, which is like the calm eye of a hurricane. No matter how despairing the conditions look, no matter how high the tower of Babel is built, no matter how strong the authority of sin, there is a promise that we hold to, hoping that one day we may be free.

When a Child is Born, O Holy Night
"A ray of hope flitters in the sky"
It feels like a candle has been lit in a place where no light had been seen for years. And we are so accustomed to despair that hope becomes a little unsettling.
For a moment the world stands still in utter shock. The King has come?
And you don't even know what to think other than the word why. Why would He bother at all? Even we see who we are and lower our heads in shame; why does He lift our faces?
"And the walls of doubt, crumbled, tossed, and torn."
The tension releases, and we relax our bruised and bleeding fists. We are saved, we rejoice. God Himself is set out to save us. And all the while we had degrees of doubts about the promise; we doubted in vain, for the promise is as true as can be.
"Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices"
We are dirty and unworthy, but we do the best we can to welcome the King. We kneel before His majesty and declare with our song that the night is divine with His glorious presence.
"O night divine!"

O Holy Jesus
The King does the unimaginable. God does the unimaginable.
He takes up our sin and swallows the bitter wrath of the Father. The cup that was meant for us was lifted to His lips, and He drank it all in obedience.
Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, and Isaac willing to die as a sacrifice.
His death is even more bewildering than His arrival. Again, why? Why would You die for us?
The answer ought to break our hearts into a thousand pieces. In His agony, His bitter passion, His humiliation, He seeks to say to His chosen people:  
"I love you."
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 
(John 3:16)
And we find out what love is. The fickle sentiment in our sinful world that we call love is absolutely nothing when compared to this monstrous power. Oh, the breadth, the length, the depth and the height! Oh, when the hand of heaven reaches into the depths of hell to pull sinners out of darkness! We find out that simply yet truly, God is love.

Instrumental interlude, O Rugged Cross instrumental
Christ has to defeat death and bring us into life. Of course, death could contain Him as much as darkness can contain light. 
“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”
(1 Corinthians 15:55)
The King destroys the power of sin and death in the lives of His chosen people. We are free from the tower of Babel.
We are finally free.

Amazing Grace, It Is Well with My Soul
We step forward, leaving behind us the ruins of sin's dominion in our lives. We begin on a journey of grace.
We all know how this is. We all remember the nights of weeping as we recognize how great the grace we received is. We remember how sinful we felt before the Holy One and how simultaneously heart-wrenching  and joyful we were when assured of salvation.
We can say that it is well with our souls because we look forward to eternity, where the remnants of our sinful nature leave us.
In our lives, we can look back at the times when we were bound in sin, and we can smile and say, "Those hellish principles are no longer a reality in our lives. He delivered us."
In our death, we can look forward to seeing Christ, the One who loved and saved us, with our very eyes.
"It is well with my soul; I'm coming home." 

How Great Thou Art/God of Heaven
Although we medley singers merely stare up at the ceiling as we sing, we can know that we will one day be staring up at God. We can try to imagine how it would be like, and smile and tell ourselves, "No, it would be even better than that."
It is exhilarating to remind myself that the fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven is very real, and that I will see it one day. It is not a fantasy or a dreamlike thing, it will be as real as can be.
The remnants of sin in our lives will be gone, and the richness of God will be made known to us in a way that we cannot possibly now imagine. We will be surprised and awed. There's no way you can prepare or expect what's coming. It will be beauty beyond belief.
Perfect.