Before the Throne of God Above (2-min hymnology)

Before the Throne of God Above, I have a strong and perfect plea. A great High priest whose name is Love, who ever lives and pleads for me.
This song can really help us understand a Christian’s relationship to God and to Christ.
The opening line comes from Hebrews 4:14-16, where Paul tells us that Jesus is our great high priest and so… Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of Grace.
In Israel, the High priest would place the payment for sin on the sacrifice, thereby turning away the wrath of a just and holy God. And what this song and Paul are saying is that Jesus, as our great high priest, did just that. But Jesus, being God, is sinless, so the sin he’s paying for is ours. Therefore He redeems us. And so we sing:
Because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God, the just, is satisfied. To look on Him and pardon me.
God is just, and he can justify us, He can call us righteous, because of what Christ did on our behalf. Colossians 3:3 is translated into this song as we sing, My life is hid with Christ on high.
When God looks at the redeemed Christian, our sin and shame are hidden by the righteousness of Christ. That is news worth singing about.
A lot of contemporary worship music is designed to engage our spirit, to awaken our emotions to the power and experience of God’s grace. This song, both in it’s lyrics and in its hymn form, is more about engaging our minds with truth. I like to place this song after other, more experiential songs, as a way to balance them, and ensure that we’re worshipping God in both spirit AND truth.

[@stuff.church]

awesome

[@ksteak27]

YES!! It's so important to understand the context, hymnology, and contextual history of the time and experiences of the author. More of these videos, please!!! Especially the latter.... connecting these songs we know and love into the context of the lives, troubles, and struggles of those who wrote them just helps elevate their beauty... and more importantly: the beauty of the One they point to.

[@ClosetHymnologist]

Thanks. More on the way!

[@EduardoPastorCampos]

what microphone to use to record this video?

[@ClosetHymnologist]

Hi! It's an old AKG Blueline CK93 condenser mic/capsule, just out of frame above my head. It's been one of my favorite "video production" mics for more than 15 years. I've found it's very natural-sounding and reasonably forgiving if you're not right "on axis" with it. I'm not sure how much they go for these days; a few hundred dollars at least, but mine is probably more than 2 decades old, and just as good as the day I got it. (I've also EQ'd and compressed the audio as well)