****WE'RE MARCHING TO ZION (COME WE THAT LOVE THE LORD)

WE’RE MARCHING TO ZION is another hybrid song.  It combines an excellent, old Isaac Watts hymn, COME WE THAT LOVE THE LORD, with an added refrain written by Robert Lowry.

Watts’ original hymn had at least ten stanzas; most hymnbooks today contain only four or five.

Isaac Watts lived in a time when most English churches insisted on singing Psalms only.  You may remember, young Isaac didn’t like that and complained to his father who said, “…if You don’t like it, then why don’t you write something better?”  

So, he did.  In fact, he gave us over 600 hymns most of which focus on the Sovereignty of God.

Today’s worship wars are nothing new.  Those hymns, written by Watts and others, stirred up a lot of conflicts, anger, and violence in the Church of England during the early 1700s.   In some cases, people were beaten, imprisoned, or even killed.  

In their attempts to avoid conflicts, some congregations split or dissolved.   Others, like many churches today, tried to mitigate their disputes by arranging a sort of compromise.   They didn’t go so far as to offer a choice between traditional and contemporary services; they just rearranged their services by singing Psalms at the beginning and then, after the preaching, they would sing hymns. 

But that wasn’t really a compromise because church members remained at odds.  What usually happened was that many of those who could not accept the hymn singing would just stand up walk out of the services after the preaching. 

Isaac Watts was an obnoxious genius who had a finely developed skill in the art of sarcasm.  There are some historians who suspect that his sarcasm may have been at play here in this hymn where, in his second stanza, he wrote, “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God,” as a cutting indictment against people who walked out of the church services during the hymn singing.

The refrain, composed later by Robert Lowry, was a good addition both musically and lyrically.  The transition from Watts’ verses to Lowry’s refrain is natural and comfortable in its style.  Musically, it feels right.   Lyrically, it picks up the theme from the fifth stanza -- “We’re marching through Emmanuel’s ground to fairer worlds on high.” 

When Lowry wrote “We’re Marching upward to Zion,” it was a reference to the City of God.

We are exhorted to, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again, I say, Rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4)

And scripture gives us encouragement by the example of Christ; “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2)

This hymn is a picture of God’s people rejoicing.  We don’t always feel joyful; our conditions in this world are sometimes difficult and disappointing but we don’t just wander aimlessly through life dragging our feet with uncertainty.  As heirs of God’s love and grace, we can rejoice and march through life with purpose and confidence because we know where we are going.  WE’RE MARCHING TO ZION, that beautiful city of God.