The national anthem

With the recent Beijing Olympic Games, many athletes were fortunate enough to experience the momentous achievement of winning a gold medal. However, this Olympics also had its fair share of controversy over a range of technological innovations. One such debate you may recall, was over the fairness of the new swimming ‘body suits’. How amazing it is. With the passing of every four years there is even greater technological advancement, more commercialised arenas, mass promotion and marketing.  Nevertheless, a gold medal athlete standing atop the podium and listening to their national anthem being triumphantly played, can still be reduced to tears. In his first letter, Peter writes, ‘You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation… so that you might speak of the praises of Him’. 1 Pet 2:9. God considers His people a holy nation. In this month’s On That Note we’ll reflect on Christians as a holy nation, and ponder over its national anthem.

Firstly, we may ask, ‘What is our national anthem?’. The Bible recounts when the Lord’s nation forgot His word, His provision and His peace, and as a result were delivered into the hands of the Babylonians. They had lost their patriotism and sense of national identity when they forsook His ways. Sadly, as their captors mocked and demanded they sing a song of Zion they answered, ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’ Psa 137:3,4. Our national anthem is the song of the Lord – the many and varied songs of Zion that resound with a common heart of hope, faith and triumph. By refusing to hear the Lord’s word, His nation exiled in Babylon had lost the hope and comfort of the Lord’s direction, and felt ‘foreign’ to Him. They were truly saying, ‘How can I sing a national anthem for a nation for which I have no patriotism?’.

The prophet Isaiah would later prophesy, ‘Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing into Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head. Gladness and joy shall overtake them; sorrow and mourning shall flee away’. Isa 51:11. Zion represents our Christian homeland, the eternal destination and reward for our earthly pilgrimage. In that bitter moment at the hands of their conquerors, the judged nation of God realised the futility of life without God’s deliverance. They could not return to Zion, let alone with singing, because they had forsaken the Lord’s salvation!

In defining ‘national anthem’ the dictionary uses phrases like, ‘a patriotic hymn’ or a ‘triumphant song’.  The apostle John wrote, ‘Whatever is born of God overcomes the world’.  1 John 5:4. When our life is given to Christ and our hearts earnestly testify to His mercy, we can truly say, ‘Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph!’ 2 Cor 2:14. Indeed, while we listen for the Lord’s word and give heed to His direction, we touch true forgiveness and can return with singing to the nation He has ordained. We triumphantly sing the Lord’s song, our praise, our rejoicing, our worship - our very own national anthem.

Lachlan Perrin

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Feature Articles
September 2008

Searching out a man

The new birth

Signs of the times

The national anthem

Overcoming fear & anxiety

Anointed with oil

Compassion that restores

The success formula

Desire to be known

At ease in your youth

The mother of all wars