This is the second of a two part series on the above subject. In the last article we looked at the meaning of the word “Zion.” In this article we shall examine a few of the very meaningful phrases of the song.
 

     Only those who love the Lord are “marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.”  “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:35-37). In our everyday dealing with our fellow men we find it easy to love those who love us, and certainly for this reason we should love God supremely who loved us so much, and has done so much for us. He gave us our very being in this world and has supplied our every need in a  temporal way. Then in addition to all of this He gave His Son to die for us on the cross to redeem us from sin, that we might be saved eternally in the world to come. No wonder John said, “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
     The test of one’s love for the Lord is his obedience to His will. John said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3, NJKV). Hence, God has not required anything that is burdensome or unreasonable of His children. When we do everything that God has required of us it is only our “reasonable service.”  Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). If we love the Lord as we should, we get our greatest enjoyment from doing His will. If we fail to obey Him that is proof beyond doubt that we do not really love Him as we should.
     Christ demands that we love Him more than we love our parents, wives, husbands, children, and even one’s self. He said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). We know that the Bible does not teach us to hate our families in the ugly sense of the word for the same Bible tells us that we are to love our families (Ephesians 5:25). Since the Bible does not contradict itself we must conclude that this means that we must love Him more than we love anyone or anything else in the world and that He must always come first in every thing. If a choice must be made between the Lord and a member of our own family we must always choose Jesus.
     Jesus said, “If you love me keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Keeping part of His commandments is not proof that we love Him. Neither is keeping all of His commandments part of the time proof that we love Him. Faithful and constant obedience to His will at all times in our everyday lives, as well as our worship is proof that we love Him, and nothing else is.
 To love the Lord is to love His church. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25). Certainly we should love the church enough to give our lives in humble service to it. If we love the church we will not have to be begged to live faithful lives that will not bring reproach on the church. Love for the church will not allow little hindrances to keep its members from attending the services (Hebrews 10:25).
     To love the Lord is to love the truth. People are lost who “receive not the love of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). If we love the truth we will search for it (John 5:39). Paul said of the Bereans:  “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).
     If we love the truth we will contend earnestly for it (Jude 3), stop the mouths of false teachers (Titus 1:9-11), patiently teach it (2 Timothy 4:1-4), have no fellowship with the enemies of it (Ephesians 5:11; John 7:7; Acts 19:8).
     To love the Lord is to love the brethren (1 John 3:14). “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22). Brethren sometimes have faults that we do not approve of. We are not to approve their faults but we are to love them in spite of their faults. We must love the brethren in spite of what they may say about us or do to us. When Jesus was dying on the cross he prayed for those who were crucifying Him, and Paul says, “If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his.”
     To love the Lord is to love the lost. God loved the lost and gave His Son. Christ loved the lost and gave His life. Now finish this statement:  “I loved the lost and gave my ______________.” If we really love the Lord we will give our time, talent, and money for the salvation of lost souls.

     The happiest people in all the world are those who are genuine Christians. My father used to say, “The problem with many church members is that they have just enough religion to make them miserable and not enough to make them happy.”  A little girl, looking at a mule said, “Grandma, is that mule a Christian?” The grandmother replied, “Why no, what makes you ask that?” “Well he sure has a long face about something,” the little girl said.
     The first thing that is said about the Eunuch after he obeyed the gospel is that he “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39). “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1). “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
 

     “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  (Psalms 133:1). The unity of believers is one of the things that weighed heavily upon the heart of the Lord just before he went to the cross. He said in His prayer: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:20-22).
 

     There is another song that we sometimes sing: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through; My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.”  Heaven, what a beautiful word!  What a beautiful thought! Heaven is the long promised home of every soul that is saved. We like to sing about it, we like to preach about it. But the question that many people keep asking is, “What is heaven really like?”  If I die as a Christian what can I really expect when I get to heaven? Heaven is so wonderful that it is difficult to describe. In fact I do not believe that it is possible for human language to adequately describe the glory of that eternal home of the righteous. But the Bible gives us enough informa-tion  that  we  may  understand  some of the glories
and wonders of that beautiful home of the soul.
     Heaven, that beautiful home of the soul in “fairer worlds on high” will be a most marvelous home. Listen carefully to the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  Then consider these words of Jesus in John 14:1-6, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The “fairer worlds on High” is a place without any sorrows or problems. There will be no tears, nor will there be any pain. I don’t know how God will do this but He has promised and I accept it by faith. Let us look at a couple of passages from the book of Revelation. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17). How many innocent children went to bed hungry last night! At this very moment there are little children in this world who are dying of starvation, But in heaven they will never be hungry again. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).—1925 County Highway 59, Haleyville, AL 35565