Shall We Gather at the River?
Rev Robert Lowry was struck one day by how hymn-writers wrote much about the 'river of death' that we have to cross, but little about the 'river of life' described in Revelation 22. He never really liked the song he ended up writing - but the rest of the world seemed to love it and became a favorite!
Welcome to another Friday Classic Hymns episode. Today we're looking at a song called "Shall We Gather at the River?" I don't know this one very well, but I've come to know it this year because I'm busy doing a project called Canaan Melodies, in which I'm recording all the songs from the old 1914 Nazarene Hymnal. I love the songs as I've learnt them. As I was going through these songs, I got to number 20 or 21, which is "Shall We Gather at the River?" I learnt it and recorded a version. The album will come out hopefully at the end of the year or next year, but you can go listen to Volume 1 of that already on Spotify or wherever.
I got to really enjoy this song as I learnt it for Canaan Melodies Volume 2 this year. Where do you know the song from? If you're watching or if you know this song, what is your connection to the song? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. I'd love to read them. What does this song mean to you? The words are very special, so I hope that you're going to share what they mean to you in the comments below.
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Let's get into the song. Apparently it's very popular in Western movies and old movies. There was a particular director who seemed to use this in all of his movies, but for me it's a beautiful song with a very significant picture.
The Story Behind "Shall We Gather at the River?"
The man behind the song is Robert Lowry. I've already done another one of his - he wrote "What Can Wash Away Our Sins? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus", a really beautiful classic hymn. Go check out that video if you'd like, but let me tell you his story again.
Lowry was born in 1826 in Philadelphia. Straight away he was very good at music. As a child, he picked up musical instruments very well. When he joined the local Baptist church at the age of 17, he was quite soon earmarked as the type who could become a minister. He got involved with teaching Sunday school and other things. Eventually he went to train for the ministry and came out as the highest student, the best student in his class. He began doing ministry and was very successful as a minister all throughout his life.
Look at what one biographer said about him: "Dr Lowry was a man of rare administrative ability, a most excellent preacher, a thorough Bible student, and whether in the pulpit or upon the platform, always a brilliant and interesting speaker. He was of a genial and pleasing disposition, and a high sense of humour was one of his most striking characteristics. Very few men had greater ability in painting pictures from the imagination. He could thrill an audience with his vivid descriptions, inspiring others with the same thoughts that inspired him."
I would have loved to have heard this man preach, hearing that description of him.
Lowry ended up getting involved in the music publishing game. Having seen what he could offer there, he began to study music and really get into writing and publishing gospel songs. One day in 1864, he was busy sitting in his office. It was not a good time in New York, where he was a pastor at the time. There was an epidemic that the city was struggling with, and many people were dying very suddenly, very quickly because of the sickness that was sweeping through the people.
It is said that he started to think of what's going to happen - are we going to meet these people again? This made him think of the great words in Revelation 22, which say this:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Lowry began to think of this. This is what he said according to the Baptist Hymnal: "I began to wonder why the hymn writers had said so much about the river of death and so little about the pure water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
He wrote this song to celebrate, or to look forward to, I suppose, this picture of the life that God promises us right at the end of the Bible.
The song became very popular. Lowry immediately had written a tune to it, which was quite a catchy tune. It's got a sort of marching beat to it. Later on in life, he figured out that this was not the greatest song. He didn't like this song very much, apparently, but he said it was because of the melody that he put to it that it actually became popular.
In fact, he tells a story about walking along one day and hearing a bunch of drunkards singing his song. He realised that the lyrics aren't that great, but the melody was so catching that people could just sing it happily without even thinking about it - which is perhaps why it was so popular in the early days of the movie industry.
Lowry preferred preaching to writing hymns and once said that he'd prefer to preach a good sermon than write a good hymn. However, nobody remembers his sermons, but they remember a good few of his really good hymns, including this one.
What Do the Lyrics of "Shall We Gather at the River?" Mean?
Let's take a look at the words that he wrote and why the song has endured.
Verse 1
Shall we gather at the river, where bright angel feet have trod?
It's an otherworldly river.
With its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God.
This is a picture of that river in Revelation 22, clearly, with its crystal clear water. But Lowry says it's flowing by the throne of God, and many commentators have said that this is inaccurate. The text said that the river is flowing from the throne of God, not by it, not next to it. Why did he use the word "by" instead of "from"?
Does it matter? Some would say yes, of course it's important that we say it's flowing from the throne of God. Others would say no, it's just a picture of the afterlife, gathering at the river with all the other saints. What do you think? Please share below whether you think "by" or "from" is important.
Chorus
Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God.
Again, there's that line about "by" instead of "from". But you can see what he's getting at here. You can see that he wanted to write a song giving people hope that they will gather again with the saints who have gone before them.
This is a hopeful thought, isn't it, that we will gather in a beautiful place? The river symbolises life. Remember, it spoke about how the leaves on the trees are for the healing of the nations. Anybody at that river is going to be fully healed, and that's going to be a wonderful day together with all the saints at the river. It's a beautiful river, and of course God's presence is there. I like this song. I like what he's getting at.
Verse 2
On the margin of the river, washing up its silver spray, we will walk and worship ever, all the happy golden day.
Here we are in the afterlife, walking and worshipping with the other saints. That's a lovely picture, isn't it? I wonder if this is what it's going to be. Some people would say these are just earthly pictures to describe spiritual realities. Is there an actual river that we're going to be next to that flows out of God's throne, or are these just symbolic pictures of spiritual realities?
I don't know. What we do know is that we will be in God's presence, and we will be worshipping in His presence, and we'll be worshipping with others. It'll be a happy golden time, won't it? I hope that you're looking forward to that with great excitement.
Verse 3
Ere we reach the shining river...
He's kind of playing with different descriptions of this river - beautiful river, the silver spray of the river. Now he's saying it's a shining river.
Lay we every burden down.
"Ere" means "before", so he says before we get to that river, all our burdens will be laid down. When we die in our earthly lives, all our burdens will be laid down so that we can reach that river without any pain, without any suffering, because it will all have been taken away.
Grace our spirits will deliver...
This is God's grace. It's His glorifying grace. We believe in God's prevenient grace that calls us to Him before we know it, before we're aware. His justifying grace which has saved us and adopted us into His kingdom. His sanctifying grace which makes us holy and Christlike. And then His glorifying grace, which receives us after death and completes the work that He had started in us at the very beginning.
Here he says grace our spirits will deliver. It's all grace, even that moment of crossing from life to death and then crossing death back into a new life. That's grace. That's God's grace that allows that, delivering our spirits from death. Beautiful.
And provide a robe and crown.
Again, pictures from Revelation and other parts of the Bible about what we get after we die - a crown of righteousness and all sorts of other crowns that the New Testament speaks of. In fact, I've done a whole devotion series on the crowns the New Testament speaks of. I will put that link below.
A robe - a robe of righteousness. We are washed clean and robed in white garments, symbolising our purity, which God has given us by His grace. What a day when we gather at that place.
Verse 4
At the smiling of the river...
Now the river is smiling. I wonder in what sense is it smiling? Is it just that it's a joyful place? Is it the people smiling at the river he's talking about?
Mirror of the Saviour's face.
I'm not sure what he means here. Is he saying that the people there will be mirrors of Christ truly, because they are now wearing that robe and that crown? Is he saying that there at the river, Christ's beauty and glory is shining so strongly? I don't know. What do you think?
Saints, whom death will never sever, lift their songs of saving grace.
Some would say this is referring to those Christians who don't die because Jesus comes back in their lifetime, and so they were never severed by death. Others would say this is everybody, because everybody who is in Christ doesn't die eternally. Death doesn't sever them from Christ, but it unites them to Him.
I think that's what it means. All the saints around this river have died, but death didn't sever them, didn't cut them off from God's presence. So they lift their songs of saving grace in that place. Lovely.
Verse 5
Soon we'll reach the shining river. Soon our pilgrimage will cease.
Revelation often says that Jesus is coming soon, and that was then, that was in the first century. How soon is soon?
Some would say that Jesus is coming soon, the signs are all here. I watched a Ray Comfort video the other day where he was saying all this war in the Middle East is signs that it's coming soon. I watched another video by another minister the other day saying most of it took place already in AD 70. Jesus came back in AD 70, fulfilling His own words about coming back in the same generation, and He's going to come again. This part is still going to be fulfilled - Revelation 21 and 22 - but it might be thousands of years.
People get extremely passionate about their view of how soon is soon. The truth is, every generation has thought that soon, soon He's coming. Every generation has thought that Revelation applies to their time, and we're the same. Many people look at it and interpret all the things in Revelation for their time, and it all seems to line up, as it did in the previous generation and the previous generation. I suppose at some point it's going to be the generation, and maybe that is our generation. Maybe it's not.
The point is, we need to live with an expectation that He may come soon. The bottom line is, soon our pilgrimage will cease anyway, because our lives are short. The Bible often talks about how the life of a human is like a wisp, like a breath of air. It's so short. Our pilgrimage will cease soon anyway, even if you've still got a whole life to live. In the great scheme of things, that's soon that you're not going to be around.
Are you going to be gathering at that river? Because your faith is in Christ when your pilgrimage ceases?
Soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace.
I like how he says our hearts will be so joyful and peaceful when we're in that place.
Of course, most believe that the river will only be in the future. It's not as if, if you die today, you'll be at the river. You will still be waiting for Jesus to come and finish the work that He has to do, so that the river will be put in place, and then we will gather.
I don't know that we are reunited with the saints immediately after we die. We're definitely with God in some sense immediately after we die, because of what Jesus said to the criminal next to Him on the cross and what Paul said about being present with the Lord when you're absent from the body. But I believe, as do most Christians, that it's only when Christ comes again and finishes all that work that the end and all of these pictures at the end of Revelation will have been fulfilled.
Conclusion
What do you think of this song, and what does it do for your spirit? For me, it gives me hope at seeing these saints gathered at the river. It'll be flowing from the throne of God, not by the throne of God, but it'll be a river of life where we are healed, where we are made new, and where we will be worshipping the whole time with each other. What a day to look forward to. What a time to look forward to.
Keep walking with Him. Keep worshipping Him. Keep faithful. Jesus said the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. Persevere. Don't back down. The world is trying to pull you away. I know how the enemy is trying to break your faith. It's true for each one of us. Let's persevere, and let this thought of this beautiful river where we'll be worshipping be part of your motivation to live for Jesus today, so that when your pilgrimage ends, you know that you will join the other saints at the river.
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References
Osbeck, K.W. 1985. 101 More Hymn Stories. Kregal Publications: Grand Rapids
