Solid Joys and Lasting Treasures
John Newton was raised in a pious Christian home but turned his back on the faith as a teenager. He lived the profligate life of a seaman and slave-trader, only to return to the faith and become an influential pastor and hymn writer in 18th century England. According to biographer Bert Polman, “several factors contributed to Newton’s conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide-surveyor in Liverpool, England, Newton came under the influence of George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley and began to study for the ministry. He was ordained in the Church of England and served in Olney (1764-1780) and St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807).”[1]
Perhaps best known for his hymn Amazing Grace, Newton composed many others, including a hymn extolling the Kingdom of God titled Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken. This hymn is full of biblical imagery describing the Kingdom of God in this world, even taking its title from the use of “city” in Psalm 87 as a description of the Kingdom.
The LORD loves the gates of Zion . . . Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! (Psalm 87:2-3 NKJV)
The first stanza opens with a declaration that the Kingdom of God – the people of God in all times and places – has God himself as its foundation. As the Lord says in Isaiah 44:8, “Is there a God besides Me? Indeed, there is no other Rock” (NKJV). His Word and His person provide the firm foundation which gives confidence and hope to the believer.
Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God.
He whose Word cannot be broken formed thee for His own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded, thou mayest smile at all thy foes.
God is the holy God, the righteous and all-powerful God. But He is also the God of love and mercy and grace, who gives life and joy and blessing to His people. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38 NKJV). Newton uses the biblical picture of “living” water to express the blessing of God that His people find in His Kingdom; blessing and refreshing the source of which is the love of God for His people.
See, the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters and all fear of want remove.
Who can faint while such a river ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver, never fails from age to age.
The psalmist writes, “LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells” (Psalm 26:8 NKJV). The person of God and the Word of God – who He is and what He says – are the foundation of His Kingdom. The love and the grace of God supply to the believer all that is needed for life now and through eternity. But it is the presence of God, expressed by Newton in the Old Testament images of God’s manifestation through cloud and fire, that the true believer most needs and desires to experience. “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV).
Round each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear
For a glory and a covering, showing that the Lord is near.
Thus deriving from their banner light by night and shade by day,
Safe they feed upon the manna which He gives them on their way.
Jesus inaugurated his earthly ministry with this announcement: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15 NKJV). Jesus began building His Kingdom to be like a great city, like a great “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1), built of the unfailing foundation of the Word of God, dispensing God’s love and grace and joy like a river to all who will receive it, and filling the world with His presence. These are truly “solid joys and lasting treasures” that “none but Zion’s children know.” Today, Jesus, reigning as King at the Father’s side, is still building His Kingdom. He is doing it through His people, filled with His Spirit, taking the reality of His Kingdom with them wherever they go.
Savior, since of Zion’s city I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy name.
Fading is the worldling’s pleasures, all his boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion’s children know.
Sing along with the congregation of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC as they sing this hymn.
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
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[1] https://hymnary.org/person/Newton_John
