In The Sweet By And By

There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blessed;
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that hallow our days.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

Words by Sanford F. Bennett, 1868
Music by Joseph P. Webster

 

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“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
Revelation 21:1 – 7

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Philippians 3:20

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.
John 14:2

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
Hebrews 4:3

to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Ephesians 1:6

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Stop and think about what your ideal vacation would be.  Maybe it would be a trip to some exotic location, perhaps you want to visit historic sites or then again you may just want to visit family and friends.  There are lots of things we can do on our vacations, but I think that deep down, what most of us really want to do is rest and relax, after all, it is extremely frustrating to get home from your vacation to find yourself more tired than when you left.

Resting from the business and chaos of life is a dream everyone has. Whether it is a good vacation or retirement, we look forward to rest. But for those of us who know Christ, there is a rest to come that is beyond what we will ever find in on a simple vacation of retirement in this life. In Revelation 14:13 we read, “…’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord . . . so that they may rest from their labors . . .” This is the theme found in Bennett’s, “In The Sweet By And By.”

Bennett writes, “There’s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar.” He describes a beautiful vision of what we all hope for, a place of rest, a land that is more beautiful than anything we have seen.  It is a place that we will one day see, but for now, we can catch but glimpses of it through the faith we place in Christ.

But He reminds us that it is not simply some general place that lies out there waiting for us when he writes, “For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there.” It is a place that has been personally prepared for us.  Just as Jesus said in John 14:2, “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.”

We look forward to a place that will give us a rest and peace we can never know in this life.  Bennet writes, “And our spirits shall sorrow no more, Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.” Many have seen sorrows in this life that we can not comprehend.  We all pray that we can live our life without sorrows, but it is something we will face in this life.  Sorrows will come our way, but the in the rest to come the sorrows shall cease.  Revelation 21:4 tells us, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.”

Yes, we all seek a rest from the weariness of this life. And by God grace, there is a rest that will come for those who “believe in the Lord Jesus”.  “(Acts 16:31)  When we have put our faith and trust in Christ, “we who have believed enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:3) We can know the rest that will come “in the sweet by and by.”

So we conclude with the final stanza as Bennett writes:

“To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that hallow our days.”

 

 

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