Your Presence Is Heaven to Me -- Israel Houghton and Micah Massey

 

How many of us Earth-ers have wished that the Righteous Judge would make a physical appearance at one time or another? Could that have been what Israel Houghton and Micah Massey were also mulling over, as so many of us do on a particularly tough day? But rather than bemoaning the state of terrestrial affairs, Israel and Micah saw themselves in contact, in awe, and at least momentarily transported to an unblemished vision, when they exclaimed that “Your Presence Is Heaven to Me”. Perhaps that’s what three of His Apostles also experienced – that they were seeing a piece of Heaven when they saw Jesus transfigured with two other famous people (Moses and Elijah) of their heritage (see the 19^th Century artwork, The Transfiguration of Christ, by Carl Bloch here). Suspend the limits that your five senses coax you to accept, and imagine what it’s like to be with Him, as you and I hope and believe we will be in that never-ending place. It’s called heaven, and as Israel and Micah remind us, His presence is here now.

 

These two writers don’t share explicitly what spurred their song’s lyrics and music (which were published in 2012), but any number of scriptures might have contributed to the insights of Israel and Micah regarding His presence. ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…on earth as it is in heaven’, as Jesus was once teaching a group of disciples to pray (Matthew 6:10). Or how about ^‘I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life’ (1 John 5:13). In both cases, believers seem to be told that His kingdom, and the eternity that comes with it, is available already. Try on these also, as they help convey something of the song lyrics’ meaning (as pointed out in one of the links below): Psalm 16:11; Exodus 33:14; Psalm 27:4; Psalm 42:1-2; Matthew 18:20. God’s presence is not some distant uncertainty, but a trustworthy promise. He answers and provides, even by giving people other mortals with whom they can share and count on His abiding presence. That’s a present-tense assurance that Isaiah and Micah realized when they wrote ‘Your Presence Is Heaven to Me’. Is…not will be, as they have us sing some 21 times in the song that they wrote. That is their main thought, that the believer should capture the moment one senses Him spiritually, and hold on to that. There is so much that comes with pondering Him and what He means. ‘Love’, ‘beauty’, and ‘worth’ (v.1) are what we can behold in Him, and He’s the bottomless ‘cup that won’t run dry’. The ‘treasure’ that He is overcomes my ‘weakness’ and ‘wrongs’, because he is ‘merciful’, the ‘Redeemer’ – the ‘Holder of my future’ (v.2). It’s not a wonder that Isaiah and Micah don’t try to enumerate more – the above are plenty for you and me to acknowledge with an Amen, as we sing repeatedly the song’s title words!

 

Put yourself in the shoes of Peter, James, and John as they saw Jesus in all of His glory. Look at that image up at the top of this entry for a few moments, or close your eyes if that’s more effective. When has He been real for you? When you were in dire straits, medically, financially, emotionally, or relationally? He doesn’t play favorites, but He does seem to want us to acknowledge our need and exercise some bit of faith in Him, even a mustard-seed size type of faith (Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6). None of us measure up to His standard, and I expect to be terrified, at least initially, when I actually am before Him. Look at how his three closest disciples reacted to Him (in the picture), including in many other episodes in which He showed His power. They were petrified, and yet He embraced them, and wants us to draw near despite our insides telling us to withdraw and hide. He cannot help being divine, and thereby alarming us. But, He is also gentle (Matthew 11:29; 21:5). What I need is not to be hidden and safe from a power that I admittedly cannot comprehend, but to see my need for His cure. There’s no other way out of my problems. He made me, so I think I can trust that He knows what I need. Seek out His presence.      

 

Read about one of the composers here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Houghton

 

Read about one of the composers here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_Massey

 

Watch/listen to a performance by one of the composers here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aff5lPzKQIo

 

Read some comments about the song’s meaning here: https://sifalyrics.com/israel-houghton-israel-new-breed-your-presence-is-heaven-lyrics

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transfigurationbloch.jpg …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1930. The image may be found inside the article at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus

Victor's Crown -- Darlene Zschech, Israel Houghton, Kari Jobe

 

Their ‘vision’ defied what their eyes would have told them. There’s another way to say that – ‘Don’t believe what your eyes are seeing’. And so, try reading from the International Standard Version of the Bible when you look up John 19:2-5, and notice how it’s different than virtually all of the other translations. That’s apparently what Darlene Zschech and her two collaborators, Israel Houghton and Kari Jobe, noticed, and what spurred “Victor’s Crown” in 2011. (See here the image of Christ Carrying the Cross, and wearing a crown of thorns, by 16^th Century artist El Greco.) Jesus stood on its head what wearing the thorns on one’s brow typically meant, and what the Roman soldiers evidently intended when they thrust them down on His head to cause one more stab of pain to His physical body. It was also their way to poke fun at Him, to heap yet one more bit of ignominy upon His person. We can thank Him that He was capable of enduring whatever they did to Him, and in fact turning it all upside down.

 

Darlene and her husband Mark Zschech left the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia to become the pastors of the Hope Unlimited Church in New South Wales in 2011; it was from there just a couple of years later that ‘Victor’s Crown was written by Darlene, along with her collaborators. Darlene has shared in a video explanation (see the link below) the song’s inspiration, and what all that scene in John 19 has meant for believers. In short, his bleeding forehead and what would happen in the next few moments and hours were not the end of the story. The ‘final victory’ was in the resurrection, the defeat of death. With that, as Darlene explained, some of the lyrics that she, Israel, and Kari wrote describe what naturally results from such an amazing sequence of events. The ‘high things…come down’ and ‘strongholds…broken’. Pilate and the others, Darlene observed, thought their own power had been victorious; one has to wonder why they thought this way. Had they not perceived that He was more than a magician, that He had raised others, perhaps most notably Lazarus whom so many credible witnesses had observed (see John 11 and 12), so that His opponents even plotted to kill Lazarus too? But, they just didn’t have the power to eliminate all of the evidence; that’s what ultimately convicts criminals – they cannot erase all of the evidence. They cannot overcome because there’s too many evidence trails that lead back to them. On the other hand, Jesus has ‘overcome’, and He wants the evidence trails to lead inexorably to Himself. Darlene reminds us in the video that God underscores this point for us --- He’s ‘greater than anything anybody may be facing, and that’s the joy of the Victor’s Crown’. He doesn’t wear it just to help Himself; it’s for you and me, too.

 

The ‘Victor’s Crown’ really says it all, so this blogger doesn’t need to expound on it more here. Listen/watch it here, and just celebrate that what is sung is true, forever. Tell-show others that whatever dogs them in their terrestrial life, whatever feels like a crushing weight on their shoulders, whatever gnaws at their guts or feels empty deep inside, to get in touch with what the words of the song communicate. Bet your life on its truth.  Victor's Crown w/Darlene Zschech

 

See/hear the song story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X100Fzd5PP8

 

See here information on the image of Jesus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Carrying_the_Cross_1580.jpg …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. The image may be found inside this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_thorns

 

See here for information about the coat of arms of New South Wales: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_New_South_Wales.svg …The author died in 1922, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. Find this image within this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales

You Are Good -- Israel Houghton

 

This songwriter must have first heard the foundation for this song, really the fulcrum for his life, from his mother. The moment in San Diego (see its flag here) in 1971 that most influenced Israel Houghton’s life happened before he was even born, but is it possible that he might have heard or detected some noteworthy words though the umbilical cord while still in his mother’s womb? There were other words like “You Are Good” that he later adopted as his own life’s theme when his purpose became clear. His life's start, even before his birth, was not very auspicious, but that part of his story must have made the bounty of his life by the time he reached 40 years old seem so much sweeter. Don’t ever forget the pit where you might have been, except for the charity of an anonymous person, someone who was just a willing vessel for the God who is good. Israel hadn’t forgotten, and so he composed something so that would make it impossible to overlook what had happened four decades earlier.  

 

Israel’s first name emerged from what his mother began to read along a lonely street – it was the gift of a bible from a woman she’d never met, someone who just thought this young eight-months pregnant woman needed God in the worst way. She kept seeing ‘Israel’ in this book, following her submission to Him on Carlsbad Avenue that day, and so his name and Israel’s direction were already in progress. His parents’ cross-cultural union (Israel’s biological father was black, his mother was white) had disintegrated, but his new stepfather’s work as a church pastor, and his mother’s musical background (she’d been a concert pianist) gave the one-year-old Israel lots to build on. His mother’s parents had tried to convince her to abort the unborn fetus within her, a fact that some mothers might have chosen to conceal from their offspring. But it was just one more startling ingredient within Israel Houghton as he approached 40 years old, one more reason to say ‘thanks’ to God, over and over in 2001. Using Psalms 100 and 124, Israel created a way to vocalize how much he appreciated the path he’d been blessed to take, certainly not something he could have chosen for himself as an unborn child and then as a youngster in California. But he was grateful not to have been an abortion casualty, and Psalm 124 helped him find what he calls ‘an internal platform’ in his role as a worship leader; it’s an attitude that, as David penned, “If it had not been for the Lord, who was on my side...”. That’s what motivates Israel, who uses some brief words from Psalm 100 to express in ‘You Are Good’ his gratitude. It’s not a complicated affair in ‘You Are Good’, but rather repeated phrases directed toward the Lord, including the song’s title words, and that His ‘mercy endureth forever’, and that all ‘nation(s)’ and ‘tongues’ from all ‘generation(s)’ can praise Him. Israel invites all others to join his celebration of what has transpired. He’s evidently said it for himself so much, that he now solicits multitudes of other people to join him, so that his otherwise solitary praise might be magnified properly to advance the name of the One who can save. He can do, and will do, for countless others what Israel’s life has already represented in one small episode.

 

Being saved can take on a wide variety of looks. To calculate it, you can begin by taking a world census, and that might get you close to how many ways God can save. And by imagining that, you’ll see just how good He really is. Then, multiply that across all of human life’s presence here on Earth…how many people, and how much time would that portray? It’s just way too much to process. But, the last of the Apostles got to see something like that, when he writes of the multitude that was before his eyes (Revelation 7:9; 17:15; 19:1 and 19:6), a sight and a sound that must have given him chills. That is the home of this good God. Imagine the cosmic salvation scene that awaits. Seems like Israel Houghton already has.   

 

See some information on the author-composer here: Israel Houghton - Wikipedia

 

See biography of the author-composer here: http://www.integritymusic.com/artists/bio/israel.html

 

See the song story briefly here: The Story Behind the Song You Are Good | PraiseCharts

 

See Israel’s story here also: Israel Houghton: An Intimate Portrait of Worship | CBN

 

See information on the image of the San Diego flag here: File:Flag of San Diego, California.svg - Wikimedia Commons This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1928 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart and the copyright renewal logs. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 years p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 years p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 years p.m.a.), Mexico (100 years p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 years p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.