“Forever with the Lord,” Amen, so let it be;
Life from the dead is in that word: ‘Tis immortality.
Here in the body pent, Absent from Him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent A day’s march nearer home.

My Father’s house on high, Home of my soul how near,
At times, to Faith’s foreseeing eye, Thy golden gates appear.

My thirsty spirit faints, To reach the land I love,
The bright inheritance of saints, Jerusalem above.

For ever with the Lord, Father, if ’tis Thy will,
The promise of that faithful word, E’en here to me fulfil.

Knowing as I am known, How shall I love that word,
And oft repeat before the throne, For ever with the Lord.

Some of the words are clearly dated, which is true of most hymns but the truth of being in the house of the Lord forever is a comfort to the believer. I couldn’t help but wonder what my parents were experiencing today. They both died in faith and had their early years of the Christian faith in Brethren circles, using this hymnbook.

O to live with the fact we are moving nearer home each day. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. As D.L. Moody stated, “Sometime you will pick up a paper and will read of D.L. Moody’s death; don’t believe a word of it; I may be asleep, but I shall not be dead; death has no terror to me…”
Both Old and New Testaments speak of this hope. “And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” What a hope is ours in Christ!