Now Let Us Rejoice: Becoming One in Christ

Last night I had a dream in which I was walking alongside someone when the words of the hymn “Now Let Us Rejoice” came into our minds. As we walked, I began pondering what the words were actually saying. What stood out to me was that this hymn was speaking about us—the covenant people of Jesus Christ who are being prepared for Zion and for His coming.

Later in the dream, I found myself teaching this understanding to a couple of people. One received what I was saying without argument, while the other debated it and remained fixed on what they had previously understood the hymn to mean. They saw it primarily as a hymn about the Second Coming. The hymn certainly looks forward to the return of Jesus Christ, but as I pondered its words, I understood that it is also speaking about the work Christ is doing among His people before He comes and what His people must become in preparation for Him.

What became especially clear to me is that this hymn is a testimony of the Kingdom of Zion. It speaks of a people who know Jesus Christ, hear His voice, are gathered by Him, learn to live as one, rely upon Him through the last days, and are prepared to receive Him at His coming.

No Longer as Strangers

The first verse says:

Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation,
No longer as strangers on earth need we roam.
Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation,
And shortly the hour of redemption will come.

We are living in the day of salvation, and “No longer as strangers on earth need we roam” speaks directly to the kind of people Zion is meant to become. We are not simply people who attend the same church or know one another only on the surface. Zion is a people who genuinely know one another, love one another, care for one another, and understand that we belong together as a covenant people under Jesus Christ.

This is more than being neighbors or calling one another brother and sister. We are learning to become a godly people who are deeply involved in one another’s lives and who do not wander through this life independently, disconnected from the people God has joined us to.

The verse then says, “Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation, / And shortly the hour of redemption will come.” The gospel of Jesus Christ has gone throughout the nations, and the hour we have been looking toward is drawing near. Nearly two hundred years have passed since these words were written, and we are now living much closer to the redemption the Saints were looking forward to.

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Kingdom of Zion is not established as introductory Christianity for those who are only beginning to know Jesus Christ. The Lord is calling those whom He has already prepared, those who know Him and hear His voice, into the covenant work of Zion. We rejoice because He is doing this now and because the hour of His coming is drawing near.

All That Was Promised the Saints

The chorus says:

When all that was promised the Saints will be given,
And none will molest them from morn until ev’n,
And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden,
And Jesus will say to all Israel, “Come home.”

The words “all that was promised the Saints will be given” reach through generations of covenant people. The Saints of the Restoration received ordinances, the endowment, covenants, and promises that pointed toward blessings still awaiting their fulfillment. These promises reach even farther back through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and through everything Jesus Christ promised concerning the gathering and redemption of Israel.

Ether chapter 4 speaks of this same pattern. Jesus Christ calls His people to come unto Him so that greater things may be made manifest, and He declares that the Father will remember the covenant He made with the house of Israel. The Lord has not forgotten what He promised His covenant people.

The words “none will molest them from morn until ev’n” speak of a time when those who attack, persecute, or seek to tear apart the work of God will no longer have power over His people. Truth may be challenged and the people of Zion may be opposed, but no one can ultimately destroy what Jesus Christ Himself is establishing.

Then Jesus gives the invitation: “Come home.” He is calling Israel home to Him and into the Kingdom of Zion. He is the One who knows His elect, prepares them, speaks to them, and brings them into His work. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Kingdom of Zion receives and teaches those whom He sends.

Coming home begins with coming fully unto Jesus Christ, hearing His voice, receiving His covenants, and allowing Him to gather His people into one body. The gathering is already underway, and it will continue until Zion is established in its fullness and the earth is renewed.

We Will Love One Another and Ever Be One

The second verse says:

We’ll love one another and never dissemble,
But cease to do evil and ever be one.
And when the ungodly are fearing and tremble,
We’ll watch for the day when the Savior will come.

To dissemble means to conceal what we truly think or feel by pretending to be something we are not. When the hymn says we will “never dissemble,” it is teaching that the love of Zion is real. We are not pretending to be united while living separate lives and caring only for ourselves.

We love one another, know one another, care about what is happening in each other’s lives, and bear one another’s burdens. We are not simply brothers and sisters in name. We are becoming a covenant family who genuinely lives as one.

This is why the verse continues, “But cease to do evil and ever be one.” We are removing Babylon from our lives and letting go of the pride, selfishness, resentment, rivalry, and division that keep people apart. We are learning not to break apart or separate from one another whenever difficulty comes, but to remain faithful, forgive, love deeply, and seek with all our hearts to become one.

The verse also says, “And when the ungodly are fearing and tremble.” Those who do not know Christ, will not hear His voice, or are more attached to Babylon than to His law may fear what He is doing among His people. Some will fear the truths being taught because those truths require change. Some may even oppose the work and seek to destroy what they do not understand.

But while others fear and tremble, the people of Zion “watch for the day when the Savior will come.” We are not afraid of His coming. We are looking forward to it.

Relying on the Arm of Jehovah

The third verse says:

In faith we’ll rely on the arm of Jehovah
To guide thru these last days of trouble and gloom,
And after the scourges and harvest are over,
We’ll rise with the just when the Savior doth come.

There could hardly be a clearer description of how a Zion people must learn to live than “In faith we’ll rely on the arm of Jehovah.” We rely upon Jesus Christ day by day to provide for us, preserve us, protect us, correct us, and guide us.

His grace does not only save us from sin and death. We experience His grace in our daily lives as we depend upon Him through hardship, uncertainty, opposition, and every difficulty that comes with building Zion.

These are truly “days of trouble and gloom.” Not all is well simply because we have been called into His work. There are struggles, sacrifices, persecutions, and great difficulties. Even those who consider themselves part of God’s covenant people may reject the members of Zion, call the work evil, or seek to tear down what Jesus Christ is establishing.

Through all of it, we rely upon Him.

The hymn then says, “after the scourges and harvest are over.” The scourges belong to the judgments of the Lord upon wickedness and upon those who seek to destroy His Kingdom. We do not need to fight every battle for ourselves. The Lord knows His people, knows those who oppose His work, and has promised to fight His battles according to His own wisdom.

The harvest is the gathering of His elect. Jesus Christ is taking those whom He has prepared from among His covenant people and bringing them into the Kingdom of Zion. He knows who is ready, He knows their hearts, and He is the One who calls them.

When the scourges and the harvest appointed for these last days are complete, “We’ll rise with the just when the Savior doth come.” The Savior will come, and those who are His will rise in the resurrection of the just.

Christ and His People Will Ever Be One

The final verse says:

Then all that was promised the Saints will be given,
And they will be crown’d with the angels of heav’n,
And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden,
And Christ and his people will ever be one.

Again we are reminded that “all that was promised the Saints will be given.” These are the promises God has made to His covenant-keeping people throughout the generations, including the promises received through covenant and through the endowment in the temple of our God.

The next line is incredible: “And they will be crown’d with the angels of heav’n.” The scriptures teach that the faithful will receive a crown of glory and sit down with Jesus Christ in His throne. Those who overcome will receive the inheritance He has promised, be made heirs with Him, receive all that He has prepared, and reign with Him.

This is the promise His covenant people have been preparing to receive.

When Jesus Christ comes, His faithful people will not simply stand at a distance and watch Him reign. They will be joined with Him in His Kingdom, receive the inheritance He has promised, sit with Him in His throne, and reign with Him upon the renewed earth.

Then the hymn says, “And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden.” The Kingdom of Zion will continue under Jesus Christ upon an earth that has been renewed in righteousness, peace, and glory.

The final words bring the whole hymn to its fulfillment: “And Christ and his people will ever be one.” Jesus Christ will be the head of His people, and His covenant people will be joined to Him as His Bride and His family. They will live with Him in glory, sit with Him in His throne, reign with Him, and continue with Him forever.

This is what the whole work of Zion has been preparing His people to receive. It is only through Jesus Christ that we are able to become His people, His family, and truly become one with Him.

A Testimony of the Kingdom of Zion

When “Now Let Us Rejoice” is read as a whole, it becomes a powerful testimony and witness of the Kingdom of Zion. It speaks of a people who are no longer strangers to one another, who receive the promises made to God’s covenant people, who are called home by Jesus Christ, who genuinely love one another without pretending, who leave Babylon behind to become one, and who rely completely upon the arm of Jehovah through the troubles of the last days.

This is the work Jesus Christ is establishing through His Kingdom of Zion. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Kingdom of Zion serves that work by receiving and teaching those whom Christ personally calls, preserving what He has revealed, administering the covenants and ordinances He has entrusted to it, and helping His people learn to live the laws of Zion together.

The promises behind this work did not begin with us. They reach through the Restoration and the endowment, through the promises Jesus Christ made concerning His return, through Ether chapter 4, and back through the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord has remembered His covenant, and He is gathering His people according to His promises.

“Now Let Us Rejoice” was written by William W. Phelps nearly two hundred years ago. Whatever he may have understood concerning the complete fulfillment of the words he wrote, the Saints of his day were looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ and to promises that were still ahead of them. We are now living much closer to that promised hour, and these words bear witness of the covenant people Christ is preparing before He comes.

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is directing this work. I know that He is gathering His covenant-keeping people, calling His elect home, teaching us to love one another and become one, and guiding us through these last days by His own hand. We do not need to fear the opposition that comes or be ashamed of the people He is teaching us to become, because this work belongs to Him.

The hymn begins by telling us to “rejoice in the day of salvation” and ends with “Christ and his people” forever one. This is the Kingdom of Zion Jesus Christ is building, and this is the people He is preparing to stand with Him when He comes.

I know these things to be true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.