The Story
There is a tradition in older sacred music — going back at least as far as the Renaissance, and reaching its height in Bach — of ending a long work with what is sometimes called a chorale fantasia: a final movement that gathers up the themes of every preceding movement and braids them into a single closing statement. The point is not to repeat what you have already said; the point is to let the listener hear, for the last time, that all the separate songs were always one song.
"From Garden to Glory" is the album's chorale fantasia. The title track. The overture-as-finale. It moves chronologically across the same arc the album has just walked — Eden, the fall, Abraham, Exodus, the prophets, the silence, the incarnation, the ministry, the cross, the resurrection, Pentecost, the new creation — but it moves at the speed of memory. Each scene is a verse-and-a-half before the next one arrives. The garden gives way to the gate, the gate to the desert, the desert to the temple, the temple to the manger, the manger to the cross, the cross to the morning, the morning to the wind, the wind to the river of life.
The point of the track is not narrative. The narrative has already been done. The point is to let the listener feel, in the body, what they have just heard with the mind: that this story is one story. That the seed of the woman in Genesis 3 is the same Person as the Lamb on the throne in Revelation 22. That the river that ran out of Eden has been running, underground, through every chapter of the Bible, and surfaces again in the last paragraph as the river of life.
In one of his sermons, the seventeenth-century English preacher Thomas Goodwin said something that became, for us, the working idea of this whole album: "There are two Adams. The second Adam undid what the first Adam did, and did more besides." That is the shape of the story. Not a return to Eden — that would be too small. A graduation from Eden into something Eden was only ever the seed of.
So the song ends not where it started, but past where it started. From a garden that closed, to a city that does not. From a tree of life by a single river, to a forest of trees of life along a boulevard. From a creation that was very good, to a creation that has been put through the fire and come out the other side eternal.
The first track on this album was God speaking light into a void. The last track is God seated on a throne, looking at every human story that has ever been, and saying — for the last time, and forever — "It is good."
Scripture
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (ESV)
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive… The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:22, 45 (ESV)
Behold, I am making all things new.
Revelation 21:5 (ESV)
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:20 (ESV)
Lyrics
[Intro]
From the garden to the glory…
From the dust to the dwelling…
From the Word in the beginning…
To the Word who is telling…
This is one story — His story — our story —
*[Movement I] (Tracks 1-2)***
(atmospheric awe)
"Let there be light!" — and the galaxies spun —
"Let there be life!" — and the dust became a son —
But the serpent came, and the fruit was sweet,
And the world fell hard at the Father's feet —
Yet He promised a Seed…
Yet He promised a Seed…
*[Movement II] (Tracks 3-6)***
(Middle-Eastern fusion, urgency)
"I will bless you!" — to the man beneath the stars —
"Let My people go!" — through the blood and through the sea —
"How long, O Lord?" — cried the prophets from the scars —
"Where are You, God?" — in the silence of the years —
And the faithful kept the flame,
And the altars held His Name,
And the sky was getting ready for a Son —
*[Movement III] (Tracks 7-10)***
(massive, the heart of the album)
"IMMANUEL!" — the Word became our breath —
"THE KINGDOM IS HERE!" — said the Carpenter King —
"IT IS FINISHED!" — on the cross of our death —
"HE IS RISEN!" — and the graveyard learned to sing —
Every thorn, every nail, every shame, every wail,
Was the weight He would carry to prevail!
And the stone rolled away, and the dawn broke the gray,
And the grave gave up its king on the third day!
*[Movement IV] (Tracks 11-12)***
(pentecostal surge to apocalyptic vision)
"THE FIRE FALLS!" — on the sons and on the daughters —
"THE GOSPEL GOES ON!" — across every nation's waters —
"HE IS COMING!" — on the clouds, on the clouds —
"BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!" — He cries aloud —
[Grand Finale]
LET THERE BE LIGHT! — LET THERE BE LIFE!
WE FELL! — YET A PROMISE WAS MADE!
I WILL BLESS YOU! — PASS YOU BY!
HOW LONG? — WHERE ARE YOU? — HE IS COMING!
IMMANUEL! — THE KINGDOM IS HERE!
IT IS FINISHED! — HE IS RISEN!
THE FIRE FALLS! — ALL THINGS NEW!
FROM THE GARDEN TO THE GLORY!
FROM THE DUST TO THE THRONE!
FROM THE LAMB TO THE LION!
HE HAS BROUGHT HIS CHILDREN HOME!
FROM THE GARDEN TO THE GLORY!
FROM THE CROSS TO THE CROWN!
EVERY TEAR THAT WAS FALLING
TURNS TO SONG THAT WILL NOT COME DOWN!
[Benediction]
I have seen Him in the beginning…
I have seen Him in the end…
I have seen Him in the garden, on the mountain, at the river, on the tree…
And I have seen Him — alive — forever — with me…
(soft, then massive final lift)
MARANATHA! MARANATHA! MARANATHA!
Come, Lord Jesus! Come!
[Outro]
Amen.
And Amen.
About the song
"From Garden to Glory" is the title track and the album's closing benediction. It revisits every previous song in compressed form — sometimes only as a melodic fragment — and tries, in five minutes, to give the listener back the whole story they have just travelled through. The final chord is the same chord the album opened on, raised by a fifth: the world spoken into being, sung now from the throne.