Hallelujah, for the Lord our God

This further Spring Harvest favourite has earlier origins, being published in 1972 for Scripture in Song (New Zealand) and becoming better known in Britain through Cry Hosanna in 1980. Dale Garratt’s words come from Revelation 19:6–7, where (as ever) their context should be noted. Together with ‘the marriage supper of the Lamb’, this chapter portrays the terror of final judgement against idolatry; we ‘give the glory unto him’ while there is time. As with many such songs, the author is also its composer; his tune is named HALLELUJAH FOR THE LORD OUR GOD.

b New Zealand 1939. As a girl she encountered Christian teaching which challenged her way of life, but as a teenager she showed some early rebellion which was later replaced by growing commitment. A songwriter from the late 1960s onwards, she worked with her husband Dave, whom she met through ‘Youth for Christ’, on composing and recording Scripture in Song (1968), followed by several more albums and songbooks. Their work reached Britain largely through the annual ‘Spring Harvest’ holiday gatherings for teaching, training and fellowship. She says ‘Neither of us were musicians; we were congregational singers rather than performers…A song is a tremendous way of communicating and of learning God’s word’. She sees herself as having a prophetic ministry, and has spent time on many travels with both Dave and Brent Chambers as ‘worship leaders’; she is not to be confused with the (male) American Bible commentator of the same name. No.180.