New

New is the closest thing in the catalogue to a straight setting of scripture. It is Revelation 21, taken almost in the order the chapter gives it, and once you notice that the song stops being a collection of images and becomes a walk-through.

A new heaven and a new earth, the first passed away — that is verse one. God’s throne now with man is verse three. No more pain, no more crying, no more dying is verse four, the verse he says the song came from. I am the first and the last, come and drink is verse six, where the water is given to the thirsty for nothing. Even lying down on gold is in there, from the description of the street of the city.

His reason for choosing that chapter is not theological. It is that the promise in verse four has been useful to him.

This verse has carried me through difficult seasons. Knowing that God will bring an end to pain and sorrow gives me strength.On Revelation 21:4

That is the whole argument of the song, and it is a modest one: not that the pain is not real, but that it is not permanent.

The song is a beautiful reminder that our current circumstances are temporary.Yemi Alafifuni

It was the first release from the YHWH EP, which he describes as a record calling the church to hold fast to hope. It also makes New his third song out of Revelation — Behold The Lamb came from chapter five, YHWH from five verse twelve, and this one from chapter twenty-one. He began at the throne and has worked his way to the city.

The last thing the song does is decline to reassure anybody. After four minutes of describing the place, it stops describing and asks: new heaven, new earth — will you be there.