(Note - I also wrote about this last week on Facebook, but here have added a little to it)
Bev and I watched an OPB special concert sponsoring blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. Bev had recorded it some time ago. When ending the hymn, he looped back to the first stanza and repeated the words “…was blind, but now I see”. It was very moving, and obviously had very special meaning for him. He sang Amazing Grace in English, even though he sang the other songs in Italian, and he also added a beautiful line I couldn’t find in any hymn books:
“Yea when this heart and flesh shall fail
And mortal life shall cease
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace”
“Amazing Grace” was written in 1779 by John Newton.
For those of you who might wonder what the “veil” is referring to, I think it’s a reference to the ancient temple in Jerusalem. The area where the priests regularly served in the temple – the table of shewbread, the altar of incense, and the seven-branched oil lamp, was called the holy place. Only priests, sons of Aaron, could go in there. There was a veil, or heavy curtain, about 15’ high, that separated the holy place from the “most holy place”, where the ark of the covenant and mercy seat and the 2 cherubs were placed. The “most holy place” represented the presence of God, so “I shall possess within the veil” is the life of joy and peace that faithful believers will possess in the presence of God, in heaven, forever.
In trying to find that extra stanza about the veil, I did find another stanza in one hymn book but none others:
“The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine,
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine”
But then some friends on FB told me that Chris Tomlin added a couple stanzas of his own:
"My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace”