Lyrics
There is singing up in heaven
Such as we have never known,
Where the angels sing the praises
Of the Lamb upon the throne;
Their sweet harps are ever tuneful
And their voices are always clear,
O that we might be more like them
While we serve the Master here!
Holy, holy, is what the angels sing,
And I expect to help them make
The courts of heaven ring;
But when I sing redemption's story,
They will fold their wings,
For angels never felt the joys
That our salvation brings.
But I hear another anthem,
Blending voices clear and strong,
"Unto Him who hath redeemed us
And hath bought us," is the song;
We have come through tribulations
To this land so fair and bright,
In the fountain freely flowing
He hath made our garments white.
Then the angels stand and listen,
For they cannot join that song,
Like the sound of many waters,
By that happy, blood-washed throng;
For they sing about great trials,
Battles fought and victories won,
And they praise their great Redeemer,
Who hath said to them, "Well done."
So, although I'm not an angel,
Yet I know that over there
I will join a blessed chorus
That the angels cannot share;
I will sing about my Savior,
Who upon dark Calvary
Freely pardoned my transgressions,
Died to set the sinner free.
Public domain hymn text (1894). Words by Johnson Oatman Jr.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Johnson Oatman Jr., an American Methodist minister who worked for decades in the insurance industry alongside his prolific hymn writing, wrote 'Holy, Holy, Is What the Angels Sing' in 1894, part of a body of over five thousand hymn texts he produced over his lifetime.
The hymn's central, somewhat striking claim, voiced in its chorus, distinguishes between the angels' worship, drawn from the 'holy, holy, holy' declaration found in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, and a different song only redeemed human beings can sing, the personal 'story' of their own specific redemption.
That distinction rests on the theological reasoning that angels, never having sinned or needed salvation, can praise God's holiness but cannot personally testify to the experience of being rescued from sin, a testimony the hymn claims belongs uniquely to redeemed humanity.
Oatman wrote the vast majority of his hymns while maintaining a full-time career in insurance rather than in professional ministry or music, composing largely in his spare time and often selling his texts outright to publishers for modest, one-time payments.
Despite that largely amateur, part-time approach to hymn writing, several of his texts, including 'Count Your Blessings' and 'Higher Ground,' became among the most widely sung gospel songs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
This particular hymn's imagery of angels who 'fold their wings' to listen, rather than continuing their own song, gives redeemed humanity's testimony an unusual, almost startling prominence within the hymn's picture of heavenly worship.
The hymn remained a favorite in gospel song collections and revival hymnals, valued for the distinctive, theologically specific claim at its center: that personal testimony to grace received is a form of praise available only to those who have actually needed and received it.
