Song: We Shall See Jesus
Scripture: I John 3:1-3 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
In my opinion, if Dianne Wilkinson accidently cut her finger she would bleed Southern Gospel music. “It is very dear to my heart”, she told me. She also loves her church, Springhill Baptist Church, in Dyersburg, Tennessee, pastored by her brother, James Branscum. She is the church pianist and teacher of the Open Door Sunday School Class. The people of the church know of her success as a songwriter, but they relate to her as part of their church family. She said to me, “I have always had a music ministry in my church and that is where my calling is.” Her loyalty and love for her local church is inspiring. Wayda go Dianne!
She was born, Dianne Branscum, in Blytheville, Arkansas, a small town in the northeast part of the state, just across the Mississippi River from her present residence. As a small child she was often carried by her mother, Blanche, and her mother’s sister, Mavis, to the Ellis Auditorium in nearby Memphis, Tennessee, to hear the Blackwood Brothers, the Statemen, the Speer Family, the LeFevres, and other well-known Southern Gospel singers of that era.
In her early 20s she began to be impressed of the Lord that she should be a serious student of the Bible. She purchased commentaries and study materials that would help her to learn and understand what God is saying to us in His Word. She now believes that the Lord led her in that direction because He wanted her songwriting to be true to the Word of God.
During the next twenty years she wrote nearly 300 songs, some of which have become standards in the genre of Southern Gospel music. The Cathedrals recorded sixteen songs written by Dianne, and one of them is the subject of this story.
In an interview Dianne said, “When you are writing for the Cathedrals and you love quartet music like I do, so much of it comes out just straight ahead, quartet to the bone. And that is really what I’m doing these days. Traditional quartets are more popular then ever and they are always looking for new songs that sound old.”
After asking her how she came to write “We Shall See Jesus,” she related to me the following story:
“First, let me tell you that I never plan to write a song. I cannot write songs on demand. I never could do that -- wish I could.
I was living in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1981, and I began to think about the times when Jesus was on a hillside with people gathered around Him. As I thought of that setting, I wondered what it must have been like to just reach out and touch His hand -- to be there in His presence, face to face. Suddenly, I realized that one day we will have the same opportunity that those people in Bible days had. Some day I will see Him just as they saw Him, as they sat with Him on the hillside, as he fed the thousands, touched the blind eyes, and healed the broken spirits. The song began to unfolded in that way -- in a triple setting.”
In the song Dianne describes two other occasions when Jesus was on a hillside -- once when He was being crucified, to pay our sin debt, and the other, after His ressurection, when He blessed his disciples, and then rose to the heavens, promising “to come back again.”
The chorus is sung only once, after the trilogy of scenes where Christ is described. It rises in a triumphant crescendo, as we are reminded of the second coming of our Lord, when He will return in glory and power. Then... “we shall see Jesus, just as He is.”
One day Roger Bennett, for twenty years pianist for the Cathedrals, called Dianne and said that they were going to put her song on a project called “Live in Atlanta,” and that they had a front row seat reserved for her. This was the first time the song was to be sung in public. As Glenn Payne beautifully sang the three verses there was almost a stunned silence, but as he moved into the triumphant chorus singing, “We shall see Jesus, just as they saw Him,” the audience came to their feet. After that, wherever they sang the song, the audience reaction was the same.
The Cathedrals kept that song in their program until Payne’s death. “It became Glenn’s signature song,” said Wilkinson. In fact, when they had Glenn Payne’s celebration of 50 years in Southern Gospel music, Dianne was invited and presented to him the pages of a pad, beautifully framed, on which she had scrawled the words to “We Shall See Jesus,” as she was writing the lyrics for the first time. She added, “Some time later, I sat at his funeral and watched them play the video of Glenn singing that song -- at his own memorial service.”
Reflection:
We have all often wondered just how Jesus looked while here on this earth and how he looks today. The Bible says that when we get to heaven we shall know as we are known. Yes, we shall see our wonderful Lord, “just as He is.”
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 08/07/2008
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Category: Behind the Songs
Comments: 2
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I too grew up in Blytheville, AR and remember when Dianne brought her earliest songs to the Mississippi County Singing Conventions and performed them for the very first time. Dianne has been a wonderful friend and encouragement to me since my early childhood. She is without question one of Southern Gospel's all time greatest writers.
Since my dear wife Judy and I went to a Gaither concert (not yet called Homecoming) in Dayton, Ohio, early 1982, we have become avid aficianados of Southern Gospel music in all of its forms -- chorus, choir, instrumental, orchestral, and especially quartet. In that concert, Bill introduced the Gaither Vocal Band and Sandi Patti sang "I just saw Jesus" with Steve Greene. We thought that the rapture had occurred!
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