I had arrived late that afternoon and had been driven directly from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport to the headquarters of the Union of Evangelical Christians—Baptists of Russia (UECB). I was pleased when they told me I would be staying in Room #1, where I had previously stayed on several occasions. Though Room #1 was not much bigger than a monastery cell, it had a comfortable bed and a small desk and chair. Already feeling jet-lagged, I was soon climbing into bed, praying for a good night’s sleep as well as asking the Lord for something fresh to share at the morning faculty devotional time at the Academy of Spiritual Music, a fifteen minute walk away, that I had been asked to lead. Both prayers were answered.

I awakened the next morning with the reoccurring phrase, “The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, the throne is occupied,” going over and over in my head. “The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, the throne is occupied.” Sitting at the desk next to the bed I quickly wrote down those words. and then, before I knew it, I found myself continuing to write, one line after the other, almost without stopping.

You sit enthroned above the earth, You reign in majesty.
You’ll judge with justice and in might throughout eternity.
The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, the throne is occupied!

Just as your name is praised above, may it be here below.
For who is like the Lord, our God, from whom all blessings flow.
The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, the throne is occupied!

Bow down, bow down before the throne, kneel in humility,
Before the One who rules and reigns in awesome majesty.
The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, the throne is occupied!

Lift up your voice one and all to celebrate the King.
Shout loud, “Hosanna, praise to God,” rejoice, rejoice and sing.
The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, the throne is occupied!

I had my devotional thoughts as well as what would become, after Patricia set the words to music, one of our most often requested songs—The Throne is Occupied.

The Apostle John, in Revelations 4:3-4 writes: “At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne with someone sitting on it. And the One who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.”

Hallelujah! The cross is bare, the tomb is empty, but the throne IS OCCUPIED!