In his book The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis imagines the creation of his imaginary world. He envisions Aslan speaking that world into existence, as God once created our real world by speaking it into existence. In doing so, he adds a remarkable twist, one that makes me wonder whether God may have done the same thing himself. He writes that Aslan sang that imaginary world into being:

In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it. [1]

When God spoke the world into existence, did he sing as he spoke? It is not hard to imagine this possibility. Perhaps he did not just say, "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3), or, "Let there be vegetation" (Gen 1:11), or, "Let there be stars" (Gen 1:14), or, "Let there be animals" (Gen 1:24). Perhaps when he said these things, he said them in a singing and melodious way, and not in a monotone decree. We cannot say that he did, but neither can we say he did not. After all, we do know that the LORD our God does sing (Zeph 3:17).

The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

Imagining these things reminds me of a fascinating Old Testament reference to music - Isaiah 55:12-13.

The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree...

These verses describe in grand and jubilant fashion a future time when God will transform the natural landscape of this world dramatically, whether in the coming millennial kingdom or on the new earth in the eternal state. About this portrayal, one commentator says, "The hills singing and the trees clapping their hands is obviously not literal (Isa 55:12b; cf. 42:10-11; Psa 98:8) but expresses the joy that will fill the earth" [2]. By saying this, he agrees with the majority of readers. Isaiah wrote these verses in a poetic form and uses figures of speech like anthropomorphism, which means "giving human characteristics to nonhuman things."When he says that the "trees shall clap their hands," we know that he is using this figure of speech because trees do not have hands. But prior to the fall of man and after God restores the natural world in the future, is there any sense in which mountains sing? Perhaps this is nothing more than a figurative way of saying that the entire world will resonate with joy (and this is probably the case). Or then again, perhaps the mountains of that paradisiacal world will sing in some way or another, emanating with a sound so beautiful you will hardly be able bear it.

Perhaps this is nothing more than a figurative way of saying that the entire world will resonate with joy (and this is probably the case).

Whatever the case, I encourage you to look ahead and imagine just a little. Reflect on these verses and begin your rejoicing now, though ever so slightly, as you prepare to find out firsthand whether the mountains will sing or not.

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[1] C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 62.[2] Gary Smith, Isaiah 40-66, vol. 15B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman , 2009), 512.