Pentecost Sunday is a day to sing one of our great hymns about (and to) the Holy Spirit. We are Trinitarian in our dogmatic theology, and so we should also be Trinitarian in our musical doxology. This third person of the Holy Trinity deserves our careful study and also our joyful praise. Eternally existent in loving union and fellowship with the Father and the Son, He is described in Scripture not only in cooperation with the other two persons, but also with distinct work in the design and accomplishment of redemption.
We first encounter the Holy Spirit in the opening verses of Genesis 1, as the Spirit moving over the face of the deep in creation, where God goes on to say, “Let US make man in OUR image and after OUR likeness.” And He is there in the final book of the Bible as well where He is represented as the glassy sea (a symbol of peace and calm) before the throne at the center of heaven. He is the “other counselor” Jesus promised to send in John 14. He is prominent in Paul’s letters as the one who gives gifts to every believer (“spiritual gifts” – such as leadership and generosity and helping and showing mercy; as in Romans 12:3-8) and who produces godliness in our character (“spiritual fruit” – such as love and joy and peace and kindness; as in Galatians 5:22-23). And it was the Holy Spirit who guided human hands and minds to give us the inspired Word of God.
One of the most wonderful statements in Scripture about the distinct work of the Spirit, and of each person of the Trinity, is in that lengthy single sentence (in Greek) that we find in Ephesians 1:3-4. It was God the Father who chose us – predestined us – before the foundation of the world (the one who planned our salvation). It was God the Son who redeemed us by His shed blood at the cross (the one who accomplished our salvation). And it was God the Holy Spirit who caused us to be born again, sealing that work in our hearts in our regeneration (the one who applied our salvation).
Our hymn study today is Margaret Clarkson’s For Your Gift of God the Spirit. This Canadian elementary school teacher was born in 1915, a career that lasted for 40 years through almost constant pain. Though often bed-bound from the age of three with painful juvenile arthritis and later with migraines, she penned dozens of hymns, many of which became well known through her long association with Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship. In 1946 she wrote We Come, O Christ, to You as the theme song for what would later become Inter Varsity’s triennial Urbana Missions Conference. Her 1935 hymn, So Send I You (which we’ll study later as the finest missions hymn of the 20th century) also became popular through Inter Varsity when it was first published in 1954, especially after she re-wrote the words in a more much balanced version in 1963. Instead of So send I you to labor unrewarded, she changed it to So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph. When you sing it, make sure you use the “corrected” version!
Margaret (seldom known by her real first name, Edith) had a heart for missions, but knew that she could not travel to a foreign field because of her health problems. Since she fully embraced and defended a warm understanding of Reformed theology, she accepted her limitations as part of a sovereign and loving God’s design for her. In fact, that theme lies behind one of her most-often read books that came out of her own physical and emotional struggles and suffering: “Grace Grows Best in Winter,” first published in 1972. Those struggles lasted all the way to the end, including her final years clouded by dementia.
A Wheaton College Archive staff member summarized her life and work this way:
Throughout her life Margaret Clarkson seemingly experienced every form of suffering one could experience; a broken home, financial strains, loneliness and isolation, and constant physical pain. However, through it all, she continued to place her faith and trust in her Savior. During a life of trials she sensed God’s grace and mercy and communicated that to others by providing the church with dozens of hymns testifying to His sovereignty, love, and power. Margaret Clarkson heard and increasingly understood God’s call upon her life. As she matured, she recognized that she was sent out to minister to others, not in isolation, but in triumph. She died on March 17, 2008 in Toronto, Ontario.
One of the things we notice right away is that she correctly addressed the Holy Spirit with the personal pronoun “You.” He is in the fullest sense a divine person who interacts with us and for us, not merely a force that influences us. He makes decisions, grants gifts, speaks to us in Scripture, and guides us with loving care.
In the first stanza, we recognize that He is God, and thus rightly receives our worship. He possesses the fullness of the very Godhead, on His heavenly throne, from where He has been sent by the Father and the Son to create new life in our own hearts.
For your gift of God the Spirit, power to make our lives anew,
pledge of life and hope of glory, Savior, we would worship You.
Crowning gift of resurrection sent from Your ascended throne,
fullness of the very Godhead, come to make Your life our own.
In the second stanza, we recall that He was there at the creation of the universe, He brooded on the lifeless deep. Similarly, He moved over our spiritually lifeless souls to bring us to life, making us aware of our sin and need for a saving Advocate.
He who in creation’s dawning brooded on the lifeless deep,
still across our nature’s darkness moves to wake our souls from sleep,
moves to stir, to draw, to quicken, thrusts us through with sense of sin;
brings to birth and seals and fills us saving Advocate within.
In the third stanza, we reflect on His work in inspiration. The same Holy Spirit who makes us alive in Christ is the very Author of every word of scripture, which He uses to make us alive. And He now teaches us to pray and intercedes for us both night and day.
He, Himself the living Author, wakes to life the sacred Word,
reads with us its holy pages and reveals our risen Lord.
He it is who works within us, teaching rebel hearts to pray,
He whose holy intercessions rise for us both night and day.
In the fourth stanza, we remind ourselves that we need Him every moment of our lives in our struggle with sin. He is God and dwells within us, strengthening us in our battle with Satan, assuring us of ultimate victory to conquer foes without and foes within.
He, the mighty God, indwells us; His to strengthen, help, empower;
His to overcome the tempter, ours to call in danger’s hour.
In His strength we dare to battle all the raging hosts of sin,
and by Him alone we conquer foes without and foes within.
In the fifth stanza, we call on all three persons of the Holy Trinity to rule in our hearts. What a beautiful expression of the longing of our hearts that He be grieved not, quenched not, but unhindered all the way to the end that His perfect will be done.
Father, grant your Holy Spirit in our hearts may rule today,
grieved not, quenched not, but unhindered, work in us His sovereign way.
Fill us with your holy fullness, God the Father, Spirit, Son;
in us, through us, then, forever, shall Your perfect will be done.
The tune BLAENWERN was composed during the years of the 1904-05 Welsh revival. It was named after the farm where the author, William Rowlands, sent his son to recover from an illness. It is a very popular musical selection at British weddings, and is often joined with Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, or as at Billy Graham crusades with What a Friend We Have in Jesus.