Hymns4Him

Note: This is a replacement for the previously issued and updated #71 – ed.

The blood of Jesus is precious to those who belong to Jesus.  It was His blood that redeemed us as it was shed for us on the cross.  It is the blood of the Lamb of God that we remember every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  It is the blood that was the price paid to ransom us from slavery to sin and to an eternity in hell, and has given us instead the forgiveness of all of our sins and the assurance of everlasting joy in the courts of heaven in the presence of our God and all his angels and saints.

There have been those who would argue for a Christianity without that blood.  But without the blood, there is no Christianity.  Had Jesus’ blood not been shed, we would be left with a religion just as useless as all the religions in history.  We would have a Jesus whose life was lived as a model for good, ethical living that we have to imitate as an example for our working our way to heaven.  There is no gospel in that, since our sins have rendered us spiritually dead and unable to follow even the most perfect example.  No, the blood of Jesus is absolutely essential to biblical Christianity, and to our eternal life.

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When the revision of the “Trinity Hymnal” (the official hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, published in 1990) was being developed, the committee wanted to include as broad a spectrum of theological topics as possible to be able to be sung in worship of evangelical Presbyterian churches.  They realized that one of the topics for which few hymns were available was that of infant (“covenant”) baptism.  They found a couple of possibilities, but thought it would be good to add to that with a fresh composition.

They commissioned Edmund P. Clowney to write a new hymn to be included in that section on the sacraments.  He was well-known to members of the revision committee from his ministry, including his seminary teaching and presidency, his authorship of books and articles, and some poetry as well.  His wife, Jean, was a member of the hymnal revision committee, and agreed to pass along the request for this, as well as a couple of other “commissions.”  The committee was delighted with his text for use on occasions when an infant was being baptized, “In Your Arms, Lord Jesus Christ,” and it is number 419 in the revised “Trinity Hymnal.”

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The Bible contains many descriptive images of the church.  In many people’s minds, the church today is not something that engenders admiration, much less a positive influence.  If not ridiculed for hypocrisy and pride, it is at least ignored by too many, or so it seems, by those on the outside.  But for those who understand her true identity, she is admired and loved for the beauty accorded her by the Lord.  After all, it is to Jesus that we should look for her true identity and character, not to those whom He has called to Himself and is in the process of sanctifying.

Among those images of the church in the Bible are such marvelous pictures of the church as Jesus’ sheep (the flock of His pasture over which He is the Good Shepherd), His Body (of which He is the Head), a temple (in which He is the chief cornerstone), and perhaps most beautiful of all, the church as his bride (for whom He is the Groom).  Some have identified as many as 100 images of the church in Scripture.  Many of these are found in the hymnody of the church, so that in singing of her, believers are acknowledging and celebrating her spiritual DNA. Several of these images are drawn together most lyrically in the hymn, “We Are God’s People,” written in 1976 by Bryan Jeffery Leech (1931-2015).

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One place where all true believers should be able to come together is at the Lord’s Table.  This can bridge the gap between denominations and ethnicities and social standing, as long as the pure gospel is honored and those who participate in worship in the observance of this sacrament (or ordinance, as some prefer to call it) are true saints (in the biblical sense) who have been “born from above” (John 3:3).  One of the things Jesus prayed for in John 17 in His “High Priestly Prayer” (that is the REAL Lord’s Prayer!), was that we might all be one, even as He and the Father are one.  The Lord’s Table is a holy place where that prayer, in part, can be seen to be answered.

There have been occasions in which this becomes a visible reality, as in conferences or on mission fields.  For some evangelical denominations, their annual national meeting, with representatives from churches across the country, often opens or closes with communion at the table.  At the triennial InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Urbana Conference between Christmas and New Years, as many as 18,000 college and university students have shared their love for the Lord and their commitment to Gospel missions by celebrating the Lord’s Supper together before going home.  And it’s not unusual in foreign lands for gospel-believing missionaries from multiple sending agencies to join together with nationals for combined worship that includes sharing the bread and wine. 

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Originally published as #71, this study has been revised and republished as #169. -ed

“God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.”  So reads the answer to question number 11 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  What a wonderful truth this is!  It is what we find throughout Scripture and throughout history, and even our own lives. How many examples can we recall where we may not have seen it at the time, but now that we are looking back on events we can recognize that God was at work, controlling what was happening and all according to His perfect and complete plan?  In retrospect, we can see His fingerprints in what has occurred. That reassures us that whatever may be happing in our lives and in our world at any moment, it is all working out exactly according to plan … according to His plan, Him who “works all things according to the design of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).

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What greater theme can there be in our hymnody than the greatness of God?  That is the central truth in this hymn by the British hymn-writer Timothy Dudley-Smith, a retired evangelical bishop of the Church of England.  Author of more than 400 hymns, he was born in 1926 in Manchester.   He studied math and theology at Pembroke College, Cambridge.  After graduating in 1947, he began his ordination trained at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and was then ordained a deacon in 1950 and a priest in 1951.  That theological college was named after Nicholas Ridley, the sixteenth century bishop martyred during the reign of “Bloody Mary,” it is an evangelical training school for Anglican clergy.

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One of the lingering practices of the revivals and crusade meetings in recent centuries (like those of Charles G. Finney, Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and others) was the invitation hymn at the end of the service.  Best known among those, perhaps, was “Just As I Am,” sung at the conclusion of every one of Billy Graham’s crusades across the world.  In many churches with a revivalistic heritage it is expected that every service will conclude with an evangelistic invitation, and a hymn as people are encouraged to come forward to signify their decision to receive Christ as Savior.

While every true church is committed to evangelism and to inviting unbelievers to respond to the gospel, not every church is comfortable with this particular practice.  That is especially so when the words spoken by the pastor give the impression that the act of coming forward is proof that the person has been born again.  That is evident in the way in many such situations the person who has come forward is baptized on the spot and is immediately enrolled as a member of the church.  But rather than telling them that they are now saved (“and don’t ever doubt it!”), those churches in a Reformed tradition will prefer to describe such a person as “a hopeful convert,” needing time to see if they have truly understood the gospel and are showing evidence of growing in that conviction and the new lifestyle of the redeemed as they are discipled.

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One of the ways a Christian’s funeral service can testify to the promise of the gospel is through the hymns that are selected for congregational singing.  If we choose to do so, every one of us has the ability to testify to our faith in the Lord by meeting with our pastor and family members to plan our funeral service ahead of time.  That would include not only the location and leadership, and the scriptures to be read and persons to speak and the theme of the message, but also the hymns to be sung.  The best choices will not merely be songs that have been our favorites, but songs that best communicate the faith that has sustained us on our journey toward glory, hymns that are valuable, not because of their sentimental value, but because of the glorious truths we want everyone to remember, and especially that communicate the gospel that unbelievers need to hear.

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Mercy is one of the attributes of God.  And the Bible has much to say about showing mercy to those in need.   One of the best-known passages about this is Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (KJV).  How challenging to see that He has said that not only are we to “do” mercy, but actually to “love” mercy!  As an attribute of God, we see it in the way He acts with such patience and kindness to those in need.  Mercy is not only a divine quality that is at the very heart of God in His grace; it is also a quality which we should be cultivating.  For example, think of the way Isaiah so often points to the treatment of the widow and the orphan as evidence of the way He expects His people to respond to those who are hurting.  And in Hosea 6:6 we read that without a heart of mercy, our rituals of worship are displeasing to the Lord.  “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”  And we read the same thing in even stronger terms in Isaiah 1:13-15.

Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
    I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;

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“May Jesus Christ be praised!”  This should be our prayer every day as we awaken, the desire of our hearts that in this and every day, we would think and act and live in such a way that Jesus Christ would be praised.  That’s at the center of the hymn “When Morning Gilds the Skies.”  We sing that request twelve times in the six stanzas found in most hymnals today.  And if your hymnal includes more of the 14 stanzas available, you will sing that phrase 28 times!

The hymn is based on an anonymous German hymn from the 18^th century. “Beim frühen Morgenlicht” (“With the early morning light”) is the opening line of the original German hymn. While we are uncertain of the exact origins of the text, it first appeared in “Catholic Songbook for Public Worship in the [locale of] Biszthume, Würzburg.” It appears in an altered version in an 1855 Franconian collection of folksongs, “Frankische Völkslieder.” Our English versions are not so much a literal translation of the original as they are a new poetic creation based on themes from the original.

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