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Now the Day Is Over

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Words: Sabine Baring-Gould (b. Jan. 28, 1834; d. Jan. 2, 1924)
Music: Merrial, by Joseph Barnby (b. Aug. 12, 1838; d. Jan. 28, 1896)

Note: This lovely 1867 hymn originally had eight stanzas, though most hymnals omit some of these. The Wordwise link at the end of this post provides biographical information on Sabine Baring-Gould, and on Joseph Barnby as well. (January 28th, the date of Baring-Gould’s birth and Barnby’s death, is a link between them). I’ve come to appreciate the latter as a fine tune-smith.

(1) Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

(3) Jesus, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With Thy tenderest blessing
May mine eyelids close.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

We have a number of terms for the astronomical phenomenon called sunset. (Even though we learned in school that the sun doesn’t actually do that. It’s the earth turning beneath it that brings on sundown, or nightfall.) But scientific explanations aside, most of us enjoy the glorious colours that can suffuse the sky at that time.

Our sunsets can be ravishingly beautiful, especially here in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where so much of the sky is often visible. But day’s end sometimes can have a negative connotation too. We may look back with regret on a day of failure and loss. Or we may dread the coming night, if we know we’ll be tossing restlessly on a bed of pain, or crowding anxieties.

These mixed feelings can also accompany the twilight of life, as seniors face the sometimes forbidding prospects of more intrusive physical ills, and a shrinking independence. Gloaming, to use a Scottish word, is not necessarily glorious! (More of that in a moment.)

It will be seen that most of this hymn is actually a prayer. And, as well as praying for our own needs, we ought to bring others before the throne of God in prayer, as the hymn does. It is our privilege to bring our burdens, and those of others, to the Lord. He promises that when we do we’ll find “mercy, and grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

(4) Grant to little children
Visions bright of Thee;
Guard the sailors tossing
On the deep, blue sea.

(5) Comfort those who suffer,
Watching late in pain;
Those who plan some evil
From their sin restrain.

Baring-Gould also makes an application of the sunset to the end of life, leading to the dawning of eternal day.

(7) When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In Thy holy eyes.

Consider this use of the imagery for a moment. How can fallen sinners hope to stand before a holy God without sins charged against them? The answer to that is the gospel of grace. “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3; cf. Jn. 3:16; Eph. 1:7). At the time of His first coming, the Lord Jesus was described as “the Dayspring [Dawn] from on high” (Lk. 1:78). When a person turns to Him in faith, a new spiritual light dawns in His life (cf. II Pet. 1:19). These things being so, when we put our faith in Christ, the light of His love not only shines in us, but through us (Phil. 2:15-16; Eph. 5:8).

To put it another way, what is it that can help us face the sunset of life, and the dawning of eternity, with peace and contentment, and assured hope? The Christian answers: it is a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul summed it up succinctly in his own testimony: “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Questions:

  1. What are the most helpful things about the ending of day?
  2. What are the most difficult things (for many) about the ending of day, and the coming of night?

Links:

Where the Roses Never Fade

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Words: Jack and Elsie Osborn, and James C. Miller
Music: Jack and Elsie Osborn, and James C. Miller

Note: This song seems to have been a group effort. I know no more about the origin than what I offer here. Did one of the three write the tune, and the others the words? Not sure. One site says the song was written in 1942. I’d appreciate more information.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

The sad reality of death is always with us. We’re reminded of our own mortality time and again, for example, when a loved one dies. And the death of others unknown to us is a frequent subject of the daily news. Not surprisingly, the Bible has a great deal to say about it too. Words such as “death” and “dying” are found there over nine hundred times.

The world of nature mirrors this. Especially in a temperate climate, the rolling seasons seem to be a constant parable of life and death. The flowers that bloomed so beautifully in the spring and summer wither and die as the days of autumn give way to the chill of winter.

Day be day we face the seeming paradox that death is a fact of life. Why is that so? Does it have some deeper purpose? And will we ever be able to live in a world without death? These are questions that are worth considering.

As to the cause of death, the Bible is very clear. In the beginning, God placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, to tend it and keep it for Him. He tested their willingness to trust and obey Him with a simple command. The Lord said, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But Adam and his wife disobeyed (Gen. 3:6), and death came upon the whole human family through them (Gen. 5:5; Rom. 5:12; I Cor. 15:22).

Not only so, but the broader world of nature was affected too. God placed the natural world under a curse, making it more difficult for man to gain his sustenance from it (Gen. 3:17-19). It’s not that plants and flowers have themselves committed some sin. But the Lord wants us to keep in mind that how we live will affect the world around us. That corrupting effect continues, as man’s carelessness and corporate greed goes on destroying our planet’s resources.

Death, the inevitable coda of life’s brief song, is also a reminder of the temporary nature of this world and our time in it. The Lord Jesus told a story one day, about a rich man who forgot about that (Lk. 12:16-21). He felt he had “many years” to take it easy, to “eat, drink, and be merry” (vs. 19). But God called him a fool, and said his life would end that very night (vs. 20).

The most important thing we can do in this life is prepare for the next. There is no more pressing priority. The Bible tells us how to do it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). That life will end in our heavenly home, a place specially prepared for us by the Lord Himself (Jn. 14:2-3).

The country gospel song called Where the Roses Never Fade is about the joys of heaven. The Bible doesn’t specifically mention whether there will be roses there or not, but God does say, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). It would not surprise me if flowers were included. Heaven is sometimes referred to as Paradise (Lk. 23:43; Rev. 2:7), a Persian word that speaks of a lovely garden, or a beautifully laid out park. In any event, the flowers in the song become a symbol of the deathless glory of the saints’ eternal home.

I am going to a city
Where the streets with gold are laid,
Where the tree of life is blooming
And the roses never fade.

Here they bloom but for a season,
Soon their beauty is decayed;
I am going to a city
Where the roses never fade.

Questions:

  1. What are three things about heaven that you especially look forward to?
  2. Are you certain you will be going there? (If not, you can find some help in two articles about God’s Plan of Salvation, and Assurance of Salvation.)

Links:

Where the Gates Swing Outward Never

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Words: Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (b. Aug. 18, 1856; d. Sept. 15, 1932)
Music: Charles Hutchinson Gabriel

Note: Charles Gabriel was one of the best known and most prolific writers of sacred song of the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the beginning of the twentieth. Around 1917, he faced a difficult and painful parting. His son had been called up to serve in the First World War, and the day of his embarkment for France was at hand. Perhaps dad would never see his son again.

They stood together at the waiting area in New York harbour, saying their last goodbyes. Young Charlie gave his father a hug, and the gates swung open so the soldiers could get on board ship. Then the son was struck by a sudden thought. “Dad,” he said, “if I never see you again here, I’ll meet you where the gates never swing outward.”

It was a way of saying that the blessings of heaven will never end. And on the train back to Chicago the hymn writer turned it into a song. A song that speaks of the brief time between now and eternity.

(1) Just a few more days to be filled with praise,
And to tell the old, old story;
Then, when twilight falls, and my Saviour calls,
I shall go to Him in glory.

I’ll exchange my cross for a starry crown,
Where the gates swing outward never;
At His feet I’ll lay every burden down,
And with Jesus reign forever.

(2) Just a few more years with their toil and tears,
And the journey will be ended;
Then I’ll be with Him, where the tide of time
With eternity is blended.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

We expect time to pass in a steady and consistent way. Seconds, minutes, hours, and so on, click by at a dependable pace. However, our means of measuring time is not always so reliable.

For the ancients, time was estimated by the position of the sun. Then, mechanical devices provided more exactitude–though early clocks had to be adjusted frequently. Battery-powered time pieces are more accurate. And most precise of all are the atomic clocks used today. An atomic clock can be expected to be no more than a second off after twenty million years!

All of this being said of scientific advancement, it remains true that our experience of time is another matter. Sitting in a classroom, a student may feel that a boring lecture has gone on for hours. But when an appointment is made for root canal work at some time in the future, the time between seems to fly by in a blur. The day comes all too quickly.

Our Creator invented time and space as a framework within which His creatures would live. But the Bible says He “inhabits eternity” (Isa. 57:15). He exists outside of time. It’s not surprising then that the Lord does not think of the experience of time as we do. The Bible tries to convey this by saying that, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (II Pet. 3:8). “A thousand years in [His] sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night” (Ps. 90:4).

For ourselves, times of suffering we experience can seem drawn out, and even feel as though they may never end. But the Bible assures us that, in relative terms, and in contrast to eternity up ahead, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment [by comparison], is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Cor. 4:17).

The return of Christ is another of these matters of time in which our perceptions are not necessarily in keeping with reality. When He was on earth, the Lord Jesus promised that He would come back and conduct His children to heavenly dwelling places that He would prepare for us (Jn. 14:2-3). He even said He was coming “quickly” (Rev. 22:12, 20). Yet nearly two thousand years have passed since then. That doesn’t seem “quick” to our finite and often distorted experience of time! But in God’s sight it is.

(4) What a joy ’twill be when I wake to see
Him for whom my heart is burning!
Nevermore to sigh, nevermore to die,
For that day my heart is yearning.

Questions:

  1. What does the Lord expect of us, as we wait for His return?
  2. Other than meeting the Lord Jesus, who are you looking forward to greeting in heaven?

Links:

The Voice That Breathed O’er Eden

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Words: John Keble (b. Apr. 25, 1792; d. March 29, 1866)
Music: Matrimony, by John Stainer (b. June 6, 1840; d. March 31, 1901)

Note: This wedding hymn was written in 1857, by request, for the Salisbury Hymn Book. The Wordwise link at the bottom of this post provides some biographical information on Keble, and a note on his more familiar hymn, Sun of My Soul.

The Cyber Hymnal gives the interesting historical note that this hymn was used at the wedding of Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables books. The Cyber Hymnal offers several possible tunes for the song.

The opening line in (2), in Keble’s original was “Be present awful Father…” Perfectly fine if one understands the word to mean One who fills us with awe. But modern readers have so altered or misused the term that hymn editors substitute “heav’nly.”

(1) The voice that breathed o’er Eden, that earliest wedding day,
The primal wedding blessing, it hath not passed away.
Still in the pure espousal of Christian man and maid
The Holy Three are with us, the threefold grace is said.

(2) Be present, heav’nly Father, to give away this bride
As Thou gav’st Eve to Adam, a helpmate at his side.
Be present, Son of Mary, to join their loving hands
As Thou didst bind two natures in Thine eternal bands.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Perhaps there’s a wedding in your past. If so, it may have taken place quite recently. Or, like mine, it may be an event that occurred many years ago. In any case, memories linger, of a sacred time when vows were made, and of a time of romance and of hope, blended with fits of nervousness, and also moments of hilarity and fun.

It’s sobering to consider that this uniting of husband and wife has been taking place for thousands of years. Though precise traditions may differ, millions of wedding ceremonies have taken place down through history, all over the world.

Who officiated at the very first wedding? God did. The Lord realized that man (Adam) needed a companion. One like him in some ways, yet also compatible and complementary to him (Gen. 2:18, 20). So, from a part of Adam’s own body, God formed a woman (Eve), “a helper comparable [suited] to him” (vs. 20). Then we read, “He brought her to the man” (vs. 22).

In a real sense, that was the first marriage. And the Word of God declares that, in such future unions, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (vs. 24). In this union there is both a leaving and a “cleaving” (the latter word is used by the King James Version of 1611). There’s a departure from the former family unit to begin a whole new family unit.

The Hebrew word for “cleave” (be joined or united) is dabaq. It indicates a bonding that is so powerful it cannot be broken apart without serious damage to both parts–like two pieces of wood fastened together with some kind of super glue. In the book of Job, the word is used to describe the scales of a sea monster called Leviathan. His scales “are joined [dabaq] one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted” (Job 41:17).

In the Bible, the marriage union of a man and a woman is presented as a permanent relationship–in the words of the traditional ceremony, “as long as they both shall live” (cf. Mk. 19:8-9). Death certainly breaks the bond, and sadly, so does divorce. God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16); it’s not His ideal. Yet, through marital unfaithfulness, spousal abuse, or desertion, it is sometimes considered to be the best of two painful options.

Divorce is hurtful because it is destructive of the family unit, tearing apart that which God has joined together. The Bible accommodates these destructive effects of sin, in allowing for a marriage break-up in certain cases (cf. Matt. 19:7-9; I Cor. 7:12, 15). Even so, the couple should make every attempt to restore a loving relationship and a happy home.

John Keble, though a brilliant scholar, and an Oxford professor, was a humble and unassuming man. Keble authored several hymns that are still in use. But in 1857 he created this beautiful Trinitarian wedding hymn that is virtually unknown today. In it he unites past, present, and future, summoning the three Persons of the Trinity to bless a marriage.

The hymn carries us from the past, in Eden, through a current marriage ceremony, and on into eternity, referring to the time when Christ, the Lamb of God and the heavenly Bridegroom, will be united with His Bride, the church, in heaven, an event called “the Marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7-9; cf. II Cor. 11:2).

(3) Be present, Holy Spirit, to bless them as they kneel,
As Thou for Christ, the Bridegroom, the heav’nly Spouse dost seal.
O spread Thy pure wing o’er them, let no ill power find place
When onward to Thine altar their hallowed path they trace.

(4) To cast their crowns before Thee in perfect sacrifice,
Till to the home of gladness with Christ’s own Bride they rise.
To Father, Son, and Spirit, eternal One and Three,
And was and is forever, all praise and glory be.

Questions:

  1. What are several factors that should be considered as foundational to a successful marriage?
  2. Are there other hymns that you feel are appropriate to a wedding service?

Links:

How Big Is God

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Words: Carl Stuart Hamblen (b. Oct. 20, 1908; d. March 8, 1989)
Music: Carl Stuart Hamblen

Note: Hamblen acted in cowboy movies with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and was a friend of actor John Wayne. He was a singing cowboy on the radio, with considerable popularity, especially on the west coast of America. But one important thing was missing in his life…

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

A thousand years before the time of Christ, a hulking Philistine warrior named Goliath seemed big enough to beat anyone. When the two armies were arrayed against each other, Goliath boldly issued a challenge to Israel. He called for them to select a man to fight him. “If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us” (I Sam. 17:9).

But we read that all the army of Israel was “dismayed and greatly afraid” (vs. 11). Even King Saul was terrified, though the Bible says was head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the nation (I Sam. 9:2). It took a young shepherd boy named David to face the challenge. We learn that he was an expert with a slingshot. But even that might not have been enough against an experienced warrior who towered about a metre above him.

The confidence of the boy was not simply in his own skill. Since Israel was the chosen people of God, he realized the reputation of the Lord was at stake. When he stood before the giant, he declared that it was his intention to kill him. “Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands” (I Sam. 17:47). God was clearly bigger than Goliath!

The word “big” is used in our English Bibles (NKJV) in only one application: strangely, it’s to describe the “big toe” of the high priest (Lev. 8:23). Rather, it is the word “great” that is found, dozens of times in reference to the Lord God.

He has great power–on earth and in the heavens (Exod. 32:11; Jer. 32:17); great mercy and kindness (II Chron. 1:8; Ps. 117:2); great honour, majesty, and glory (Ps. 104:1; Ps. 138:5). He is a great King (Ps. 47:2), and is often described as “great and awesome” (Deut. 7:21). He is so great in these and other ways that His greatness is described as “unsearchable,” or immeasurable (Ps. 145:3). Such an infinitely great God should inspire in us great fear and reverence (Ps. 89:7), and great praise (Ps. 48:1).

Whether or not young David was big enough to slay Goliath became irrelevant. God was! The power of Almighty God was arrayed against puny, insignificant human strength that day, and the outcome was inevitable. And the Lord can do far more than that. He can cleanse a sinner’s heart, and transform his life by the power of His Holy Spirit. “Though your sins are like scarlet,” God says, “they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:18).

That happened to a wild rebel cowboy, a Country-western singer song-writer named Stuart Hamblen. His father was a preacher, so we know he’d had an early Christian influence, but he turned his back on it. He became a hard-drinking, foul-talking reprobate. But his wife Suzie was a believer, and when evangelist Billy Graham was planning a series of meetings in Los Angeles in 1949, Suzie was heavily involved in the organizing.

Stuart’s wife encouraged him to attend. He did, and the message of the gospel stirred his heart. Back home, he found he was unable to sleep, thinking about his sinful life, and where he was heading in the end. About four in the morning, he called the hotel where the Graham team was staying, and asked to see Dr. Graham. He arrived at the hotel an hour later, and there he made a decision to trust Christ as his Saviour.

Hamblen called his mother, and she shed tears of joy, at the news. The power of God changed his life completely, and he became an effective ambassador for the Lord Jesus. Overwhelmed at what God had done, he wrote a song especially for Billy Graham’s soloist George Beverly Shea to sing. The song is How Big Is God. The refrain says:

How big is God!
How big and wide His vast domain!
To try to tell these lips can only start;
He’s big enough to rule His mighty universe,
Yet, small enough to live within my heart.

That is big enough indeed!

Questions:

  1. What aspect of the bigness (greatness) of God has been especially meaningful to you lately?
  2. What other hymns do you know and use that celebrate the greatness of God?

Links:

On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand

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Words: Samuel Stennett (b. June 1, 1727; d. Aug. 24, 1795)
Music: Promised Land, by Matilda T. Durham (b. Jan. 17, 1815; d. July 30, 1901)

Note: Ten years after young Sam was born, his father became the pastor of a Baptist church, in London, England. In later years, Samuel Stennett became his father’s assistant, and finally succeeded his father as pastor, a ministry he continued until his death in 1795. He was considered a fine scholar, and was a friend of King George III.

The hymn was first published in John Rippon’s Selection of Hymns (1787), under the heading “Heaven Anticipated.” The refrain was added later. The tune now most familiarly used with the song was published in America, in William Walker’s Southern Harmony, in 1835. It is attributed there to a Miss M. Durham, but we know no more about her. The tune was written in a minor key, in vogue at the time. But in 1895 Rigdon McIntosh changed this to a major key and added the refrain.

Ira Sankey tells us, in My Life, and the Story of the Gospel Hymns that, while visiting the Holy Land, he sang this hymn from the spot near the Jordan River from which Moses viewed the land of Canaan. He says that, since the area is not generally “stormy,” the word “rugged” was commonly substituted in the first line.

(1) On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land;
Oh who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the promised land.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

In the Bible, we’re told how the people of Israel, delivered from years of bondage in Egypt, were poised on the eastern shore of the Jordan River, ready to cross over and claim the land of Canaan as their own. Referred to as “the land of promise” (Heb. 11:9), God had pledged it as a permanent possession to the descendants of Abraham centuries before (Gen. 12:1-2, 7; 13:15; 17:8). Now it was time to conquer in the name of the Lord.

The miracles of God attending the physical crossing of the Jordan (Josh. 3), and the conquest of the city of Jericho (Josh. 6), provide an illustration in the spiritual realm of what God does in saving lost sinners, through faith in Christ. Moses had said to the people, “He [the Lord] brought us out from there [Egyptian bondage] that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which he swore to our fathers” (Deut. 6:23).

Similarly, of the individual Christian, we can say that the Lord brought us out of sin’s darkness and bondage, that he might bring us in to the light of His love and to new and abundant life (Jn. 10:10). He has “delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).

Life didn’t become perfect for the Israelites in the land of Canaan. There were still challenges to face and victories to be won. And it’s the same with the Christian life. Trusting Christ as Saviour doesn’t suddenly make us sinless, or the life we live perfect. But through God’s daily grace we have the resources available to deal with what lies ahead (cf. Phil. 4:19; Heb. 4:14-16).

Canaan thus provides a picture of the abundant Christian life–a life enriched by God’s daily provision, but one in which there are still battles to be fought in the name of the Lord. However, having said that, you will find that a few of our hymns use the Jordan River as a symbol of physical death, and Canaan as a picture of our future home in heaven.

I don’t think the application works as well that way. In heaven, our long war with Satan will be over (Rev. 20:10), and all that hurts and harms us will be gone forever (Rev. 21:4). But, imperfect as the imagery is, there is a sense in which the heavenly kingdom is the Christian’s Promised Land, our future and eternal home.

(3) There generous fruits that never fail,
On trees immortal grow;
There rocks and hills, and brooks and vales,
With milk and honey flow.

(4) O’er all those wide extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.

(5) No chilling winds or poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.

Questions:

  1. What gives you certainty that you are bound, on day, for the promised land of heaven?
  2. What are your favourite hymns about heaven?

Links:

No, Not One

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Words: Johnson Oatman, Jr. (b. Apr. 21, 1856; d. Sept. 25, 1922)
Music: George Crawford Hugg (b. May 23, 1848; d. Oct. 13, 1907)

Note: Johnson Oatman was a busy man. He was an ordained clergyman, a Christian businessman, and the author of about 5,000 gospel songs. George Hugg served as the choirmaster of a number of churches in the eastern United States. He wrote a great many hymns and gospel songs, both words and music, and was a frequent collaborator of Johnson Oatman’s, providing tunes for the latter’s texts.

Here is another nineteenth-century gospel song (from 1895), with many repetitions of a single phrase–reminding us that there’s “no not one” friend like the Lord Jesus (thirty times, counting the refrains). I’m sure this repetition in songs was done purposely, many times, to make them easy to learn and remember, even when singers had no words or music in front of them. (No overhead projectors, power point, or even photocopiers, in those days.)

However, there’s also truth in this song. Read through the lines, omitting the repeated phrase, and you will see it. Each line says something important about our Saviour. Even in writing this review, having just come from my morning prayer time, I was deeply touched by the reminder that “Jesus knows all about our struggles.”

This is a joyful, encouraging song, reflected in Mr. Hugg’s lively tune. A congregation should enjoy singing it. If you are leading the service, in order to make the repetition work for you, rather than becoming tedious, you might try assigning the alternate lines to one half of the group and the other–either those sitting on either side of the sanctuary, or perhaps men and women.

Depending on the understanding of the audience, it might be helpful for the service leader to comment on the statement in (5), “Will He refuse us a home in heaven? / No, not one!” That is certainly not true of the unregenerate. But judging from what comes before, the song was written for believers to sing.  And Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me [in faith] I will by no means cast out” (Jn. 6:37).

(1) There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one! No, not one!
None else could heal all our soul’s diseases,
No, not one! No, not one!

Jesus knows all about our struggles,
He will guide till the day is done;
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one! No, not one!

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

There’s only one Person in all the universe who is infinitely and eternally great. That is God. The record of who His is and what He’s done is found in the Bible. He declares, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me” (Isa. 45:5). Take a few moments to explore the nature of God, in order to see what makes Him unique, especially as these things relate to God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, there is God’s eternity. Through faith, we are said to receive the gift of eternal life (Jn. 3:16), but we all had a beginning. Jesus is different. When His birth in Bethlehem is prophesied, He is described as One “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Mic. 5:2). And Christ was able to say to His hearers, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (Jn. 8:58).

Next, think of the Lord’s immutability (that His essential nature is unchanging). God says, “I am the LORD, I do not change” (Mal. 3:6). But no created thing is unchanging. Creation is described as something that will grow old, like a garment (Heb. 1:10-11). “They will be changed, but You [Lord] are the same, and Your years will not fail” (vs. 12). In the context, the writer is speaking of Christ (vs. 4-9).

Then, we are told that the Lord is omnipresent (fully present everywhere). Christ is said to “fill all in all” (Eph. 1:23)–filling everything in every way. So He was able to say to His followers, before departing to His place in heaven at the Father’s right hand (Heb. 1:3), “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

As to His omnipotence, Christ describes Himself as “the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8), the One who is able to “subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21). As to omniscience, Christ is said to “know all things” (Jn. 21:17 cf. 10:15).

Yet it was this One who humbled Himself to become Man, and live among us as the compassionate “Friend” of any and all who came to Him (Jn. 15:15). One who was willing to go to the cross to pay our debt of sin (I Cor. 15:3). As well as being incomparable in the attributes of deity, He was incomparable in His condescension. He “became poor” for us (II Cor. 8:9; cf. Phil. 2:8).

(2) No friend like Him is so high and holy,
No, not one! No, not one!
And yet no friend is so meek and lowly,
No, not one! No, not one!

Questions:

  1. What truths in this song particularly impress you today?
  2. What other songs about the “friendship” of Christ do you know and sing?

Links:

Loyalty to Christ

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Words: Elijah Taylor Cassel (b. Nov. 27, 1849; d. July 3, 1930)
Music: Flora Hamilton Cassel (b. Aug. 21, 1852; d. Nov. 17, 1911)

Note: Elijah and Flora Cassel were husband and wife. Elijah Cassel was a medical doctor, who later served as a pastor. They also combined their talents on a song entitled The King’s Business (a better quality selection, in my view). The present one is another of those extremely repetitive gospel songs, with the word “loyalty” used some 37 times, counting the refrains. I suppose it does work as a rallying cry, but that seems a bit much!

The song was written in 1894 at the request of the Baptist Young People’s Union. It was sent to them, but not used, so Mr. Cassel asked for it to be returned. He then sent it to the Epworth League, a Methodist organization for young adults. They soon put it to use. Later, the BYPU thought the song had merit, and started using it themselves. That focus on a challenge to young people can be seen in the closing stanza.

(4) The strength of youth we lay at Jesus’ feet today,
’Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ;
His gospel we’ll proclaim, throughout the world’s domain,
Of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ.

On Hymnary.org (link below) you can see the original publication. Notice that the first line then was, “Upon the western plain / There comes the signal strain,” perhaps indicating the location of the convention for which it was initially intended. This opening remained for some time, but a 1902 book begins the broader form we have now.

(1) From over hill and plain there comes the signal strain,
’Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ;
Its music rolls along, the hills take up the song,
Of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ.

“On to victory! On to victory!”
Cries our great commander, “On!”
We’ll move at His command,
We’ll soon possess the land,
Through loyalty, loyalty,
Yes, loyalty to Christ.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Loyalty. The dictionary defines it as faithfulness to one’s commitments, faithfulness to an individual or a group. Fidelity, trustworthiness and allegiance are possible synonyms. Disloyalty, when it relates to one’s country or rulers, is called treason, or being a traitor. Disloyalty to the Lord God, at least in its final form, is called apostasy–a departure from the faith.

In the Old Testament, King David’s son Solomon was blessed with many wonderful gifts. When he took the throne, his father prayed, “Give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes” (I Chron. 29:19). And David advised his son, “Let your heart therefore be loyal to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day” (I Kgs. 8:61).

But over the years Solomon’s passion to serve the Lord began to fade. In disobedience to God (Deut. 17:14, 17), he acquired a huge harem, and many of the women were idol worshipers. It seemed almost inevitable that, “When Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David” (I Kgs. 11:4).

The most infamous traitor in the New Testament, perhaps the greatest in all of human history, is Judas Iscariot. While he feigned loyalty to Christ and the other disciples, he stole from the common purse (Jn. 12:6). Later, for “thirty pieces of silver” (which some estimate as being worth about twenty dollars) he agreed to betray Christ to His enemies (Matt. 26:15).

The Lord Jesus declared plainly, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money]” (Matt. 6:24). Whether the temptation to turn away comes from money, or promised pleasures, or popularity and power, or something else, no disloyalty to God is ever worth what it will cost in the long run.

(2) O hear, ye brave, the sound that moves the earth around,
’Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ;
Arise to dare and do, ring out the watchword true,
Of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ.

(3) Come, join our loyal throng, we’ll rout the giant wrong,
’Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ;
Where Satan’s banners float we’ll send the bugle note,
Of loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to Christ.

Questions:

  1. What will be the practical evidence of loyalty to Christ in one’s life?
  2. What are some other things pressing for the loyalty of our young people today?

Links:

Jesus, Master, Whose I Am

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Words: Frances Ridley Havergal (b. Dec. 14, 1836; d. June 3, 1879)
Music: St. Petersburg, attributed to Dmitri Stepanovich Bortniansky (b. Oct. 28, 1751; d. Oct. 10, 1825)

Note: Here is another fine dedication hymn by Frances Havergal, written in 1865, for Miss Havergal’s nephew J. H. Shaw. Too many hymn book editors have chosen not to include it. And many that do use only the first three stanzas. The tune used by the Cyber Hymnal (St. Chrysostom) is a good one, but I’m more familiar with St. Petersburg (which the Cyber Hymnal page calls Wells).

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

The hymn is divided into two sections, originally of three stanzas each. inspired by the words of Paul, speaking of the Lord as “God, whose I am, and whom I serve” (Acts 27:23, KJV). The Bible in Basic English has, “God who is my Master and whose servant I am.” Stanzas (1) to (3) deal with “whose I am,” and (4) to (6) have to do with “whom I serve.”

There are two aspects to that right of ownership. The first is the right of creation. As the Creator of all in the universe, both material and spiritual, God has a right to do with it as He chooses. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever” (Rom. 11:36). “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps. 24:1). “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Rightly then, “He does according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth” (Dan. 4:35).

But for the Christian there’s a second aspect of ownership. Not only the right of creation, but the right of redemption. To the believer God says, “You were…redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ” (I Pet. 1:18-19). Purchased, as it were, out of the slave market of sin, “You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Cor. 6:19-20).

And there’s a definite link between salvation and service. Christ, “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Tit. 2:14). God in love has saved us, through faith in Christ, and we respond in love, as willing bond-slaves of Christ (I Jn. 4:19). We have believed on–in essence, believed onto the side of, and into the employ of–the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 16:31). We are twice His, by creation and redemption, and therefore His to command.

(1) Jesus, Master, whose I am,
Purchased Thine alone to be,
By Thy blood, O spotless Lamb,
Shed so willingly for me,
Let my heart be all Thine own,
Let me live for Thee alone.

“Other lords have long held sway,” says (2). It’s a reminder of the many loyalties men and women may have that need to be subjected to the supreme Lordship of Christ.

(2) Other lords have long held sway;
Now Thy name alone to bear,
Thy dear voice alone obey,
Is my daily, hourly prayer;
Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
Nothing else my joy can be.

“Keep me faithful, keep me near” (3). We each face temptations and spiritual dangers, in our pilgrimage. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,” says Robert Robinson in his hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

(3) Jesus, Master, I am Thine;
Keep me faithful, keep me near;
Let Thy presence in me shine
All my homeward way to cheer,
Jesus, at Thy feet I fall,
O be Thou my all in all.

Once establish we belong to the Lord, and He has the rights of ownership over us, and our availability to serve, according to His will, and by the resources He provides, is a given. The latter half of the hymn deals with that.

(4) Jesus, Master, whom I serve,
Though so feebly and so ill,
Strengthen hand and heart and nerve
All Thy bidding to fulfil;
Open Thou mine eyes to see
All the work Thou hast for me.

(5) Lord, Thou needest not, I know,
Service such as I can bring,
Yet I long to prove and show
Full allegiance to my King.
Thou an honour art to me;
Let me be a praise to Thee.

Questions:

  1. What does the Lord’s ownership mean to you, in practical terms?
  2. What service can you render to Him today?

Links:

It’s Just Like His Great Love

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Words: Edna Randolph Worrell (b. circa 1873; d. circa 1950)
Music: Clarence B. Strouse (late nineteenth and early twentieth century)

Note: Virtually nothing is known of the author and composer of this bright gospel song, other than their names. The song was published in 1903. At a guess, I’d say that some time in the 1890s, Miss Edna Randolph became Mrs. Edna Worrell, but I don’t know if that’s so.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

As I write this article Valentine’s Day is approaching. It’s a day when we recognize and honour human love, particularly romantic “sweetheart” love. Some couples I know have been married for over fifty years. That’s a lot of Valentine’s Days!

But we all know that human love can fail. Sadly, we are all likely acquainted with couples whose marriages have ended in separation or divorce. Perhaps one or the other has proven unfaithful, and love has grown cold. Sometimes the breakup ends with a rancorous conflict in a courtroom.

Given the uncertainty of our love for one another, it’s most reassuring and satisfying to turn our attention to the love of God, especially as it’s revealed in Christ. In all of the areas where we are weak, God is infinitely strong, and this is reflected in His wonderful love. This divine love is spoken of so many times in the Word of God it’s impossible to give more that a few descriptions of its nature.

  • God’s love is described as a “great love” (Eph. 3:4). Greater than man can measure or comprehend. It surpasses human knowledge, and yet we are encouraged to keep on learning more about it (Eph. 3:14-19).
  • As to His relationship with Israel, Jeremiah describes God’s love as “everlasting” (Jer. 31:3). A similar New Testament description is given of the limitless extent or eternal nature of the love Christ has for those who belong to Him (Jn. 13:1).
  • “God so loved the world” (Jn. 3:16). And given His willingness to sacrifice His Son to save us, it suggests that love is suffused with grace. “While we were still [unlovely] sinners” God loved us enough to send Christ to die for us (Rom. 5:8).
  • “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25).
  • God’s love is not only great in terms of how far down in reaches to save us, but in terms of how high it lifts us. Through Christ, we become children of God, and joint-heirs with His son. (Rom. 8:16-17; I Jn. 3:1).
  • God’s love is not only national, or world-wide; it’s also personal. We see more of that on this side of the cross. The Lord loves us as individuals (cf. Jn. 11:5; Gal. 2:20).

(1) A Friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true,
And never fails howe’er ’tis tried, no matter what I do;
I’ve sinned against this love of His, but when I knelt to pray,
Confessing all my guilt to Him, the sin clouds rolled away.

It’s just like Jesus to roll the clouds away,
It’s just like Jesus to keep me day by day,
It’s just like Jesus all along the way,
It’s just like His great love.

The author’s second and third stanzas deal with the way God’s love shines through our times of trouble, sorrow, and despair. The third stanza particularly is startling in its honesty and clarity. Have you known times “when life seems worse than useless, and I were better dead”? I wonder how many congregations have been able to sing that without a shock. Yet those feelings are more common that some might suppose. We need the compassion of the Saviour to support and encourage those going through such times.

(3) When sorrow’s clouds o’ertake me, and break upon my head,
When life seems worse than useless, and I were better dead;
I take my grief to Jesus then, nor do I go in vain,
For heavenly hope He gives that cheers like sunshine after rain.

Mirroring the emphasis of the Bible with regard to the love of God, our hymns and gospel songs make it a frequent subject, giving us the means to sing about it. In its Topical Index, the Cyber Hymnal lists over a hundred and fifty hymns on this subject here.

(4) O, I could sing forever of Jesus’ love divine,
Of all His care and tenderness for this poor life of mine;
His love is in and over all, and wind and waves obey,
When Jesus whispers “Peace, be still,” and rolls the clouds away.

Questions:

  1. What are some important contrasts between human love and God’s love?
  2. What are your favourite hymns about the love of God?

Links:

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