It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear was written in 1849 by Edmund H. Sears of Massachusetts. It is sung to the tune Carol composed by Richard S. Willis in 1850.

This hymn provides a good reminder that there is more to the story of Christmas than that night in Bethlehem. The Incarnation was only a step in God's grand design to redeem for Himself a people through the sacrifice of His Son. We often treat Christmas as if it is an isolated celebration, but the Incarnation cannot be understood apart from the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming, just as each of those events cannot be fully understood apart from the Incarnation and each other.

This hymn reminds us that God has composed a song of His redemption that is being sung by the choirs of angels. Our own groaning for the culmination of His redemption (see Romans 8) is woven into this masterpiece that God has created. The imagery reminds me of the creation tale in Tolkien's The Silmarillion, where Eru (the supreme being in Tolkien's created world) creates angelic beings (the Ainur) who then bring about Eru's creation by each adding their own voice to a song that Eru weaves together in perfect harmony.

How often we find ourselves beaten down and wearied by life's yoke, discouraged by the woes of this world, and distracted from God by our own sinfulness, our own lusts which lead us to quarrel and wage war with each other. How often do we look at the conflicts around the world, the evil that exists, and despair because "there is no peace on earth" (I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day)? How often do we need to be reminded to "hush the noise" and "rest beside the weary road" to "hear the angels sing" again?

We should do so more often. The song that the angels sing carries Christ's promise, that He is coming again, that His kingdom will never end, and that all will be made right again. (And yes, re-reading that sentence after I wrote it reminded me of Lewis's description of Aslan's return to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.) So hush the noise, rest beside the weary road, hear the angels sng, and begin now what will only be complete when Christ returns, when the whole world will send back the song that now the angels sing.

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

 It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,

To touch their harps of gold;

"Peace on the earth, good will to men,

From Heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay

To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come

With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heav'nly music floats

O'er all the weary world;

Above its sad and lowly plains,

They bend on hov'ring wing,

And ever over its Babel sounds

The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love-song which they bring;

O hush, the noise, ye men of strife

And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,

By prophet-bards foretold,

When with the ever-circling years,

Comes round the age of gold;

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world send back the song

Which now the angels sing.

(Public Domain)

Joy to the World

This is not an obscure hymn in the least. It is certainly among the top ten most well-known Christmas carols. Inspired by Psalm 98, written by Isaac Watts in 1719, and set to the tune Antioch, arranged by Lowell Mason in 1836, Joy to the World is a Christmas favorite for many. I doubt that anyone reading this blog post would have difficulty singing at least the first verse from memory.

This is not a hymn with a special, inspiring backstory like some others that I have written about. Perhaps the only notably interesting thing about this hymn has to do with the tune, which Lowell Mason arranged by piecing together some of the themes from Handel's Messiah.

So why am I writing about this Christmas carol in particular? Primarily because I don't want to write about it. It is, as my father always reminded us growing up, Christmas Adam, the day before the day before Christmas, and the last thing I want to write about is joy. I don't want to write about how we should sing, how Christ's blessings flow to heal our sins and our sorrows, about the wonders of His love. I would like nothing more than to break down sobbing today.

And yet, how can I not write about this? The Lord is come! In the midst of our sin, our brokenness, our hopeless estate, the Creator of the universe took on human flesh and came to earth. He came to set up a kingdom, not an earthly kingdom that will pass away, but an eternal kingdom where there will be no more sin and no more sorrow. This day that we celebrate on December 25 is the D-Day of the spiritual war being waged for the souls of men. This world was under the dominion of Satan, and Christ came to establish a beachhead. That is cause for joy. He has freed us from the bondage of sin and of Satan. He has demonstrated his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, He died for us (Rom 5:8). He is risen and reigning on high, and we shall be co-heirs with Him of this kingdom (Rom 8:17). We shall rule with him (2 Tim 2:12). That is cause for joy.

 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." (Rom. 8:18-25, NASB) 

The physical pain, the emotional pain, the confusion, the frustration we feel when we look at our lives and the lives of those around us, these are how we understand the groaning of creation itself for the second coming. That is the beauty of the advent season. It is not only about Christ's incarnation 2 millenia ago. It is also about His promised return. We, together with creation, groan in anticipation of Christ's return, waiting eagerly and hoping in the promise. And "let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Heb 10:23, NASB).

 He who promised is faithful. Dwell on that for a moment. We are faithless creatures. We fail to live lives worthy of the calling to which Christ has called us. But, thank God, we are not dependent on our own faithfulness, nor are we dependent on the faithfulness of any other creature. We hold fast our hope, which is in the Christ, the Incarnate Word (Jn 1:14), through whom everything was made, and without whom nothing was made that has been made (Jn 1:3), He whose name is Faithful and True (Rev 19:11). So we can consider it all joy, my brethren, when we encounter trials of various kinds (James 1:2).

Joy does not mean that we feel happy. Joy means that we choose to rejoice. Joy means that we choose to look at God rather than the circumstances. We can sing "Joy to the world" because as much pain as we may feel, it is not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed.

Psalm 98

O sing to the LORD a new song,
For He has done wonderful things,
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His lovingkindnness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

Joy to the World 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! 

Let earth receive her King; 

Let every heart prepare Him room, 

And heaven and nature sing, 

And heaven and nature sing, 

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! 

Let men their songs employ; 

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains 

Repeat the sounding joy, 

Repeat the sounding joy, 

Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy. 

No more let sins and sorrows grow, 

Nor thorns infest the ground; 

He comes to make His blessings flow 

Far as the curse is found, 

Far as the curse is found, 

Far as, far as, the curse is found. 

He rules the world with truth and grace, 

And makes the nations prove 

The glories of His righteousness, 

And wonders of His love, 

And wonders of His love, 

And wonders, and wonders, of His love.

I Know Whom I Have Believed

It has been three weeks since my last post, and for that I apologize. I could explain the many issues that have been weighing on my mind and time over those weeks, but that would not justify not posting. This blog is one of the ways in which I serve my friends and family from whom I live so far away, and my own times of trouble should lead to a deeper service, not less. In truth, I have allowed my own troubles to distract me from this service, and for that I ask your forgiveness.

The hymn that I chose for today, though, is related to that. I Know Whom I Have Believèd, was written by Daniel Webster Whittle and published in 1883. For those of you who are saying to yourselves, "that name sounds familiar," it should, as I've previously written about two of his other hymns, Moment by Moment and They Tell Me The Story of Jesus Is Old. He has rapidly joined the ranks of my favorite hymnwriters, and you should expect to see more of his hymns on this blog in the future. It's set to a tune by James McGranahan.

So why this hymn today? As I said, these last several weeks have been difficult. Several family health scares combined with the stresses of the second year of law school have stretched me beyond my own ability to cope. And yet, through it all, I know Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Even when life seems to be at its darkest, He never changes. That is the beautiful hope that we have. No matter how this world may change, He never does. No matter how much this earth shakes, He shall not be moved. Why do we fear when the earth rolls and buckles underneath us? It is because when it does, it takes with it everything we have built on it instead of on the Rock. The foolish man builds his house upon the sand, but the wise man builds his life upon Jesus Christ, the only sure foundation.

There are a lot of things I don't know and never will know this side of the Resurrection. I don't understand how God works sometimes. Sometimes I begin to doubt Him because I see things in this world that strike me deeply. I was heartbroken to see the news of Garissa. It was horrifying to watch the video from South Carolina of a police officer shooting a man in the back. And yet I contrast the despair that seems to come so easily with the example of my grandmother.

My grandmother just turned 90 years old, and I went home to visit her. I know that she has seen horrific atrocities and tremendous tragedies in the 90 years that she's been alive. In her lifetime alone, she has seen the Great Depression, the Holocaust, the brutal regimes of Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and their ilk, the My Lai massacre, the Rwandan genocide, the wars and atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, the attacks on September 11, 2001, and the list goes on. Personally, she has experienced disappointment, physical pain, emotional turmoil, and property loss. When my grandfather died, she was in the room singing Because He Lives. Recently, she has had moments of tremendous pain, and she just wants to go home to Jesus. My grandmother is a woman who knows Whom she has believed.

I want that to be me, not in 70 years, but today. I want people to look at me and say, "He knows Whom he has believed." My name, Timothy, means "honoring God." When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, he said, "for I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well." (2 Timothy 1:5 NASB). I am blessed with a wonderful heritage. The one in whom I have believed is also known by all four of my grandparents, both of my parents, and all three of my sisters. That heritage does not make me a believer. As someone I knew once put it, Christianity is the only religion you can't be born into. You have to be reborn into it. 

But what that heritage does is provides me with examples. I can look at the faith of my father and mother, and my grandfathers and grandmothers, and I can see the ways in which God has met their needs. I can see the ways in which God has revealed Himself to them, and when I am at my lowest ebb and all of God's promises feel so empty, I have people surrounding me, coming into my life to pour the love and power of God out on me.

In three days I will be commissioning in the United States Navy. I am excited, and I am sure that my time in the Navy will be filled with both golden days and weary ways. But through it all, He never changes. "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11-13 NASB). Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, and because I know Whom I have believed, I can have hope in whatever trial I may face.

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

 

But I know whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.

Refrain

I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.

Refrain

I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.

Refrain

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.

Refrain

(Public Domain)

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

The hymn, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, was written in 1876 by Walter C. Smith, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, and set to St. Denio, a Welsh tune by John Roberts (no, not the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court). Most hymnals and modern renditions of the hymn cut off the latter half of verses four and five and merge the first halves of those verses to form the fourth verse. It is unfortunate because the ends of those verse are beautiful.

 

This hymn tries to express the fundamentally inexpressible nature of the God whom we serve. Our God is immortal, he is invisible (though the Son was visible when he was incarnate), and he is the only true source of wisdom. He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). He does not need rest (Isaiah 40:28), nor does he sleep (Psalm 121:4), though He took a day of rest to demonstrate for us how to rest (Genesis 2:2-3). He has made everything beautiful in His time, not in our own hectic scheduled demands (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He Himself is silent in the ways that he works, yet creation declares His glory (Psalm 19). 

 

God does not want for companionship (He is triune, inherently relational, inherently sufficient, and perfect love) nor for anything else (Acts 17:25). God does not waste anything. Nothing escapes his notice (Matthew 10:29-30, "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father."), nothing happens which He does not turn to accomplish his purposes (Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."), and He is sovereign over all creation, raising up kings and deposing them (Daniel 2:21). His justice is established and serves as a measuring rod by which we can see the faults in our own earthly systems (Amos 5:15).

God is the source of all life (Genesis 1; Numbers 27:16). And yet life is so much more than our physical life. True life is being restored to the purposes of God through the lordship of Christ. Despite the fact that we are physically alive, we are all dead men (and women) apart from Christ (Ephesians 2). Through Him we flourish, but apart from him we wither and perish (John 15:1-11), but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

The fourth verse continues the theme, but the part that is often cut off is so meaningful: "Of all thy rich graces, this grace, Lord, impart - take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart." It hearkens back to Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your doing; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph. 2:4-9). God's grace surpasses our understanding, but we should earnestly desire the two graces asked of Him in this verse: take the veil from our faces and allow us to see Him as He is, and take the vileness out of our hearts and sanctify us.

Our only reasonable reaction to who God is and what He has done is to render all praise to Him. We cannot understand His nature fully, and we fail even to adequately express what we do understand, but it is not for lack of His goodness. It is because His splendor is so great that our brains are incapable of seeing the totality of it. Thus the last portion of the hymn, another portion that is often cut out: "And so let thy glory, almighty, impart, through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart." We cannot understand Him fully, and therefore even all of our praise will fall short of what He deserves. But the Spirit indwelling us groans on our behalf in groanings too deep for words, desperately desiring the final restoration when Christ returns and we can see Him in His fullness and praise Him as we ought (Romans 8:26-27).

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
Of all Thy rich graces, this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

(Public Domain)

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

In 1529, Marin Luther wrote Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, which was translated into English by Frederic H. Hedge in 1853 as A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The hymn is a battle hymn. It speaks of war and it tells of ultimate victory. It is a glorious song that should encourage all believers as they face trials and suffering.

There is, however, a line in the hymn that is confusing and seems odd at times: "One little word shall fell him." What is that word? The answer is never given in the hymn. It is pointed out that the word abides no thanks to earthly powers and that it is above all earthly powers, but it is never named. However, in Against Hanswurst, a writing from 1541, Luther identified the word: "Liar." (The German word literally translates "You lie.") When the Prince of Darkness approaches and threatens to undo us in his rage, we tremble not. Instead, we look him in the eyes and we say "Liar!"

When he wrote this hymn, Luther was inspired by Psalm 46: "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And the mountains slip into the heart of the sea." (Psalm 46:1-2, NASB). The penultimate verse of the psalm reads thus: "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10, NASB).

Satan's attacks tell us that God is not sovereign. They tell us that God is not merciful. They tell us that God is not love. They tell us that God has not adopted us as sons. They tell us that God is not God. And there is one response to that: "Liar." God is sovereign. God is merciful. God is love. God has adopted us as sons. God is God. Cease striving and know that He is God!

When we think that we have to do it all on our own, when we refuse to rest, we flip that around. We are calling God a liar. But "The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold." (Psalm 46:11, NASB). We are not enough on our own, but He is with us. He is our refuge and our strength, our stronghold, a very present help in time of trouble. He is enough. Cease striving and know that He is God!

When we know that, then we can respond to the lies of the devil with complete confidence in the power of that one word, "Liar." If we know the truth, the lies hold no power over us. Sometimes it feels as if they do. Sometimes it is hard to know the truth in our hearts rather than just in our heads. But our emotions are not our masters. Satan's lies have only the power that we give them. Respond immediately: "Liar!" Call your mentors, call your pastors, call your friends and listen to them as they tell you that Satan is a liar. Run to the mighty fortress that we have been given. Know that He is God.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

(Public Domain)

There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

One of the most common difficulties that I see in churches (and in my own life) is the balance of two portions of the same passage, John 8:1-11.

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."

I have found that the vast majority of public statements by churches and prominent Christians fails to account for the entirety of the narrative. Instead, churches usually embrace one message and forget about the other. Truly, this can be narrowed down to the end of verse 11, but since the first error tends to include verse 7, I have included the passage for that reason as well as for contex t. As I see it, the two errors that we tend to fall into in this passage are either focusing on "I do not condemn you, either" or "From now on sin no more."

The first error is often found in the same messages as "judge not" and "why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye?" It goes something like this: "You can't judge them. Why are you focusing on their sin? You're a hypocrite. You sin, too. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Set aside, for the moment, the fact that there are both explicit and implicit judgments present there.

The second error is less obvious because it can easily be confused with a proper reading of the text. The second error is ignoring the rest of the story in favor of the last sentence: "From now on sin no more."

The error in both cases is ignoring the context of the passage. When the context of the passage is taken into account, it becomes clear that Christ himself DID judge her, that He found her guilty, but did not condemn her. If he had not judged her guilty, then there would have been no reason to say "from now on sin no more." He alone could have cast that first stone. Let me repeat that. Christ could have cast the first stone. He spared her out of mercy, not out of a lack of judgment.

Without justice, mercy is meaningless. If God had not already judged each and every one of us guilty, then the mercy of God would be empty. It is because of our guilt and God's righteous judgment of it that we can understand the love and mercy of God. But His mercy, while free, does not come alone. It comes as a package deal. It comes packaged with grace, adoption, and healing. We cannot take one without the others. When God adopts us as his children, he pours out his mercy to cover our sin, his grace to meet our needs, and his healing to turn us away from that sin.

This hymn, There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, conveys that so very well. It was written by Frederick W. Faber in 1854 and is set to the tune Wellesley, written in 1878 by Lizzie Tourjée. It conveys the message that we have made His love too narrow. I think we've done that in two ways: (1) we've failed to effectively convey to the world that God's mercy can cover any sin, and (2) we've failed to convey the comprehensiveness of His mercy, which not only chooses not to condemn us, but heals us and calls us to holy living. We owe him not all, but more than all.

There's a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;

There's a kindness in His justice,

Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth's sorrows

Are more felt than up in Heaven;

There is no place where earth's failings

Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,

And more graces for the good;

There is mercy with the Savior;

There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands

Of new worlds as great as this;

There is room for fresh creations

In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader

Than the measure of our mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption

In the blood that has been shed;

There is joy for all the members

In the sorrows of the Head.

'Tis not all we owe to Jesus;

It is something more than all;

Greater good because of evil,

Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;

And our lives would be all sunshine

In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! Why will ye scatter

Like a crowd of frightened sheep?

Foolish hearts! Why will ye wander

From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks might,

But is mightier than it seems;

'Tis our Father: and His fondness

Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow

By false limits of our own;

And we magnify His strictness

With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd

Half so gentle, half so sweet,

As the Savior who would have us

Come and gather at His feet?

(Public Domain)

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Being in law school, it is no surprise that I often find myself in the midst of political discussions. This is not a phenomenon unique to law school, nor is it actually where most of the political discussions I find myself in take place. However, usually the fact that I am in law school means that it is open season to have political discussions with me regardless of the context in which I find myself in. To be honest, most of the time I enjoy this, but sometimes it gets uncomfortable. This is because I have many friends with whom I disagree politically. These are not the people that make me uncomfortable. Usually they are very sensitive to the fact that we disagree and we can have a meaningful dialogue if we're both in the mood to do so. If one of us does not feel like having such a dialogue, the topic is dropped. Sometimes an acquaintance will make things very uncomfortable in a class by making political statements as if no reasonable person could disagree with it, but even that is relatively uncommon.

The most common time that I am uncomfortable in a political conversation is when I am with fellow Christian conservatives that are acquaintances. Why? Because I will be sitting in a gathering at a church and someone will begin to harp on President Obama, then another person will join in, then another, until everyone is talking about him in very negative terms. If I am fortunate, it ends there and doesn't devolve into "Obama is a Muslim," or "Obama hates America," etc. Let me lay it out plainly: I disagree with many of Obama's policies, I believe he is severely misguided, and I think his ideas are dangerous for America, but I also believe that he honestly believes that his policies are the best thing for America. I also don't know what his standing before the Creator is, but I will pray for him. I will respect the position he holds, even if I don't think that he always does. Why do I do these things?

Because Paul commanded us to be in subjection to the governing authorities, because there is no authority except from God (Romans 13). I may align most closely to the Republicans. I have friends who are committed Christians who align more closely with the Democrats. But in the end, we are all (or at least should be) monarchists. We serve the King, and all authority derives from Him. He has blessed us with the opportunity to choose those he appoints over us, but we must not mistake this for His abdication of authority. This is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the beginning and the end. He is the supreme court of the universe. He is the ultimate authority.

He has already claimed His dominion over this world. We must live in such a way that we show that we believe that. This world is passing away. Death has been defeated. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who died for us, washed us with his blood, understood our griefs and took them upon Himself,  rose triumphant over the grave, reigns in power in the heavenly realms, and will reign forever, is our Lord and Master. He is in control, and despite the mistrust many of us feel toward political leaders with whom we disagree, we must move toward a higher trust of Him who raises up kings and replaces them with other kings in His time (Daniel 2:21).

It especially pains me when I see (and oftentimes find myself feeling) despair in the pro-life movement over the inability to influence political leaders to challenge this culture of death. It is especially tempting, and I find myself thinking this way often, to think badly of President Obama and others like him who collaborate in advancing the culture of death. And yet to do so compromises our message. We should grieve, but we should not despair. To do so would admit a falsehood, claiming in our minds that Christ, who has already conquered death, does not hold dominion here. He has already defeated death, and He will overthrow the culture of death. He is the Lord of Life, not of death. Death has been defeated, and those who prop up the culture of death are doing so only because He has shown them mercy that they might turn to Him, just as He showed each of us mercy in not crushing us for our iniquity, but allowing Himself to be crushed for it in our place.

But we cannot live as subjects of the true King without knowing Him. He has revealed Himself to us through His word. We must study it to understand the King we serve. We must ask Him for wisdom to understand that which we read, wisdom that He freely gives. And when we encounter Him, we respond in the only way we reasonably can: we fall on our faces before His glory and worship and adore Him. This lamb who was slain reigns. We must crown Him in our hearts every day and recognize His authority first and foremost. Crown Him With Many Crowns. This hymn was written in 1852 by Matthew Bridges and added to by Godfrey Thring in 1874. It is sung to Diademata, a tune written by George J. Elvey in 1868.

Crown Him with many crowns,

The Lamb upon His throne.

Hark! How the heav'nly anthem drowns

All music but its own.

Awake, my soul, and sing

Of Him who died for thee,

And hail Him as thy matchless king

Through all eternity.

Crown Him the virgin's son,

The God incarnate born,

Whose arm those crimson trophies won

Which now His brow adorn;

Fruit of the mystic rose,

As of that rose the stem;

The root whence mercy ever flows,

The Babe of Bethlehem.

Crown Him the Son of God,

Before the worlds began,

And ye who tread where He hath trod,

Crown Him the Son of Man;

Who ever grief hath known

That wrings the human breast,

And takes and bears them for His own,

That all in Him may rest.

Crown Him the Lord of life,

Who triumphed o'er the grave,

And rose victorious in the strife

For those He came to save.

His glories now we sing,

Who died, and rose on high,

Who died eternal life to bring,

And lives that death may die.

Crown Him the Lord of peace,

Whose power a scepter sways

From pole to pole, that wars may cease,

And all be prayer and praise.

His reign shall know no end,

And round His piercèd feet

Fair flowers of paradise extend

Their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown Him the Lord of love,

Behold His hands and side,

Those wounds, yet visible above,

In beauty glorified.

No angel in the sky

Can fully bear that sight,

But downward bends his burning eye

At mysteries so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of Heav'n,

Enthroned in worlds above,

Crown Him the King to whom is giv'n

The wondrous name of Love.

Crown Him with many crowns,

As thrones before Him fall;

Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns,

For He is King of all.

Crown Him the Lord of lords,

Who over all doth reign,

Who once on earth, the incarnate Word,

For ransomed sinners slain,

Now lives in realms of light,

Where saints with angels sing

Their songs before Him day and night,

Their God, Redeemer, King.

Crown Him the Lord of years,

The potentate of time,

Creator of the rolling spheres,

Ineffably sublime.

All hail, Redeemer, hail!

For Thou has died for me;

They praise and glory shall not fail

Throughout eternity.

(Public Domain)

It Is Well With My Soul

On November 22, 1873, the S.S. Ville du Havre, a steamship crossing the Atlantic, was struck by another vessel and sunk. Among the 226 people who lost their lives in the accident were all four daughters of Horatio Gates Spafford, a prominent Chicago lawyer. His wife was also on board, but survived the disaster and sent her husband a telegram from England: "Saved alone." As Spafford sailed for England, his ship passed the location of his daughters' deaths, and the words to his most famous hymn were penned, It Is Well With My Soul.

Spafford and his family were close friends and supporters of Dwight L. Moody. Philip Bliss, a hymn-writer who became a full-time evangelist in 1874, wrote a tune in 1876 for the words Spafford had written, naming it Ville du Havre, after the ship on which Spafford's daughters perished. Shortly after writing the tune for It Is Well With My Soul, Bliss died in a train wreck alongside his wife, leaving the words to another famous hymn, and the only one written by Bliss for which he did not leave a tune, I Will Sing of My Redeemer.

The first words of this hymn are easy to sing: "When peace like a river attendeth my soul," it is easy to sing, "It is well with my soul." And yet the very next line reminds us that sometimes "sorrows like sea-billows roll." This hymn is powerful to me because it was written by a man who had just suffered devastating loss. His loss was far greater than anything I have ever experienced, and yet his faith in his Savior was such that he could say "it is well."

Every one of us goes through trials. Some are large, some are small, and yet they are all larger than us and smaller than Him. Sometimes we see our own trials in perspective of someone else's trials and we are discouraged. The past several weeks have been extremely difficult for me as I am far away from my family and cannot be the comfort I want to be to them in the midst of serious medical issues. A friend who had recently been coming to me for comfort with several trials remarked that those trials seemed trivial in comparison to the ones that I was experiencing.

My response was to explain how small my trials seemed in comparison to ones I knew other people were going through. Even as I was worrying over my uncle's health and seeking comfort from one of my "moms" here in Michigan, I found out that her uncle had died a few days previously. Suddenly a health scare seemed small and trivial. And yet that amazing woman of God comforted me even in the midst of her own trial. The trials we face are too big for us. But they are never too big for Him. And He has given us the Body of Christ to build us up and carry us through these trials. He will sustain us, but He has also given us comforters to surround us and encourage us.

I have been participating the past 3 weeks in 40 Days for Life, a peaceful prayer vigil outside of abortion clinics. This week I was discouraged. It seemed as though our prayers were ineffective. We still saw women walking into that clinic day after day. And then God put things in perspective. Yesterday morning, I noticed that even by 9 a.m. I had not seen any employee cars drive in. Usually they start driving in about 7:45 and keep filtering in until 9:15. When I remarked on this to another prayer warrior who has been involved in this campaign for several years, he commented that they usually have limited hours on Saturdays, and he thought that more recently they had reduced their Saturday hours to one Saturday a month. Based on their website, they no longer have Saturday hours.

Despite the discouragement I was feeling, the hopelessness and despair at not being able to make a difference, God is working. Demand for abortions in Ann Arbor has gone down such that they are not using Saturdays to continue the horrific work. God is on the move, and He is defending His children. He has not shut down this facility yet, but I believe that He will, and I will continue to pray for Him to do so. This is the God who is bigger than any trials we may face. He is able, and we wait for Him.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin—not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so—it is well with my soul.

Refrain

(Public Domain)

Faith of Our Fathers

Today, as I'm often reminded, is the only date that is also a command: March Forth. This day is also the third of my grandfather's birthdays since God called him home. He would have been 98 years old today.

SSgt Joe H. Garcia

 We call him Grumpy, and as my father so aptly put it, "if there ever was a nickname that was the exact opposite of a man!" My grandfather was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and it showed. Wherever he was, this man was a servant to all he encountered. No task was too small or distasteful for him. He followed his Savior and took up His cross each day. Even when he was turning 95, people were shocked at his age, not believing that a 95-year-old man could be as actively serving in the church and the community as he was.

His smile and his laughter were infectious. His hope in His Savior was inspiring. His example was challenging. His legacy is enduring. This man was a man of faith. A faith that he instilled in his children and his grandchildren. A faith that gave him courage even as God called him home, because he knew the glory that was waiting there for him.

We are all now living in a dangerous world, a world where we regularly see reports on the news about the latest video from ISIS, the latest act of barbarism in this dark world. It is easy to forget, for those of us born at the end of the Cold War, that our parents and grandparents experienced their own fearful lives in a dangerous world, a world where one flinch on either side could have unleashed nuclear war. My grandfather's faith was sufficient for him. My faith, the faith that God gave me, at least in part, through him, is sufficient for me.

Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whenever we hear that glorious Word!

 Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free:
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they, like them, could die for Thee!

Refrain

Faith of our fathers, we will strive
To win all nations unto Thee;
And through the truth that comes from God,
We all shall then be truly free.

Refrain

Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife;
And preach Thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.

Refrain

(Public Domain)

Faith of Our Fathers was written in 1849 by Frederick W. Faber. James G. Walton added the refrain in 1874 after he set it to music he had arranged in 1864.

How Firm A Foundation

There are weeks when it feels as though everything is falling apart. Weeks when it feels as if nothing can go right. Weeks when you just want to curl up and cry. This past week was one of those weeks. Several family members have had very serious medical issues pop up or worsen in the past month, and this week was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So here I am, half a continent away from my family as they're going through these things, feeling so very alone. I'm not. I am never alone, but I felt like I was this week. It got better this morning. God has blessed me in surrounding me with so many amazing, godly women who treat me as a son. One of them, one of the most amazing women I know, gave me the motherly hug I so desperately needed today. As I cried on her shoulder, I felt much of the tension that had made it so difficult to sleep this week fade away.

These weeks aren't especially common, but they're not exactly rare, either. So often I feel alone, but I know that I'm not. This hymn, How Firm a Foundation, was the favorite hymn of one of my heroes, Robert E. Lee, a godly man who understood duty, privilege, and family. It reminds me of the sufficiency of God's grace, the limitlessness of his love for me, and the infiniteness of his power. Each of the verses is so meaningful, but the last verse sums it all up: Though  all hell should endeavor to shake us, we who have trusted in Christ for our rest will not be forsaken. No matter the foes that come against us, we will not be deserted. He is with us, in every trial, in every sorrow, and in every struggle. This is the God whom we serve, and even our service is only by His grace. How firm a foundation He has laid for us.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

(Public Domain)

The hymn was first published in 1787 by John Rippon (it's unclear when it was written, and the actual identity of the author is unknown, having been attributed to various authors), and it is sung to a tune written in 1832 by Joseph Funk of Singers Glen, Virginia (a Mennonite settlement that is known as the birthplace of sacred music in the South). 

Christian Warfare

Yesterday, news broke around the world that ISIS had kidnapped at least 90 Assyrian Christians from their peaceful villages. Since that time, the estimates have ranged from 90 to 285, with CNN reporting 150. These men, women, and children were not involved in the military efforts of the international community and the Kurdish forces, but ISIS does not care about the rules of war. ISIS will probably kill each and every one of those kidnapped Christians. They may kill them as they killed the Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, by beheading, or they may crucify the children as they have previously done in Syria and Iraq. They will probably attempt to outdo their prior barbarism.

God has given the governments of the world the power of the sword, and I pray that He would stir them to further action to destroy ISIS. I pray that God would intervene in this conflict and bring about victory over ISIS. But I also pray for the members of ISIS. It is so easy to hate them, but we are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (and those who persecute our brothers and sisters in Christ). I pray that they would see the error of their ways, that they would cry out to God in full repentance. I pray that just as God called Saul out from the faction persecuting the new Church and made him into one of the most powerful advocates for Christ in his time, God would call out from the midst of ISIS one who will be His voice in the midst of this darkness. Patrick Vaughn, Legal counsel for the American Family Association, posted a blog yesterday encouraging Christians to pray Psalm 83 over the situation in the Middle East, that God would bring His judgment and that through that judgment men and women would know and seek Him.

How do we, as individual Christians, respond? First, we do not respond in violence. We do not respond with vigilante justice. God has given the power of the sword to government, not to individuals. In the midst of a situation where the government cannot function to respond, we can and should defend the lives of others, but this is not one of those times. We respond with prayer. Psalm 83 is a good place to start. Prayer for the Christians being persecuted is critical. As I said in Sunday's blog post, prayer is our best weapon. As individuals, it is our only weapon to respond to the systemic problems in our world.

As I struggled to let go of my hatred of ISIS, I came across this hymn, Christian Warfare, written in 1910 by Frederick L. Rowe. I had never heard (or heard of) it before, but it struck me in how accurately it conveyed how Christian Warfare is waged: by trusting in God's judgment with no fear of death because death is not the end. Death is when we are free from the constraints of this world and meet our Savior face to face. Our enemies are not flesh and blood. Our enemies are not the human fighters of ISIS, but the powers behind them. They celebrate their victory when they kill us, but it is in our deaths that they are fully defeated.

Arouse, ye Christians, stand united
In this holy warfare,
With shoulder touching shoulder, march;
Go forth to do and dare.

Then stand ye bravely, know no fear;
God promised thro’ His Son
That greater vict’ries yet are ours,
If faith doth lead us on.

Let nothing daunt—no foes affright,
God’s brave ones never waver;
We’ll win the day and plant the cross;
Sweet rest comes after labor.

Refrain

Sleep not nor slumber—e’er on guard,
We’ll meet the foe advancing;
Each scar and stripe more honor gains;
Our coming joys enhancing.

Refrain

E’en down to death, if God should lead,
To serve the cause of Jesus;
All earthly praise cannot compare
With glories God will give us.

Refrain

(Public Domain)

This Is My Father's World

 

This afternoon was the first Sunday of the Spring 2015 “40 Days for Life” campaign. The campaign is a peaceful prayer vigil throughout the 40 days of Lent (and again in the fall) outside of abortion facilities. In 1973, 42 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled not only that pre-born children are not entitled to protection by the State, but that States could not choose to protect them at all during the first 6 months of their lives. (This is no longer the way the court views this issue, as later cases focused on “viability” instead of on the strict trimester framework, but this was the ruling in 1973. Also, some may object that States were allowed to regulate abortion during the second trimester, but I would note that such regulations had to be explicitly for the health of the mother, because the Court ruled that protecting the lives of pre-born children was not a compelling government interest until the third trimester.)

Since that time, over 57.5 million children have died in their mothers’ wombs at the hands of abortionists. To put that into perspective, the largest estimate I have ever seen for the number killed in the Holocaust was 20 million. In only 2-3 years, we will have surpassed three times the highest estimates for the Holocaust. (Now, of course, if the pre-born are not human beings, then this number is meaningless; it might as well be a number of tumors removed from patients by surgeons. But if it’s not a human being, then why do we charge murderers of pregnant women with double homicide? Why do we refer to pre-born children that are “wanted” as babies and ones that are “unwanted” as fetuses?)

The 40 Days for Life campaign seeks to end this horrible scourge upon our land by the most effective weapon possible: prayer. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16). Why prayer? Because “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12) Our best weapon is prayer because, in spiritual warfare (which the fight to abolish abortion certainly is spiritual warfare), the only one who can stand up to Satan and his forces is the God of the universe.

This afternoon I spent a few hours outside the Planned Parenthood facility here in Ann Arbor, praying for the women who would visit the facility this week, praying for the abortionists and employees at the facility, and praying that God would draw them to himself and show them the unconditional love, forgiveness, and care that He has for them and that we, as His church, must show. It often feels like nothing that we do is making progress, and yet I know it is. I also know that it is not because of our efforts that it is doing so. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen keeps awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1). We are still called to build, to guard, and to be present there on that sidewalk to plead for the lives of these children, but without God’s help, it is all in vain.

I often find myself despairing. Whether it is courts striking down restrictions, or lawmakers in Congress too cowardly to even bring a bill up for a vote, it seems that we are stalled. But then I remember a simple truth: this is my Father’s world. I found myself singing that several times this afternoon to remind myself of the reality. The third verse in particular gives me hope: “For though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet!”

This Is My Father’s World was written in 1901 by Maltbie D. Babcock, a pastor in Lockport, New York. It is sung to a 1915 arrangement by Franklin L. Sheppard of the traditional English tune Terra Beata.

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, The Lord is in this place.
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

(Public Domain)