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)