Monday
Thou art the everlasting Word,
The Father’s only Son;
God manifestly seen and heard
And heaven’s beloved One:
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.
Hymns shape our theology. The words we sing in worship not only express our feelings, they confess our faith. So what we sing matters, a lot! This is a hymn of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ that uses the rich tradition of scripture, creed and song. Those first four lines affirm the unique glory of Jesus as the revelation of God in human form. In the person of Jesus we are shown, in word and action, the love of God to a broken and sinful world; and in the same person we see the One who is beloved of God, who speaks the everlasting Word. As John says, “The Word became flesh and lived amongst us, full of grace and truth…and we have beheld his glory…”
Tuesday
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.
This refrain is used after all five verses. It combines words of worship from the book of Revelation and Philippians. By repeating it we enter into that hymn of eternal praise as our response to the One who is the everlasting Word, and to that one single human life in whom God is manifestly seen and heard, heaven’s beloved One. Just these six lines lift the mind towards the immense reality of God’s plan of creation and redemption. They also touch the heart, and stir the imagination, as we “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” When all credit is given to the contemporary praise song, and the importance of accessible language, there is still a place for doctrinal precision as the structure of devotional expression.
Wednesday
In Thee most perfectly expressed
The Father’s glories shine;
Of the full deity possessed,
Eternally divine: (Worthy, O Lamb of God…)
Once again, lines which are a mosaic of scripture: “He is the image of the invisible God…For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him…” (Col. 1.15,19) All that our human nature and understanding can know of God, is fully expressed, perfectly revealed in Jesus, incarnate, crucified, risen and ascended. No depth or height of human thought can fully guage or critically analyse the mystery and splendour of Christ. The fullest response is worshipful love, adoring praise, dependant prayer, and faithful obedience. The Father’s glories include, but are not limited to, holiness, mercy, love, faithfulness, compassion, justice, from which flow creation, redemption, reconciliation and God’s sovereign purpose, when through Christ God will be all in all.
Thursday
True image of the infinite,
Whose essence is concealed;
Brightness of uncreated light
The heart of God revealed. (Worthy, O Lamb of God…)
As mentioned above, the mystery and splendour of Christ, is beyond our intellectual grasp. Human capacity is limited to the finite nature of who we are. We can never know God for ourselves by our own mental capacity. We are buckets held under Niagara! And yet. In Jesus God has revealed the truth of who God is. In Jesus God has spoken his fullest and final Word. As Jesus said, “Those who have seen me, have seen the Father.” (John 14.9) There will always be in God that which is hidden, beyond our seeing and knowing. But all we need to know of God for life, and for this life, is fully expressed, perfectly revealed, in “the Son who is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being…” (Hebrews 1.3)
Friday
But the high mysteries of Thy name
An angel’s grasp transcend;
The Father only – glorious claim!
The Son can comprehend. (Worthy, O Lamb of God…)
We are so used to having explanations, we are an information hungry culture, so that we are impatient with complexity, and we don’t like being perplexed. But the truth is that there are some truths that can’t be dumbed down; there are realities beyond our capacity even to imagine, let alone understand. The name of God is itself hidden in the brightness of uncreated light. Yet to Moses God said, “I AM THAT I AM”. And Jesus in the gospel of John used that name without embarrassment and with an authority that was not lost on those who heard him. “I AM the Light of the World.” “I AM the good shepherd.” “Before Abraham was, I AM.” In our worship, there is reverence and joy in knowing that the love and peace and grace of God will always frustrate our best analysis, and evade our clever words. If angels scratch their heads in wonder, then so do we – and bow them in a prayer of adoration – “Worthy, O Lamb of God art Thou, that every knee to Thee should bow.”
Saturday
Throughout the universe of bliss,
The centre Thou, and sun;
The eternal theme of praise is this
To heaven’s beloved One. (Worthy, O Lamb of God art Thou…
Several hymns (or prose poems) to Christ are embedded in the New Testament: John 1.1-18; Colossians 1.15-20; Philippians 2.5-11; Hebrews 1.1-4. All of them celebrate Christ’s role in creation. “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Or, “Sustaining all things by his powerful Word.” The theme of praise of the whole universe is this beloved Word, the eternal Son, “the One who is before all things and in whom all things hold together.” The unifying principle of the universe is the truth that everything that exists is created, sustained and held in the creative and redemptive purposes of God. Those creative powers and redemptive purposes are revealed and realised through Christ, by the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit. Yes, all of this, and so much more, is gathered up in our worship when we sing words like this: “Worthy, O Lamb of God art Thou, that every knee to Thee should bow.”
Sunday
The Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise him all creatures here below
Praise him above ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Doxology means to tell out glory, to offer praise. This one was written 350 years ago by Bishop Thomas Ken. In Scotland, at least, it is always sung to the tune ‘Old Hundredth’. We don’t sing it often enough! I know, life moves on and so does musical taste. But this succinct praise-prayer gathers heaven and earth, angels and creatures, together with all creation, into a loud song giving glory to the Triune God of grace, love and communion. In the great vision of the throne room, in Revelation 5, we are told to look and see “the Lamb in the midst of the throne.” Some of the great biblical doxologies are in this section of Revelation. We can join our voices with heaven and earth as we sing or say: “Worthy, O Lamb of God art Thou that every knee to Thee should bow.” Amen, and Amen.
The image above is a piece of colouring art by my friend Ben. We meet several times a year for coffee and colouring in a local coffee shop. Posted here with permission and a kind of broad smile of approval!
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