Come Jesus Come -- Stephen and Tara McWhirter, Hank Bentley, Bryan Fowler

 

He just let the Word dwell inside himself for a few moments, until something so completely saturated his being, that Stephen McWhirter sensed a message germinating inside that was a calling, and not just a song. Perhaps most people avoid reading the bible’s last book – Revelation – because the imagery is so, well, bizarre and terrifying. But Stephen, and just about all of planet Earth, were stuck in a rather frightening space in time in early 2020 anyway, so perhaps reading and hearing the “Come Jesus, Come” voice speaking to him was just what he needed that day. Another believer in God, one named John, saw what must have rattled him right down to his bones also, perhaps something like the image shown here (See the mid-19^th Century work of art by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld  [1794–1872], Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860.), one artist’s conception of what this great apostle experienced. Stephen set out to study and worship a little that day, in a personal way, and he found something that he just couldn’t keep to himself. Blessedly, John was not able to forget his vision, and neither was Stephen.  

   

COVID-19…not a time that many of us want to remember, but it did bring Stephen McWhirter and his collaborators (his wife Tara, and friends Hank Bentley and Bryan Fowler) something special, perhaps because of its origin. Stephen was at the very last page of his bible, in Revelation 22:17-20, and so he must have known where to look when he was trying to offer God authentic worship, even if his world was at the beginning of the pandemic (2020). Who wouldn’t be awed and properly prostrated before your Creator and Healer while seeing what John saw, after all? Stephen was really captivated by the Spirit and the Bride (the church) imploring Jesus to come, and that this is something God wants us to do. Stephen acknowledged the longing within himself to see Jesus, this King and also personal friend, and that until that moment would become reality, he was called to love people better in his life. He just felt convicted that he needed to do something meaningful until Jesus comes in all His glory. And so, Stephen, apparently with some help from Tara, Hank, and Bryan, took up this Godly vision’s entreaty – ask Jesus to come. Perhaps they felt that earth’s inhabitants were in no better place than during a global health emergency to hear and join with them in this plea. I’m about to ‘break’ (v.1), so please don’t wait to heal our ‘every hurt’ and fix ‘every wrong’ (refrain). With the song’s last two verses, Stephen and his co-writers take up Revelation’s apocalyptically hopeful and inspiring bottom-line – that in celestial war, in which you and I alone could never hope to prevail, is the means of my rescue, through Jesus. He’s the Faithful and True, the rider on the white horse waging war against the enemy, in a battle that’s already been won (Revelation 19). These songwriters are therefore waiting expectantly for ‘war’ and ‘chains’ (v.2) to vanish with Jesus’ return, an arrival that would awe everyone with its ‘power’, no matter whether you are ’weak’ or ‘strong’ (v.2). We’ll all be washed clean in His ‘rivers of grace’, standing ‘face-to-face’ with this Savior, so there’s ‘no need to wait’ (v.3) for this mind-blowing moment. Take hold of it now!

 

Stephen and company really manage to capture with their music some of the passion of Revelation (see the link below to the rendition with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir). It’s like they were still riding a wave of imagining what John could only have marveled at when he described it for us. Take heart and don’t be frightened, John says in so many words. Your entry into His presence is already secured, if you have completely given yourself over to Him. Let Him put His mark on your head, and revel in the assurance that you’re on His triumphant side. Who would want to be with the losers – the beast, the serpent, the prostitute, and their minions who occupy Babylon? Come, Jesus! We’ll keep telling others, and raise a hallelujah, and shout louder still, as we try to sound like those roaring waters of your multitude who see You coming. Let your spirit unite with His Spirit, and see what John saw!     

 

 

Watch the story of the song here: Stephen McWhirter Shares the Story Behind his Song, "Come Jesus Come" (youtube.com)

 

See a moving rendition of the song by the principal songwriter and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-kZ4Eb3XXg

 

See information on the image of Christ in John’s Revelation vision here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_236.png... This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1929.  

 

Read a little about the principal songwriter here: Stephen McWhirter Artist Profile | Biography And Discography | NewReleaseToday   and here: The Side B Stories - Stephen McWhirter's Story - C.S. Lewis Institute (cslewisinstitute.org)

Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary -- John M. Moore

 

This songwriter was prepared, or someone might actually say he was surprised, when the story of “Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary” is told. The Scottish minister John M. Moore responded to an urgent call one day in 1952 while going about his daily routine in Glasgow, and he did what ministers do when called to visit someone in the hospital. The young fellow whom he saw could not have been said to be in a foxhole, since he was in fact a seaman, but he nevertheless did what others in danger like that do: call for a man of God to help ‘lift the burden’, and bring some sense of peace and protection. John had a handy piece of literature (see a picture from it here) to give this seaman, probably a sign that he had some experience at this sort of ministering – you give the afflicted some really good, to-the-point advice that is written just for that specific circumstance. John must have felt a sense of accomplishment and confirmation, as he left that hospital, that he had done his duty well. Later that night, John’s hospital experience stayed with him, perhaps in a way that he could not have predicted.

 

The day’s events compelled John to write some song words to match the picture of what had happened. Part of their inspiration came from the tract he had probably carried in his bag for some time; it was one from Pilgrim’s Progress, and it had seemed very appropriate for the young seaman’s troubled spirit that day. The sick mariner nodded that he felt the weight of a burden on his back, but his facial expression when he prayed with John and sensed that the weight had been removed got John’s attention.  John just had to write what his mind would not allow him to forget. What he saw on the man’s face was a glow -- no more ‘sorrow and care’ (v.1), ‘worry and fear’ (v.2), or heartache and tear (v.3). John must have felt especially that ‘Jesus is very near’, because he wrote this concluding thought in every verse. Though John may have seen similar reactions from others from time-to-time, something special had occurred in that hospital room. Was it the depth of this merchant mariner’s conviction, as if his life was filled with more debauchery than the average person, that underscored the transformation of the man’s despair into peace? It was like a man walking out of the prison cell through the door opened at long last. How would you feel toward the person who put the key in the hole and turned it so the door unlatched and let you free? That’s kinda what John Moore saw happen that day in 1952.

 

John Moore was just 27 years old that day in 1952. Just a young pup in ministry was he, he might say, looking back on this episode. He went on to several other locations in a lifelong ministry that was ongoing still in 2013 (he was apparently still living, as of 2022, making him 97 years old, according to available sources). How many more times did John pull out that Pilgrim’s Progress that had proved so effective that day in a Glasgow hospital? What’s so great about this incident is not that it happened one time and created a special memory. No, it keeps going on, because the heart of the song’s message is still true. John just rediscovered that it was so in 1952.

   

   

   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

 

Also see this link for a brief version of the author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/o/r/moore_jm.htm  

 

See link here to the key piece of information the author used in this story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress

What Child Is This? -- William Chatterton Dix

Twenty-nine year old Englishman William Chatterton Dix lay ill and depressed in his home in Glasgow, Scotland (see its coat of arms here from about 1866, as Dix would have seen it), and somehow this state drew him toward a child -- the child-God. Dix was an insurance salesman by trade, and could a bit of insurance of the spiritual kind have been on his troubled mind as he suffered physically and emotionally? “What Child Is This?” he asked rhetorically, for he already knew the answer, one that prompted him reportedly to write multiple poem texts for hymns that would come to life in the aftermath of his illness. William Dix searched for an answer to help mend his own body and mind, and the answer he found apparently was indeed one that drew him into a deeper connection with the one he called God.  

Looking at the words he wrote, one can assume that William Dix was crafting the words to his musical question around Christmas time, but with a poignancy indicative of his recent circumstances. William makes all three of his three poetry verses conclude with the answer to the question that his song’s title poses. ‘The Babe the son of Mary’, he declares. But, that identity would not be complete, if Dix did not also call Him ‘Christ the King’ (v.1), and ‘Christ’ and ‘King of kings’ (v.3), too. William’s assertions do not emerge until he has first asked his questions, however. He asks not only about the identity of the child, but also about how He could be the focus of angel worship – ‘…angels greet with anthem sweet?’ (v.1). And, he vocalizes the skepticism that must have occupied the minds of the first century contemporaries of this baby: How could a baby in a manger, a ‘mean estate’ (v.2), be the Messiah, the God-King? Moreover, though he does not present it in the form of a question, William notes the eventual crucifixion of this baby (v.2), the decisive issue that confronts would-be believers. Is it logical that our God would occupy so many roles counter to what expectations we think he should meet? A baby, really? Laying where animals sniff and search for their food? How can a king reign if He’s to be killed in ignominy? We might therefore see ‘What Child…’ as something like a window into the author’s illness cycle, perhaps– the hurting and questioning (depression) fellow, and then as the understanding and rejoicing believer who’s come through the dark tunnel into the light.   

Perhaps we should see the verses he penned were part of the medicine, the prescription that William Dix needed to overcome the unspecified illness he suffered in 1865. Many sufferers ask ‘Why me?’. Yet, how many eventually come to a point where they can answer positively the way William did? He might say whatever afflicted him was a blessing, compelling some introspection and poetry in many forms that have articulated what otherwise he might have not spoken. William must have thought it was OK to ask his questions, looking in hindsight, since he found answers that left him filled. He may have also concluded that God is not hostile to our inquisitive nature. Keep asking Him!   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.  

Also see this link, showing all three original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/h/a/t/c/whatcist.htm

Biography of the writer is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/i/x/dix_wc.htm