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-19th 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)
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