Worthy Is the Lamb – Anonymous Angels

‘Many angels around the throne-- ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands’ (Revelation 5:12). Can anyone really imagine that? And, how about the sound this many beings make? Do the math, and see that it works out to 100 million angels, at least! (A multitude of angels is likewise shown in this 15^th Century masterpiece work of art, Assumption of the Virgin, by Francesco Botticini, in which he envisioned three hierarchies and nine orders of angels.) To say this scene would rock your world, visually and audibly, is an understatement, and John the beloved apostle was just beginning to receive the vision that God wanted him to convey to others. Witnessing this in person was a unique and undoubtedly overwhelming episode for John; perhaps it was so surreal that it was difficult for him to believe, frankly, for it was a heavenly vision from the Creator that was meant to encapsulate the meaning and culmination of all life. John’s vision is drawn to the focal point of all human existence -- someone called the Lamb. “Worthy Is the Lamb”, this multitude shouted, as they responded to another group and urged on yet a third group of beings. If this Lamb is in the spotlight, how should I respond? That’s what makes the angels’ song meaningful, showing me to how I can respond appropriately. It’s a scene we might think of as a 1^st Century happening, as well as a future event. But, the song can be sung today, too, allowing us to weave between past, present, and future verbs to see, hear, and respond to John’s vision.

 

This angelic song, which was adapted to music by Don Wyrtzen in 1973, is really one of three parts, something like a call-response song. ‘Worthy Is the Lamb’ seems to be both a response and a call song, because it is interspersed between two other songs. John heard a new song about the Lamb’s worthy state sung by four living creatures and a group of 24 elders (5:9-10), and that evidently inspired this vast army of angels to respond with their own worthy ode to the Lamb (v.12). Can you imagine the echo, amplified beyond heaven itself, so that a third group -- every creature in heaven and on earth, under the earth, and in the sea (5:13) -- was called to reply with their own words of reverence for the Lamb? The three-part song began in heaven, and was so magnificent and thunderous, that it created a wave of singing everywhere by everyone. That’s synergy, of a Divine origin. We cannot talk to these angels, nor to their cohorts in the first and third chorus groups, so what would we be able to say about their motives for singing, except that it was and will be worship. Their eyes were on the Lamb, this animal that sounds harmless enough. One might think so without the further description that John provides. This Lamb was one that was sacrificed, so there’s probably evidence of wounds and blood, and yet this Lamb wasn’t and is not dead today. It is definitely different, with seven horns and seven eyes to represent Godly spirits sent into all of the earth. And, He does something very noteworthy, an act that apparently sparks all of this music: He retrieved a scroll, as the One uniquely capable of breaking it open and revealing its contents. And then, the next 17 chapters of John’s Revelation unfold in all of their apocalyptic grandeur.

 

So, Don Wyrtzen and the rest of us are called to join in as part of that third group who’ve heard the angel army’s song fall upon our ears from heaven. Will anyone be able to ignore this, like when Jesus comes with a loud command (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)? It’s early in John’s vision, before humans are judged, so will all who’ve ever lived, including both those who acknowledge God as Lord and those who do not, be part of the group that’s in this third chorus? Maybe I cannot say that with certainty, but He must want me to be sure of this: I can choose to join in; I don’t have to be left out of His kingdom. I want to be on the same side as all of those angels singing ‘Worthy’. From what John says, the resonance of their singing will likely be noticed like nothing else ever has been. Perhaps it will be as undeniable as the sun that rises and spreads its rays, whether I want them or not. Prepared or not, this worthy song will be sung to the Lamb. Ready?     

 

See information on the adapter/music writer: Don Wyrtzen | Hymnary.org

 

Read here about Call and Response music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_and_response_(music)

 

See here for information on the image of the angels: File:Francesco Botticini - The Assumption of the Virgin.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. 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-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.

 

O The Precious Love of Jesus -- Eliza Morgan Sherman

 

She lived in small-town late 19^th Century America, and evidently had felt, seen, and heard something proclaimed and lived out in a church and a home that reinforced a simple, loving trust in Him. Could it be that Eliza Morgan Sherman had been taught to love Jesus Christ for so long, that by 1880 it was quite natural for her to sing “O, the Precious Love of Jesus” (also known as “Christ Is Precious”)? The very words she penned around her 30^th year most likely were those her parents had on their lips, too. Brodhead, Wisconsin (See the Seal of Wisconsin here; Brodhead sits astride the border of Green and Rock counties on the southern Wisconsin-northern Illinois border) and probably the Congregational Church where this family worshipped were small, but the Christian faith values she encountered there were evidently deeply embedded within Eliza. The basic message about God – that He is love (1 John 4:8), and that that character trait of Him is so very valuable – was not lost on this young woman.    

 

Eliza had sensed the love of God in boundless ways, perhaps even with the other two senses not yet mentioned (tasting and smelling), for it is evident in what she wrote that this divine nature was something that encompassed her life. ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8), and ‘taste the love of Jesus’ (v.3 of the song), Eliza coaxed, evidently as she drew on what her ancient ancestor-songwriter David had said about having God’s sweetness on the tongue. Had Eliza also read Psalm 141:2, wherein David loved God – indeed, perhaps enjoyed a mutual sensation with Him – through the aroma of incense that was present as he lifted up a prayer of devotion to Him? Was that analogous to her last three lines in verse 3, where Eliza indicates there’s a prayer offered to the One above, upon whom ‘burdens’ are laid, because He is ‘trust(ed) with…grief and sorrow’, and someone toward whom a ‘joyful song’ (is borne) ‘away’, like incense? She vocalizes the word love three times, once for each of her three stanzas, but the poetic offshoots of love include many other words to describe its breadth – like precious, sweeter, joyous, and melody (v.1); and fullness, wondrous, glory, heavenly home (v.2). All of these are traced to Christ – employed 12 times in her poetry -- the name for the Anointed One of God to whom she points. Eliza managed to say quite a lot about this God of love with just a handful of words.

 

What do you suppose Eliza did with all of that love that she experienced in Brodhead? Without specific evidence to confirm how Eliza Sherman’s life played out day-to-day, including what particular episode might have spurred her poetry about this love of Jesus, we could surmise that what took place there stuck with her – and that she stuck with Brodhead in reply. The little available information about her, in addition to the verses of some 80 songs that she wrote, indicate her father (James) was a deacon in a Congregational Church for half-a-century, and that her mother was Abigail Morgan. These parents gave Eliza her mother’s maiden name and her father’s family’s name, so could they have wanted her to always know about her roots? Eliza Morgan Sherman remembered, and must have gleaned something else from her upbringing in Brodhead that she found very attractive, for she apparently lived almost all of her life – some 78.5 years – in Brodhead, or near there. Fifty years as a deacon’s daughter is a pretty long stretch. A small church and community are where Eliza evidently experienced love firsthand. Have you got a magnet with that kind of staying power?          

 

 

See few scant details of the authoress here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/h/e/r/sherman_em.htm

 

Find all three verses and the song’s refrain here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/p/r/e/oprelove.htm

 

Also see here for the song’s lyrics: O, the Precious Love of Jesus | Hymnary.org

 

See here for information about the authoress’s birthplace: Brodhead, Wisconsin - Wikipedia

 

See information on the seal of Wisconsin here: File:Coat of arms of Wisconsin.svg - Wikimedia Commons …  This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1929, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal.

You Alone Can Rescue -- Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin

 

Matt Redman’s few words to explain why he wrote “You Alone Can Rescue” include one very significant word, one which anyone who’s ever lived needs to accept in order to live forever with the Maker of all life. Salvation. Countless books, videos, songs, and works of art (like the one shown here, Allegory of Salvation, by 16^th Century artist Wolf Huber) throughout history have attempted to describe the import of this transaction. In trying to define it, none have really been equal to the task, for this one-word deal was something over which even the Lord Himself agonized, when He considered what was necessary to accomplish this. To say it was a stress-inducing time for Jesus (see Luke 22:43-44) would be a gross understatement. No one had ever done what He was about to do, and its value is underscored in that He did this for all time (Hebrews 10:11-14). What other one-time deals have purchased so much?

 

Could it be that co-writers Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin were thinking in the same vein when they first penned and polished their thoughts about salvation (shortly before, or in 2008)? It’s such a ‘churchy’ word, this salvation that is only rarely spoken outside of a religious context. In an interview, Matt says he and Jonas were looking for something fresh, an up-to-date way to thank God with a new salvation song. Was part of this freshening objective accomplished by replacing this seminal word with another – rescue? Alternatively, they could have said redemption, escape, recovery, or deliverance (all synonyms for salvation, according to this Word document’s query function), but rescue seemed to fit what they were trying to say. Rescue implies that someone has been in danger, and that a trusted entity has reversed the situation for the imperiled. Escape likewise implies that a dangerous condition has been reversed, but not necessarily through someone else’s action. Matt and Jonas could have said redemption, deliverance, or recovery, but rescue is more pithy (fewer syllables). Just how dangerous was my condition, and why was Jesus’ intervention so necessary? I had something like a disease, apparently, for which I needed ‘heal(ing)’; it was accompanied by a ‘shame’ with a deep-sea-like depth (v.1). The song’s title words say ‘You (God) alone’ has the answer, my ‘rescue’ within His grasp, because only He can dispense the ‘grace’ that goes deep enough to find me; I’m in a ‘grave’ leading to ‘death’, otherwise (refrain). He bridges a ‘great divide’ by way of His great ‘love’; I’m desperate, because this separation threatens to keep me ‘far away’ (v.2). Matt concludes his few thoughts by saying he and Jonas thought of ‘You Alone…’ as a simple song, with a bridge section that says one thing, the only thing that I, as a fallible human, can do in that moment when I’m saved: ‘Lift up…(my) eyes’, to see the ‘Giver of Life’. Will any words be adequate at that moment in Eternity, when my rescue is finally completed?   

 

There’s one other significant word in this song by Matt and Jonas: Alone. That was the one that perhaps troubled Jesus’ spirit so much in the garden, that He had to do this by Himself; even His closest earthly friends could not stay awake to help Him in this dark moment (Matthew 26:38-45). He was to be left ‘forsaken’, even by His Father (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:1) while His body was about to expire. What’s that like, to be God, and yet be alone? He must not much like it, for He made you and me in His very image (Genesis 1:27), and then noted that it wasn’t right for man to be alone either (Gen. 2:18-23). If I’m like Him, then He and I are alike in our mutual desire for companionship. He alone rescued, so neither He nor I need be so lonesome anymore.          

 

 

Matt Redman - You Alone Can Rescue - Popular Christian Videos (godtube.com) (comments on song at 1:17 – 1:22)

 

Read about the principal songwriter here: Matt Redman - Wikipedia

 

Read about the other songwriter here: Jonas Myrin - Wikipedia

 

The album on which the song appears: We Shall Not Be Shaken - Wikipedia

 

See here for information on the artwork about Salvation: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allegory_of_Salvation_by_Wolf_Huber_(cca_1543).jpg... 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-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.