With Joy We Meditate the Grace

With joy we meditate the grace
Of our High Priest above;
His heart is made of tenderness,
His bowels melt with love.

Touched with a sympathy within,
He knows our feeble frame;
He knows what sore temptations mean,
For He has felt the same.

But spotless, innocent, and pure,
The great Redeemer stood,
While Satan’s fiery darts He bore,
And did resist to blood.

He in the days of feeble flesh
Poured out His cries and tears,
And in His measure feels afresh
What every member bears.

He’ll never quench the smoking flax,
But raise it to a flame;
The bruisèd reed He never breaks,
Nor scorns the meanest name.

Then let our humble faith address
His mercy and His power;
We shall obtain delivering grace
In the distressing hour.

Isaac Watts 1707-1709

If you are a Christian have you ever been so distressed by your sinfulness that you almost despair of God’s mercy and grace?  Ever feel you have been at the extremes of God’s love and on the edge of losing it as a Christian? I have.

In truth I’ve not, at the level of intellectual acknowledgement, doubted grace but I’ve had times where I’ve FEARED that I’ve gone beyond the cross in my sinfulness.  What a fool! What sin there is in that fear! Even then, even at the point of questioning the sufficiency of the incarnate Son of God’s perfect sacrifice in pleasing the Father and granting the fullness of new life by the great power of the Holy Spirit.

However we do, we get there sometimes and what is the remedy for such sin upon sin?  Resolve to live better? Work harder? Love more? Sing louder? Be nicer?

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!

We turn to contemplate grace in all it’s depth – which Watts did 300 years ago and records in this hymn.  Even in the depths of despair over our sin, we can be raised to real joy in the goodness and mercy of God anchored in Christ!

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Heb 10:19-23

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.

There Persia, glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold;
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.

To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His Name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.

People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.

Blessings abound wherever He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.

Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.

Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honours to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!

Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to Thy Son,
Extend His power, exalt His throne.

The sceptre well becomes His hands;
All Heav’n submits to His commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.

With power He vindicates the just,
And treads th’oppressor in the dust:
His worship and His fear shall last
Till hours, and years, and time be past.

As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distils,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.

The heathen lands, that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at His first dawning light;
And deserts blossom at the sight.

The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.

Isaac Watts 1719

The reality of Jesus’ Lordship is not simply some ‘religious’ or pietistic reality.  It is not something that is true for those of us who believe in Jesus: it is absolute truth which spans geography, cultural diversity, language barriers and every other sort of barrier.  In fact the Lordship of Jesus flies in the face of any and every barrier which would defy his Lordship.

Some of the words and phrasing in this great hymn causes us to visibly (or metaphorically) squirm in our seats.  We want it nuanced for today; “but it is 300 years later, we express truth differently today.”  Oh we do and all too often we Christians rob Christ (as if we could) of His rightful place and remove (what idiocy to try) His rightful offence of claiming Lordship over the whole earth and all time and on beyond that too!

In moral difficulty Christ is Lord.  In cross-cultural complexities Jesus is Lord.  In any given place and time: be it of peace and prosperity or war and degradation, the Lordship of Christ is not diminished by the circumstances. 

He is the Only Ruler under whose authority the order of creation is sustained.  Jesus holds reality together at the quantum level (what’s more he understands what that means!) and keeps the billions of galaxies in the universe moving in the finest of balances.

Jesus, God revealed, is Lord at a global and cosmic level; because this is true and because of His Lordship demonstrated at the cross of Calvary and the tomb in the garden we can know Him, not simply as LORD but as our Lord and Saviour.  What amazing and saving knowledge that is! What hope there is in Jesus who will come to judge and to save!  What joy at anticipating the day when who Jesus really is will be seen by every human eye and heart that has ever been given the privilege of life!

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Colossians 1:15-20