Introduction
No matter our stand in life, whether we are Christian or not, it is true to state that there has been some hymn that we have heard at some time. A good example of such a hymn is “Amazing Grace” which is sung in churches, in meetings, and is used more than any other in films and TV shows whenever a scene calls for a religious song! Many of us have favorite hymns, those that have a perfect combination of melody, harmony, and flowing words that combine to move our hearts. Any self-respecting church has a hymnal or song-book with several hundred of these special songs all anxiously waiting their moment to be sung and played.
Yet, unbeknown to us, many of these hymns teach us the tenets of our faith and develop our theological understanding! This is no accident for, during the past centuries when many people were illiterate and Bibles were hard to come by, there was no way to teach them how to read scripture. Many of these songs were born to present the truth of the Gospel in a form that was easy to remember. Take some words containing sound doctrine and mix them with a memorable tune and the result is something that can be readily learned and recalled by even the most illiterate person. After all, is this not the way we teach children? Secular tunes such as “Itsy-bitsy spider” are easily assimilated by young minds and soon are sung by the child as well as the parent. Likewise, Christian songs such as “This little light of mine” and “Jesus loves the little children” become a very powerful witness within the life of a child!
The purpose of this study is to pick several strongly theological hymns and to chase down the underlying Scripture within them. The men and women who penned these words were deeply devout Christians who were led to combine their active faiths with Scriptural truths to provide powerfully compelling hymns. Sometimes they were inspired by specific passages of Scripture and other times they blended many aspects of Christianity into a cohesive whole. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, they created true masterpieces of song which have endeared themselves to succeeding generations and which have taught the truths concerning God.
The following hymns were chosen to demonstrate the concept, that theology exists within their easy to memorize stanzas. The fact that any one hymn is not in this list does not indicate anything other than there are not enough hours in a day to get them all! If your favorite hymn is not in this list, there is nothing to prevent you from digging up the theology on your own. Also, sometimes the song is magnificent, but the subjects are too varied to delve them all up and keep the study from bogging down. A good example of this is “How Great Thou Art” which ranks in the pantheon of my personal favorites. It is theologically sound and absolutely majestic and its words echo from all over the Bible.
It is the purpose of this study to teach you more about God and His grace. It is my hope that you will take this concept as you grow in Christ, and apply it to other hymns. Sometimes you will find that some are less rooted in theological truths than others. All in all, it is a worthwhile endeavor.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Words composed in 1826 by Reginald Huber
Most common tune, NICAEA, composed in 1861 by John B. Dykes
This old favorite hymn forms one of the cornerstones of praise in any hymnal. It has crossed most denominational lines and has become a great hymn within each of the denominations that encountered it. It has truly majestic words cast into an equally majestic tune that conveys a sense of order and royalty. Its wide acceptance speaks volumes to its solid theology.
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1
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Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
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2
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Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
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3
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Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
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4
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God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.
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5
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Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
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6
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Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
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7
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Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
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8
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Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
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9
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Holy, holy, holy! Tho the darkness hide thee,
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10
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Tho the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see;
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11
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Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
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12
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Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.
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13
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Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
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14
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All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
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15
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Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
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16
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God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
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The underpinnings of this marvelous hymn are found in Isaiah 6. Let us read verses 1-8 and capture the vision of the calling of Isaiah, a priest in the Temple. While Isaiah was in the Temple doing his customary duties, God transcended time and space in his sight and provided the aspiring prophet a glimpse into His majestic throne-room.
The flying seraphim uttered the words that form the foundation of each stanza (v 3). “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” stresses the absolute holiness of God. Three is a number of perfection in Hebrew thought, similar to us using the epithet “perfect” to emphasize something’s condition. God is thus three times holy, perfectly holy.
As imperfect, sinful man, Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me…for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (v 5) Imperfect man would die when confronted with the awesome presence of God’s extreme holiness, but Isaiah did not die on the spot because God answered his plea of confession. He provided atonement for Isaiah’s sinful state (v 6,7). It is likely that it is this image of unholy Isaiah being purified so that he could see God that led to line #10 in the hymn.
As a priest, Isaiah would offer sacrifices and incense in the morning and in the evening. The author of this hymn emphasized the morning in line #2 and thus also recalled Psalm 5:2,3. It is this emphasis that places God first on our daily agenda and by doing so, we align everything else in its proper order.
The emphasis on the Trinity is a central doctrine of Christianity. It is one of the most difficult concepts to explain or to fully comprehend, the fact that God is One but also is three distinct persons. Deuteronomy 6:4 proclaims the oneness of our God. In spite of this, in Genesis 1:26, God said (to Himself), “Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness…” which proclaims His plurality. The two concepts created a paradox for, without further evidence, there is no solution to it. Until the advent of Christ, there are no easy ways to understand this concept.
John 1:1-4,14 leads us to understand some of this concept. The Word was with God and was God and always was from the beginning. The Word was the agent of creation for it was the Word who spoke the creation into being. It was the Word who stated, “Let us make man in our image.” This Word, who was God, became flesh and walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:1-4 parallels the account that we just read and brings together the concept of the Father and the Son. They are One and yet they are also distinct characters within the oneness.
In John 14:5-14, Jesus Himself explains that the Father and He are indeed one. In verses 10 and 11, He declared that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Later in the same chapter, Jesus introduced the person of the Spirit. Read John 14:15-21. There is an interplay between the Holy Spirit and Jesus. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth…I will come to you…the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.” This interplay is no accident as we can detect from 2 Corinthians 3:17 and Ephesians 2:22. Jesus even introduced the concept of the entire Trinity in Matthew 28:19 as He gave the farewell speech and the Great Commission.
The Trinity is a oneness and a three-ness. The oneness is that God is One but is in three persons which co-exist and are co-eternal; the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each is God and all are God! The Catholic monk, Patrick, explained the concept of the Trinity to the Irish by holding up a cloverleaf. Each of the three lobes are all separate and yet the leaf forms one entity attached to one stem. Each member of the Trinity presents a separate aspect of God and yet they are all united as God.
In the hymn, lines #4 and #16 stress the doctrine of the Trinity. The three-ness can also be seen reflected in the three holys for each member of the Godhead is in Himself, equally holy. There is a sense of “Holy is the Father, holy is the Son, and Holy is the Spirit” expressed in the perfection of three-ness.
Merged into the vision of Isaiah is the throne-room vision of John in Revelation 4:1-11. The whole of the second stanza is based upon this passage that forms a powerful image of the intensity of worship before God’s throne. The saints (v 10) adore God and lay their crowns before Him in honor. Cherubim and seraphim are the creatures who surround the throne of God, the same ones seen by Isaiah many centuries before. They worship the Lord God day and night (v 6b-8). They chant the words, “Holy, holy, holy” before God’s throne and extol Him mightily (v 8b). Line #8 reflects the latter part of their chant, “who was, and is, and is to come.”
In line #11 there is a reference to God’s uniqueness. There is only one God and He is all. God demands that since there is no other God that He be accorded the position of true Godhood in every life. The first commandment (Exodus 20:2,3; Deuteronomy 5:6,7) insists upon this fact. There is none beside God Almighty. In addition, the Son of God, Jesus, stands unique as being the only source of salvation. See Acts 4:8-12. He who indeed is perfect in power and love and purity (#12) is indeed the only way to be saved.
The final stanza reflects the glory that will be accorded to Christ before the final judgment. All creation will proclaim Jesus as Lord and pay homage to Him as God. This concept is presented in Philippians 2:9-11. At the name of Jesus, all creation will bow and confess Him as Lord. Indeed, all of His works will praise His name.
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Closing Remarks
Hymnology is fascinating study. One may approach hymns and study their history, the stories behind the hymns, the lives of the writers, and the theology of the words as we have been doing. It is my hope that this study will help you to derive even greater enjoyment from singing hymns. So many of them contain tremendous nuggets of truth. One could do no better than to chase those nuggets into the Scriptures and learn “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge”. (Ephesians 3:18,19) Doing this will make you more intimately aware of God's tremendous promises, His amazing grace, His almighty nature, His overwhelming love, and His gracious plans.
Hymns by themselves are not effective – they require the power of God's Holy Word to activate them and bring them to life. They do, however, form a great tool to point our hearts and minds into the Bible to convict us, to teach us, to reassure us, and to remind us of the intense love and grace of our loving God.
There are several excellent books that tell the stories behind the hymns. Once such book is “Songs in the Night” by Henry Gariepy (Eerdmans, 1996). A neat site online for discovering hymn lyrics and their respective tunes is http://www.hymnsite.com which, by no means, is the only such one. It is worthwhile to have at least one good hymnal. These can be purchased at large Christian book stores, or many times churches have old hymnals that are not used anymore that they may be willing to give to you if you request it!
