Hymn of the Month: “Was it for me?”

This hymn was recently quoted at the Lord’s Supper, and it brought back memories of the old red Redemption Songs hymnbook. These words were a favourite many years ago and it piqued our interest in the author. It turns out he was a Canadian, John Marchant Whyte, born in Paris, Ontario, in 1850. (Called Canada West, in those days.)

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, he studied at the University of Toronto, then later “devoted himself to evangelistic and temperance work.” He is listed as evangelist, hymn writer and singer. Whyte has several hundred songs to his credit, some being patriotic, such as “Canada Shall Yet Be Free” and “Toronto the Good”, but the vast majority were spiritual songs and hymns. “With his brother David Albert Whyte he edited Sing Out the Glad News (Briggs 1885) and Songs of Calvary (Briggs 1889)”, as well as at least three other hymnals. Whyte was the author of both the words and the music of the two hymns quoted here.

Was it for me?

(RS #81 and CHF #194)

      1 Was it for me, for me alone,

        The Saviour left His glorious throne;

        The dazzling splendours of the sky,

        Was it for me He came to die?

            It was for me, yes, all for me,

            O love of God, so great so free!

            O wondrous love, I'll shout and sing,

            He died for me, my Lord and King!

   

  2 Was it for me sweet angel strains

        Came floating o'er Judea's plains?

        That starlight night so long ago,

        Was it for me God planned it so?

      3 Was it for me the Saviour said,

        'Pillow thy weary, aching head,

        Trustingly on thy Saviour's breast?'

        Was it for me? Can I thus rest?

      4 Was it for me He wept and prayed,

        My load of sin before Him laid;

        That night within Gethsemane,

        Was it for me that agony?

      5 Was it for me He bowed His head

        Upon the Cross, and freely shed

        His precious blood—that crimson tide,

        Was it for me the Saviour died?

     One other hymn by Whyte is outstanding, and I remember the first verse and chorus well:

Come, Sinner, Behold

(RS#83 and CHF #214)

      1 Come, sinner, behold what Jesus hath done,
        Behold how he suffered for thee;
        They crucified him, God’s innocent Son,
        Forsaken, He died on the tree!

            They crucified him, they crucified him,
            They nailed him to the tree,
            And so there he died,
            A King crucified
            To save a poor sinner like me.

      2 From heaven he came, he loved you—he died;
        Such love as his never was known;
        Behold; on the cross your King crucified,
        To make you an heir to his throne!

      3 No pitying eye, a saving arm, none,
        He saw us and pitied us then;
        Alone, in the fight, the vict’ry he won;
        O praise him, ye children of men.

      4 They crucified him, and yet he forgave,
        “My Father, forgive them,” he cried,
        What must he have borne, the sinner to save,
        When under the burden he died!

      5 So what will you do with Jesus your King?
        Say, how will you meet him at last?
        What plea in the day of wrath will you bring,
        When offers of mercy are past?

      Whyte and his wife, Alice Maude Jane Beckett had two children, a son Marchant, and a daughter Ruby. His wife passed away on January 5^th, 1927 and he followed on March 17^th, 1927. They were laid to rest in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, with the epitaph, “Until the day break.”

The fruit of the Spirit is…peace

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23.

        Rivers, in fact oceans, of words have flowed on the subject of peace. The Great War (what we now call only World War 1) was thought to be “the war to end all wars.” It was hoped that a remembrance on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, would be a permanent memorial. We know how briefly that lasted.

        But our focus here is on Scripture. The two words in the Bible are Hebrew, “shalom”, in the OT; and Greek, “eirene”, in the NT. I did a computer search of the NIV and found that “peace” occurs 232 times. That’s a lot of references to analyze! Let’s start with the word itself—Merriam-Webster’s number one definition is a “state of tranquillity or quiet” relative to personal, inter-personal, civil, national, or international life.

        As always, we want to relate this fruit to the life of our Lord so we start with a big prophecy: Isaiah said, “To us a child is born, to us a son is given…and he will be called…Prince of Peace.” (9:6.) Then he said later, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” (26:3.) Isaiah loved the subject of peace—in 32:15-17, he says, “till the Spirit is poured on us from on high…The fruit of that righteousness will be peace.” And his great salvation verse always amazes us: “The punishment that brought us peace was on him!” (53:5.)

        Let’s move into the gospels. Remember Christmas, and the angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.” (Lk.2:14.) Just a few days later old Simeon said, “Now dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” (lk.2:29.) Remember the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears? In the end, Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Lk.7:50.) Then, as Jesus came down the side of Olivet, into Jerusalem, the whole crowd began to praise God, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” After the cross some of the Lord’s very last words, to the disciples and the two who returned from Emmaus, were, “Peace be with you.” (Lk.24:36.)

        So far, we’ve looked mostly at the fact of peace, and how it comes through the Messiah. As we turn to the Acts, and the Letters, the Holy Spirit starts to fill out the details of what that peace is. For instance, in Acts we learn (what we already knew of course) that peace is good news (10:36), and a blessing (15:33). It comes freely from God and from Jesus (Rom.1:7), it is a reward for doing good (Rom.2:10), it is a way to walk in (Rom.3:17), it is a relationship with God (Rom.5:1), it is governed by the Spirit (Rom.8:6), it is a component of   the kingdom of God (Rom.14:17), it is to be our target and aim (Rom.14:19), it will fill us as we trust in God (Rom.15:13), it is a characteristic of God Himself (Rom.15:33).      More— Christ is our peace (Eph.2:14), he reconciles Jew and Gentile (Eph.2:16), peace can create a good bond (Eph.4:3), we must let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts (Col.3:15), after discipline, it is part of the harvest (Heb.12:11), and Peter tells us to make every effort to be at peace with Christ. (2 Pet.3:14.)

        How can we summarize the ultimate peace of the believer? It is first of all a right relationship with God, then with all fellow believers. In this life, sin still interferes. “Righteousness and peace” often don’t “kiss each other.” (Psa.85:10.) Our great hope is what Jesus promised in the Sermon on the Mount— “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Mat.5:6.)

No Merit in Me!

       Several months ago, I attended a service in which the preacher, Paul DeJong, speaking from Romans 1, made the statement that “our salvation has no merit of ours in it.” He then went on to contrast it with a surgeon who does 90% of the surgery, then says, “I’ve done enough. The patient can finish it!” ―In actual fact, the surgeon does all the work of the operation, 100%―and so did Jesus.

        The preacher then did a shocking thing. He had everybody take their sermon note page and get ready to write what he would dictate. Then he dictated,

        “I, Paul DeJong, (but put your own name in here)…I, Paul DeJong, truly deserve hell! Jesus Christ took my hell. There is nothing left for me but His heaven.”

       I was stunned but thrilled. Thank you, Jesus, for doing that for me! And from the corner of my eye, I could see that countless others had written down his dictation as well. May that truly have been a moment of salvation or renewal for many.

The fruit of the Spirit is…joy

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23.

        These are the fruit of the Spirit so we always look for their source in the Holy Spirit and their clearest exemplification in Jesus. What better example could we start with than Luke 10:21― At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.’ In fact, Psalm 45:6, 7 and Hebrews 1:9 tell us that Jesus was anointed above his companions, “with the oil of joy.”

        So, just what is this “joy”? From a scriptural standpoint, W.E.Vine’s Dictionary of the Bible says the word in Galatians (Greek chara) is “joy, delight”.  The reference in Luke 10 (Greek agalliasis), is “exultation, exuberant joy”. It seems almost like a child getting their gifts on Christmas morning. Dare we say that Jesus was at last seeing something He had waited all eternity for? Among other causes for His rejoicing, He now has disciples whose names are written in heaven, and they have believed simply, like children.

        Where does this take us in our own experience of joy? Think for a moment of the poor woman whose tears wet Jesus’ feet. Were they tears of remorse? I don’t think so. She was most thankful―they were tears of joy. I’ve heard of believers who may never have experienced the breaking of bread or even communion before. The realization of what Jesus has done for them, and hearing others put it into words, overwhelms them, just like this woman.

        But what about joy in the souls of us long-time believers? Is it there? Sometimes it steals up on us when we least expect it. Perhaps now we are coming around to C.S.Lewis and his “joy”, as in his book “Surprised by Joy”.

        I was taken by a friend to a large city-church of a mainline denomination and, frankly, I was skeptical of the level of spirituality and worship that I would see. In fact, I was stirred to my depths― all these people around me, none of whom I knew―and all singing the praises of Jesus, loud and clear― “Jesus Saves!”, “Take the Name of Jesus with You”, “It is Finished, the Battle Is Over”… “Joy” was the operative word for me at that moment.

        Joy comes in quieter ways too. I have sat with my children and grandchildren around a dinner table and, amid all the hubbub, I’ve thought, “Lord, it doesn’t get any better than this! Thank you.”

        Let’s go back to our verse for a moment. “Joy” is the fruit of the Spirit, but it is difficult to see how we can produce it in ourselves. Maybe instead it is our job to help produce it for others. This would be an obvious outcome of the love we talked about last time. Love is patient? Love is kind? Love always protects? Love keeps no record of wrongs? Against such things there certainly is no law!

Stephen Hawking and God

        Stephen Hawking, the renowned British physicist, died in Cambridge on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, at the age of 76. He was diagnosed with ALS at 21, and for many years had been confined to a self-propelled wheelchair, and in recent years, to talking by way of a voice synthesizer.

        His body was severely distorted by the disease, and his life must have been agony but he struggled on to the last. An online article by Newsweek quoted him as saying, “However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.”

        The magazine listed sixteen of his most famous quotes and titled them “inspirational”. How they came to this adjective is a puzzle to me because #13 is, “I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.” 

        Notice the word “probably” in there. This means that Hawking, as an intelligent man, must have gone through all the alternatives and concluded that the probability of no God and no afterlife was, say, 95%, or even 99%. He then lived his life based on that huge majority value of 99%. But as a wise man, he should have covered himself for the other 1%. This is Pascal’s Wager all over again. What about that 1%? Hawking admitted that he couldn’t prove or disprove God, but he also mentioned an afterlife. What branch of mankind’s knowledge has the most to say about an afterlife? Only Christianity. And how is that afterlife confirmed? By the resurrection of Jesus—He triumphed over death and showed Himself alive to hundreds of witnesses—no one has to base their eternal well-being on probabilities ever again!       

Hymn of the Month: “All That Thrills My Soul Is Jesus”

        Back in the 1970s, I bought a long-playing record of the Scottish Festivals of Male Voice Praise, conducted by James McRoberts. This was my favourite song on the entire album, and the rumble of deep voices was a joy to hear. This was the album, and this one of the songs we got ready to and dressed our little children to every Sunday morning. Then, in the transition to CDs, I gave up all my records. Just in the last year, the album has become available, as an online download. How great to hear it again!

          Who can cheer the heart like Jesus,

          By His presence all divine?

          True and tender, pure and precious, 

          O how blest to call Him mine!

          All that thrills my souls is Jesus;

          He is more than life to me;

          And the fairest of ten thousand,

          In my blessed Lord I see.

          Love of Christ so freely given,

          Grace of God beyond degree,

          Mercy higher than the heaven,

          Deeper than the deepest sea.

          What a wonderful redemption!

          Never can a mortal know

          How my sin, tho’ red like crimson,

          Can be whiter than the snow.

          Ev’ry need His hand supplying, 

          Ev’ry good in Him I see;

          On His strength divine relying,

          He is all in all to me.

          By the crystal flowing river

          With the ransomed I will sing,

          And forever and forever

          Praise and glorify the King.

       Thoro Harris was a prolific writer of hymns in the early twentieth century, with over 500 to his credit, often including the tune as well. He was born in Washington, DC, on March 31, 1874, attended college in Battle Creek, Michigan, moved to Boston, then Chicago, then settled in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1932. 

        In a different context, I was once asked to name a song that I would like included in my church’s hymn choices and the single one that I gave was, “He’s coming soon…with joy we welcome his returning”, which is Choice Hymns of the Faith #513. How intriguing to find that Thoro Harris was the writer of that hymn too.

        And reaching back into my childhood Sunday school days in Thunder Bay, I remember another song—Thoro Harris again (but marked as anonymous in CHF):

The Way to Heaven (CHF #474)

          You may keep on working till your life’s last hour;

          But you’ll never get to heaven that way.

        One final song from Thoro Harris, one of only a few that hint at his African-American heritage:

Pilot, Lan’ de Boat

          De win’ blow soft from de heav’nly sho’ ,

               Pilot, lan’ de boat.

          Ou’ backs soon carry de loads no mo’

               Pilot, lan’ de boat.

        Harris served as editor of a good number of hymn books over the years, first in Boston in 1902, then Light and Life Songs (Chicago, 1904), then several others up into the 1940s. He also served as organist for several churches and operated a boarding house in Eureka Springs. He passed away there on March 27, 1955, at the age of 80.

What does God learn?

          I heard a preacher the other day who said that God never learns anything because He already knows it. An absolute statement like that always makes my ears perk up. Is it true? Does God never learn?

        I mulled that over for a bit and I don’t think it’s true, not because of any weakness in God but because He has power we can’t even imagine.

        For instance, just before the flood (Gen.6:6), God regretted that He had made man—that sounds like He found out something about man that He didn’t like. Then again, in Israel’s days of deep reproach, we read that there was something (Jer.32:35) God hadn’t even thought of—throwing your child into the fire as a sacrifice to Molek!

        During the Lord’s time on earth, He often asked questions. Were they only rhetorical? Do we think He always knew the answers? How about the question of when Jesus will return? He Himself didn’t know. That means that Jesus would learn from the Father, when He was to return. But the greatest thing God ever learned was through Jesus, and that wasn’t just a fact but a whole lifestyle— “He learned obedience from what He suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)  

        In the final analysis, it seems that God can choose not to know, just as He can choose not to remember. (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12; 10:17) I, for one, am glad He will forget all my sins, and I trust I will forget them as well. Then I look forward to learning true obedience, just like Jesus.