Hello OCBC family. Let me share a passage with you. “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (John 1:16-18).

During my devotional time I read these verses and I remembered an old hymn that I taught you several months ago, “Here Is Love.” The author of this hymn was, in part, William Rees, who wrote the first and second stanza. He was an independent minister, writer editor, and political leader. We do not know much about his life, only that he was a faithful servant of Jesus Christ and perhaps this is more than enough. Some scholars believe that William Williams wrote verses 3 and 4 in Welsh, and were translated into English by William Edwards. For your information, William Williams is the author of the hymn, “Guide Me Oh Thou Great Jehovah.”

This hymn was probably written in the late 1800s, but sadly remained in only a few editions of some hymnals. It wasn’t until 1990, when “The Promise Keepers” men’s conference reintroduced it, that this hymn became alive again. Now, in some modern hymnals, like “Hymns of Grace”, “Here is Love” is well and alive, with its powerful message to be shared to a new generation as a testimony that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, went to the cross for our sins.

Here are the lyrics:

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Loving kindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,
Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only
And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory,
Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,
Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct me
By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting,
As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring
Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless,
Drawing out my heart to Thee.

In His service,
​
Israel

Hello OCBC family,

Let me share a passage with you, “when Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty [El Shadai]; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly’” (Genesis 17:1). It is good to know that the same God that made this promise to Abram is the same God that we serve and worship; He was El Shadai for Abram, and He will be El Shadai for you.

In the twelfth century a Jew called Moses Maimonides wrote a creed in thirteen articles, but two centuries after, in Rome, another Jew called Daniel ben Judah wrote a metrical form of these articles to be used as a hymn. Daniel ben Judah’s hymn became very popular in the famous Great Synagogue of London, and it was sang almost every Sabbath, and it was there where Thomas Olivers heard it for the first time. This man became a Christian under the ministry of Whitefield and several years afterwards he was a close collaborator of John Wesley. Nevertheless, when he heard this Jewish hymn and its powerful words, he made a Christian translation.  The old hymn based on the Old Testament now has new clothes, the New Testament message, that Jehovah is Jesus Himself.

The melody has a Hebrew flavor and scholars believe that the cantor of the Great Synagogue composed the melody; his name was Meyer Lyon.

This is a great hymn that sadly has been taken out of the hymnals, but the message is still great, and a wonderful tool to worship El Shadai. Read it, and meditate on its words.

1 The God of Abraham praise,
who reigns enthroned above;
Ancient of Everlasting Days,
and God of Love;
Jehovah, great I AM!
by earth and heaven confessed;
I bow and bless the sacred name
forever blest.

2 The great I AM has sworn;
I on this oath depend.
I shall, on eagle wings upborne,
to heaven ascend.
I shall behold God's face;
I shall God's power adore,
and sing the wonders of God's grace
forevermore.

3 The heavenly land I see,
with peace and plenty blest;
a land of sacred liberty,
and endless rest.
There milk and honey flow,
and oil and wine abound,
and trees of life forever grow
with mercy crowned.

4 The God who reigns on high
the great archangels sing,
and "Holy, holy, holy!" cry
"Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same,
and evermore shall be:
Jehovah, Lord, the great I AM,
we worship thee!"

In His service,
Israel