Hello OCBC family,
“One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4).

This verse is part of the lovely Psalm 27 by David, and the whole psalm is an exuberant declaration of faith. David knows that the Lord is his only salvation and defender, and because of that he said in verse 4, “to behold the beauty of the Lord.” The key point of this verse is that David has one desire, one goal, one ambition, to live in God’s presence and by His purpose.

Because of this phrase, “the beauty of the Lord,” a lovely hymn was created, “Fairest Lord Jesus.” This is a beloved hymn that has a powerful message with a lovely melody, very easy to learn and to follow. But its origin is obscure. We know that this hymn came from a German Roman Catholic Jesuit collection and originally had six stanzas. This hymn is dated in 1677, but some people say that this hymn existed fifteen years earlier. Who wrote this hymn? Nobody knows. But this is very appropriate that no human author draws attention from the great theme of this song, Jesus the Savior who is more beautiful that anything.

“Fairest Lord Jesus,
Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son;
Thee will I cherish,
Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.”

This hymn emphasizes the beauty and wonder of Christ, and it alludes to His dual nature, that He was both human and divine, God made flesh, the God-Man.

The lyrics of this hymn remind us of the words by John Chrysostom, in a sermon in the fourth century. He said, “I do not think of Christ as God alone, or man alone, but both together. For I know He was hungry, and I know that with five loaves He fed five thousand. I know He was thirsty, and I know that He turned the water into wine. I know He was carried in a ship, and I know that He walked on the sea. I know that He died, and I know that He raised the dead. I know that He was set before Pilate, and I know that He sits with the Father on His throne. I know that He was worshiped by angels, and I know that He was stoned by the Jews. And truly some of these I ascribe to the human, and others to the divine nature. For by reason of this He is said to have been both God and man.”

Please, use this hymn as a tool for your worship time, alone or with other saints, and praise the name of Jesus, who is a “Beautiful Savior.”

“Beautiful Savior,
Lord of all nations,
Son of God and Son of man!
Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be Thine!”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“And they sang a new song, saying:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.’” (Revelation 5:9-10).

What a powerful image we can find in this passage of the book of Revelation. We must pay attention to the phrase, “And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” which is the fulfilling of the promise that God made to Abrham of a blessing to all nations. But this promise became a reality just through the merit and power of Christ’s sacrifice. And this is the last phrase of the hymn “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder.”

This is a wonderful hymn rich in theology that celebrates salvation through Christ with both joy and reflection. And the author is the well-known pastor and former slave trader John Newton, and if you remember well, he wrote also “Amazing Grace.” This hymn was part of a collection of hymns that he created while he was serving as a pastor in Onley, England, in collaboration with his dear friend, William Cowper.

The opening of the hymn is an explosion of praises and wonder for the perfect sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.”

Also, we can read in this hymn the message of Newton about assurance of salvation. Read the third stanza.

“Let us sing, though fierce temptation
Threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
Holds in view the conqueror’s crown:
He who washed us with His blood
Soon will bring us home to God.”

One thing that we can see in the words of Newton is that he combines very well emotions with deep theology, which means that you will learn sound doctrine while enjoying the hymn at the same time, for God’s glory.

Now, to close this article, let us go back to the passage of the book of Revelation, and read the last stanza of John Newton’s hymn.

“Let us praise, and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him before us,
Now their praises fill the sky:
“Thou hast washed us with Your blood;
Thou art worthy, Lamb of God!”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” (Mark 2:12). 

This verse is the conclusion of this marvelous story about Jesus healing a paralytic man. If you know this passage very well, we see Jesus forgiving the sins of the paralytic man before to perform the miracle of making him walk. What we can learn from this passage is that Jesus, God in flesh, is able to forgive sins and heal those who are sick. And what was the paralytic’s response to Jesus’ command? “He arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all.”

Now, this is the phrase that will call our attention, and especially to Charles H. Gabriel, “all were amazed and glorified God.”

“I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.”

Charles H. Gabriel wrote these lyrics. He was a prolific American composer, and he composed over a thousand hymns and several songbooks to be used during revival meetings. This hymn, “I Stand Amazed in the Presence” or “My Savior’s Love” has a powerful message, because Grabiel’s aim was to share the powerful message of Jesus’ sacrificial death for the sinners.

On the second stanza, Gabriel shares the time that our Lord experience agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and he also makes this passage very personal, “for me.”

“For me it was in the garden
He prayed: Not My will, but Thine.
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.”

Then, the author in the fourth stanza tells us about the crucifixion, and the mystery of the wonderful act of mercy from God to sinners. And, again, Gabriel made it very personal.

“He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.”

But Gabriel doesn’t leave our Savior dead and alone in the tomb, he finished the hymn with our Lord alive and returning from heaven, and we, believers, will be in his presence for eternity.

“When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.”

This hymn might not have the deep theology as “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts, or “And Can It be” by Charles Wesley, but it has a powerful message and make us want to shout,

“O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” (1 Samuel 7:12).

In this passage, we see that Samuel set a rock as a memorial for what the Lord did against Israel’s enemies, the Philistines. The Lord, and He alone, was able to deliver His people. If you read the previous verses, you can see that it was God who scared the Philistines, they fled from God’s presence, and just after that, the brave men of Israel were able to defeat their enemy. Then, we see this wonderful act of worship performed by Samuel, setting this stone, so people will remember God’s help for His children. Now, what does Ebenezer mean? Simple, “rock of help.”

The Lord has been faithful to us, as well, therefore, we can have our own “Ebenezer,” memories when we had a hard time and the Lord helped us and delivered us from our enemies. Ebenezer can be the perfect Word of God, because we can find in it the help that we need for our daily tasks. Even more, Jesus himself is our “Ebenezer.” He is our “Stone of help.”

This verse is the basis for the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” The author was Robert Robinson. Robinson had a rough beginning. His father died when Robert was very young and his mother sent him to London to learn barbering, but instead, he learned to drink and be part of a gang. But, God had a different plan for this young man, and he was able to listen to George Whitefield in one of his evangelistic meetings. On that night, Whitefield was preaching form Matthew 3:7, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’” And Whitefield exclaimed, “Oh, my hearers! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!”

Robert knew that Whitefield was preaching to him, but this journey took three years, and on December 10, 1755, he repented and gave his life to Jesus.

Robert soon entered the ministry, and while serving at a Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, he wrote a hymn for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday. The name of this hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

“Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise:
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.”

The second verse is where Robinson quoted 1 Samuel’s passage.

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home:
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.”

I must share with you all that in the hymnal that we use at OCBC, the second stanza wording is different, at least the first half.

“Hitherto thy love has blessed me,
thou hast drawn me to this place;
and I know thy hand will lead me
safely home by thy good grace.”

This is the reason, when we sing this lovely hymn, we keep the original lyrics on the screen.

Returning to the life of Robert Robinson, we know that sadly, later in life, he wandered from his faith. By God’s providence, Robert was traveling in a stage coach with a young lady as his companion. Suddenly, she started to share with him what a blessing had been for her a hymn called, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” She asked him what his thought about this hymn were, and Robert said to her, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.” Then, she answered him, “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing.” After this encounter, he repented and returned to ministry.

Robert passed away peacefully at the age of 54.

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”

Please, sing this hymn, use it as a prayer, learn from it and remember your Ebenezer.
​
In His service,
Israel