Hello OCBC family,
“Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.” (Psalm 48:1a).
After “Amazing Grace”, the most well know hymn for Christians is “How Great Thou Art”, a majestic hymn that tells us that God is the Creator, and He provided a salvation for sinners through His Son, Jesus Christ, and one day, He will return to take us to our heavenly home.

This hymn is not originally in English, but in Swedish, and it came to us through a “language journey.” The author was Carl Boberg, born on August 16, 1859, Mönsterås parish, Kalmar County, Sweden. He was a poet, schoolteacher and member of parliament. He wrote a poem for a collection of hymns for a hospital, and the name of the hymn was, “O store Gud” (“O Great God”). It became very popular hymn among Swedish believers.

Manfred von Glehn, an Estonian, prepared a German translation of the text in 1907, which became the basis for a Russian translation by Ivan S. Prokhanoff in 1912.

This Russian version called the attention of Stuart Wesley Keene Hine, born in London in 1899, while he was doing missionary work with his wife in Ukraine.

Hine completed the English version in 1949 and it became very popular worldwide when George Beverly Shea sang it during Billy Graham’s crusade in Toronto, 1955.

A minor change was made from the original British version to the American version.

Believers in England sing the first stanza in this way,
“O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

Believers in America sing the first stanza in this way,
“O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

The third stanza is a powerful presentation of the gospel. It is based on Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
that on the cross my burden gladly bearing
he bled and died to take away my sin.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Perhaps Carl Boberg used this passage to pen the last stanza.

“When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
and there proclaim: ‘My God, how great thou art!’”

Please, enjoy this hymn every time you sing it, and repeat with Boberg/Hine,
“Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!”

In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1).

“Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” might be a not too familiar hymn, nevertheless, the author of this hymn is very well known because of other of his hymns, like “ Abide with Me” and “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.” His name was  Henry F. Lyte. He was born at Ednam, near Kelso, on June 1, 1793; his father was captain Thomas Lyte. When he was in college, he became very popular for writing poems, and he won several awards because of his talent for writing poetry.

He became a pastor and was a faithful pastor in his local church in Brixham for twenty-three years. He loved to write hymns based on psalms and “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” is a wonderful example of this.

“Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing;
Alleluia! Alleluia! praise the everlasting King.”

He became very sick, his lungs were weak, nevertheless, he established a Sunday school of eight hundred children in Brixham. He was a faithful pastor, not just to his flock but also to sailors on the docks, plus, he wrote many sermons, poems, and hymns; everything that he did, was for God’s glory.

“Frail as summer's flow'r we flourish;
blows the wind and it is gone;
but, while mortals rise and perish,
God endures unchanging on:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise the high eternal One.”

He wrote this hymn for a collection that he created in 1834. Just for trivia information, this hymn was later chosen by Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen Elizabeth II, for her wedding hymn in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947 – the one hundredth anniversary of Lyte’s death.

Yes, Henry Lyte died on November 20, 1847, on the French Riviera, because doctors told him to spend the rest of his life in a warmer clime. Two months before his death, he preached his last sermon and celebrated the Lord’s Supper for the last time with his congregation. What a wonderful example. We know that, because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, our brother Lyte is in heaven singing with the angels and saints, the glories of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Angels in the height, adore Him;
Ye behold Him face to face;
Saints triumphant, bow before Him;
gathered in from ev'ry race;
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace.”

“Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!

Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (Psalm 103:20-22).
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!” (Psalm 148:1).

The hymn “Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens Adore Him” uses the whole Psalm 148 as based on its three stanzas. A very powerful hymn to declare God as the Creator of the whole universe. Who is the author of this glorious hymn, we do not know; in each hymnal we can read that the author of the lyrics is Anonymous.

“Praise the Lord! ye heav'ns, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels, in the height.
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord! for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed.
Law which never shall be broken
For their guidance hath He made.”

Captain Thomas Coram (1668-1751) was a very devout Anglican and a very close friend of the Wesleys. But during his time in London, he noticed that many children lived on the dirty streets of London, and nobody helped these little ones; Coram tried to help them.

He was not a wealthy man, so he asked for help from rich men in London, but they did not agree to help with this task. London was indeed a city of abandoned babies.

But Coram had a better idea, to approach the wives of these rich men, and show them the reality of the babies and little ones in London, and these ladies agreed to help the helpless ones. They opened a hospital in 1741, and on the first night, hundreds of women with little ones in their arms arrived asking for help; they received the help that they needed.

Soon, many artists supported this project, and a very famous artist in London helped this hospital with his most famous piece of art: George Frederich Handel was the artist, and “Messiah” his masterpiece. For each performance, Handel donated the money for the hospital that Coram founded.

What is the connection of this story with the hymn “Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens Adore Him” ? In 1796, Coram published a hymnbook entitled “Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems of the Founding Hospital, London.” And one of the hymns that was in this collection is this anonymous hymn. We don’t know unto this day who wrote this hymn, but we will never forget that it is associated with God’s love for children and His concern for the fatherless.

“Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee.
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heav'n adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne.
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1).

A powerful hymn that we love to sing is “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”, which is an echo of the Psalm 103.

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.”

The author of this hymn was Joachim Neander, born in 1650, and his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, had the same name and all of them were preachers of the gospel. With Joachim, the story was a little different, because, when he was a student, Joachim was wild and rebellious, and religion or a relationship with God was not part of his life. When he was 20, he joined a group of young men to go to a particular church to ridicule the worshipers. But that Sunday, Rev. Theodore Under-Eyck preached the gospel, and Joachim became a Christian, and a few years later, he became an assistant preacher in this same church.

Joachim loved to walk near his home, but these walks were worship walks: praying, meditating in the word of God, and composing hymns of praise and worship. We might say that Joachim was the first hymnwriter from the Calvinist branch of Protestantism.

He battled tuberculosis and was very sick and died when he was 30 years old, and this hymn was the last one that he wrote.

“Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
How thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?”

One thing that we can notice from this hymn is that Joachim wrote this hymn not directly to God but to his own soul, encouraging himself to praise the Lord, the Almighty.

The melody is a German melody from 1665, but Neander altered the melody a little to match with his lyrics. This hymn and its melody became very popular, that even J. S. Bach wrote a cantata using Neander’s hymn.

“Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.”

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!” (Psalm 148:1).

In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “For I proclaim the name of the Lord:
Ascribe greatness to our God.” Deuteronomy 32:3

This short passage of the Bible was the inspiration for a powerful hymn, “Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above.” The author of this hymn was Johann J. Schutz, born in Germany on Sept. 7, 1640. We don’t know too much about his childhood, but he went to school and became a lawyer. Therefore, he became very well known for his legal expertise and his piety. He was a faithful Lutheran. This hymn is part of a short collection that he created, with five hymns in total, but three were translated into English.

“Sing praise to God who reigns above,
The God of all creation.
The God of pow'r, the God of love,
The God of our salvation;
With healing balm my soul He fills,
And ev'ry faithless murmur stills:
To God all praise and glory!”

You can see that in the very first stanza, Schutz has an explosion of praises to God as the Creator and to whom salvation belongs.

The third stanza is a powerful testimony telling those who can hear or sing, that the Lord is always near when we are in trouble. This verse comforted me four years ago when I lost my mother.

“The Lord is never far away,
But, thro' all grief distressing,
An ever-present help and stay,
Our peace and joy and blessing;
As with a mother's tender hand
He leads His own, His chosen band:
To God all praise and glory!”

The melody is a German tune called, MIT FREUDEN ZART, and was published in 1566 in the Bohemian Brethren hymnal.

Schutz finished this hymn with an exhortation to himself (and to us) to praise God with all his being, heart, soul, and body.

“Thus all my toilsome way along
I sing aloud His praises,
That all may hear the grateful song
My voice unwearied raises;
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart!
Both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory!”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, and say with Schutz, “Gebt unserm Gott die Ehre!” (To God all praise and glory).
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “Behold, God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2).

During my quiet time, this passage of Isaiah touched my heart very deeply, and I learned that this passage was also the fountain to inspire a very lovely hymn, “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.”

The author of this hymn was Louisa M. R. Stead, and she was from Dover, England. She was born about 1850, and when she was nine years old, she became a Christian. From a very early age, she had a desire to serve the Lord on the mission field. When she was 21 years old, she moved to the United States, and during a revival meeting, she was very sure that the Lord was calling her as missionary overseas.

Her first aim was to serve the Lord in China, but her health was not good at that time. It is during this time that she married Mr. Stead, but sadly, between 1879 or 1880, Mr. Stead drowned off the coast of Long Island. There are several versions of this tragic accident, like, he was trying to save a boy who was drowning. Another says that he and the boy died, yet another version is that he was saving his own daughter, but the facts are unclear.

After this sad situation, Louisa went with her daughter to South Africa as a missionary and it was during this time that she wrote this famous hymn.
“'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”

She married to her second husband, Robert Wodehouse, and they served as missionaries for fifteen years. Because of her health, they returned to United States, and where they served in a local Methodist church.

After her health was restored, this couple went to a missionary conference, where they accepted once again, to serve the Lord in Africa.

“O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!”

Her legacy continued even after her passing in 1917, because her daughter married missionary D. A. Carson, and together they served the Lord for many years in Zimbabwe.

If the Lord called you to serve, follow his voice and trust in Him, because He will be with you during this journey.

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!”

Let me close this article with the words from Psalm 56:11,
“In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14). 

This very familiar verse was the basis for the very familiar hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts. Isaac Watts is considered the father of the English hymn; before him, there weren’t too many hymns’ writers. And this hymn is considered his masterpiece.

“When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.”

Issac Watts was born in a Christian home, and at the age of twenty-four he preached his first sermon, but before that, he was very popular to write hymns, for his own church at that time, Above Bar Congregational Church.

“Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.”

This hymn became very popular to be used during the Lord’s Supper celebration, because it has a very clear message about the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a powerful line on this second stanza, where we can read or sing, “Save in the death of Christ, my God.”!

On March 8, 1702, Isaac Watts became the pastor of Mark Lane church, but a year after the church called Samuel Price of Wales to help Watts in the pastoral ministry because Isaac Watts became very ill. Nevertheless, he continued preaching and with Samuel’s help, their little dying church, became a large church, growing so much that they have to move to a different location to have a new house of worship.

“See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?”

This wonderful hymn had a different title at that time. The original name was, “Crucifixion to the World, by the Cross of Christ.” This hymn became very popular in England and in the rest of the world where this hymn has been translated or sung. Even Charles Wesley, another famous hymn writer, said that he would rather have written it than all his own hymns.

Let us make our own words the last stanza of this hymn.
“Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26).

Easter was last week, and what a celebration as believers we had, celebrating the conquering of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ over death. To celebrate Easter, my favorite hymn for the season is “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” by Charles Wesley, but my second favorite hymn for Resurrection Sunday is “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” by Samuel Medley.

This hymn is based on the words of Job, when he shared his assurance on his Redeemer to his friends. “For I know” is a powerful sentence in the words of Job and for Samuel Medley.

Samuel Medley was born June 23, 1738, in an English village. His father and grandfather were very devoted Christians, but Samuel was far away from a relationship with the Lord. He joined the British navy, but during war he was very wounded, and had to retire from the navy. At that time, somebody shared with him a sermon by Isaac Watts, the “Father of the Hymn in English” and this sermon lead Samuel to a real conversion. He became a faithful pastor, and a very prolific hymn writer.

“I know that my Redeemer lives;
what comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my everlasting Head.”

On this lovely hymn, the second powerful phrase that Samuel uses is “He lives” just to describe what our Lord Jesus did for us, what our Savior is doing for us, and what our Redeemer will do for us. After the first stanza, Sameul Medley says over and over “He lives.”

“He lives triumphant from the grave,
He lives eternally to save,
He lives all-glorious in the sky,
He lives exalted there on high.
“He lives, my kind, wise, heav'nly Friend,
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while He lives, I'll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.”

The melody that we use is the famous melody called “DUKE STREET” a tune that we use to sing the hymn “Jesus Shall Reign” (a hymn by Isaac Watts, by the way).

Dear brothers and sisters, during this Easter season repeat to yourself and others that He lives, and he can save people from their sins.

“He lives, all glory to His name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4). It is Holy Week, a time to remember the last week of our Savior, Jesus Christ, before his passion. The passage of Isaiah 53 is telling us about this perfect sacrifice, this servant (Isaiah 52:13), who will take over him the iniquity of us all.

This passage has been used for centuries as inspiration for many musical works and hymns. The hymn that I want to share with you is one that has recently become a favorite of mine; “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted.”

This hymn was written by Thomas Kelly; he was born in Dublin, July 13, 1769, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. His father was a judge in Dublin. In 1792, his life had been changed and started to preach in a very evangelical way in Dublin. Many religious leaders did not agree with his style and tried to stop him from preaching. He was able to share the good news even in a secular place. We must understand that at that time, religious leaders said that the gospel can only be preached in consecrated buildings. Having seceded from the Established Church, he erected places of worship at Athy, Portarlington, and Wexford, in which he conducted divine worship and preached.

“Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
see Him dying on the tree!
'Tis the Christ by man rejected;
yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He!
'Tis the long-expected Prophet,
David's Son, yet David's Lord;
by His Son God now has spoken;
'tis the true and faithful Word.”

The melody is a German tune, in minor key, which helps to the spirit of this mourning hymn. The melody comes from a German chorale text, "O mein Jesu, ich muss sterben" (O my Jesus, I must die).

“Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great;
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed!
See who bears the awful load!
'Tis the Word, the Lord's anointed,
Son of man, and Son of God.”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, and rejoice in our Lord for this perfect sacrifice.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Isaiah 53:6).

In His service,
Israel