Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.” (Psalm 95:1).

You are very familiar with this psalm, a psalm that invited you to sing praises to the Lord, a God that the psalmist called the Rock of our salvation. It is an anonymous psalm but for the reference of this psalm in the book of Hebrews 4:7, the author was David the sweet psalmist of Israel. He composed this psalm for the Feast of the Booths, or Tabernacles. The metaphor of God being the Rock of salvation is to remind the people of Israel when God provided water for them from the rock in the wilderness.

This passage was the inspiration for Christian H. Bateman to write his famous hymn, “Come, Christians, Join to Sing” in 1843 an English Congregational minister. Before he became part of the Congregational church, Christian Bateman was part of the Moravian Church, the oldest Protestant denomination in the world, tracing its roots to the 15th-century Bohemian Reformation and the teachings of the martyr Jan Hus.

“Come, Christians, join to sing
Alleluia! Amen!
Loud praise to Christ our King;
Alleluia! Amen!
Let all, with heart and voice,
Before His throne rejoice;
Praise is His gracious choice:
Alleluia! Amen!”

Christian Bateman wrote this hymn with a different title, “Come, Children, Join to Sing.” You can notice that Bateman work is full of doctrine but in a simple language. Another particularity of this hymn is the repetition of the words “Alleluia! Amen!” after each line. In music this is called antiphonal response; a soloist might sing the first part of the phrase, and the congregation can respond with “Alleluia! Amen!”

In the second stanza, Bateman makes this hymn more personal and intimate, because, Jesus is our King seating on His throne, nevertheless, He is our Guide and Friend.

“Come, lift your hearts on high;
Alleluia! Amen!
Let praises fill the sky;
Alleluia! Amen!
He is our Guide and Friend;
To us He'll condescend;
His love shall never end:
Alleluia! Amen!”

But, what about the melody? The very familiar tune is called “Madrid” (Madrid, the name of the capital of Spain) commonly attributed to Felice de Giardini, an 18th-century Italian composer who worked in England.
The last stanza is the picture that our present worship will continue in heaven for all eternity, where we repeat for evermore “Alleluia! Amen!”

“Praise yet our Christ again;
Alleluia! Amen!
Life shall not end the strain;
Alleluia! Amen!
On heaven's blissful shore
His goodness we'll adore,
Singing forevermore,
"Alleluia! Amen!"

Use this hymn to worship your Rock of Salvation during your quiet time.
In His service,
​
Israel