Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
​
“His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And men shall be blessed in Him;
All nations shall call Him blessed.” (Psalm 72:17).

This verse is the last verse of psalm 72, before the doxology that closes Book Two of the Psalter. If you see the title of this psalm, you can read that is a Psalm of Solomon or a Psalm for Solomon. This psalm is about the coronation of Solomon, but ultimately it points to the greatest King to come, from the line of David, Jesus our God/man King. That's why we always talk about the already but not yet of the reign of Jesus. After his resurrection and ascension, he is our King, but this earth is still under the curse of the Fall, but one day his kingdom will be fulfilled when he returns to earth, as we can read in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

This passage was the inspiration for Isaac Watts to write down his very popular hymn, “Jesus Shall Reign.” We have talked several times about Isaac Watts, being called the “father of English hymnody.” Why? Because he started to write hymns moving beyond strict psalm translations into more expressive Christian hymns. His plan and desire was to clothe the Psalms with New Testament truth, not that he did not agree with singing psalms, he wanted to make them have more Christian flavor on them for Christian worship. And this is the case of the hymn “Jesus Shall Reign.”

“Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does its successive journeys run;
His kingdom spread from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.” (Psalm 72:5, 8).

A point that I want to make clear to you all, is that Isaac Watts lived under the British Empire, a very strong empire at that time, but Watts, through this hymn, is telling them and us that it is Jesus, not George I, who will reign over the whole earth forever.

“People and realms of ev'ry tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song,
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His name.”

Because of the language of the hymn, many people called it the first missionary hymn, and many protestant churches used this hymn to send their missionaries to distant lands.

Eric Liddell, Scottish Olympian of the 1924 games in Paris, became a missionary in China, and before his departing to this remote land, he quoted Watts’ hymn. It is likely that he used a verse that is no longer in our modern hymnals but is a powerful one indeed.

“The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.”

One day in heaven we will join the choir where the apostles, saints, martyrs and all the redeemers are worshiping the Heavenly King, Jesus Christ. That day will come when we can sing together,

“Let ev'ry creature rise and bring
Honor and glory to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud ‘Amen’!”

In His service,
Israel