Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.” (Revelation 19:12 – NKJV).

This passage is the glorious picture of the worship in heaven to our Lamb. I don't know your eschatological position, and we could disagree, but one thing is certain, our Lord is coming back a second time, and we will all worship him for all eternity. Notice that in the book of Revelation, we can read that on the head of the rider of the white horse (v. 11) are many crowns, or diadem as we can read in ESV version, and this represents that our Savior is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And this verse is the basis for the hymn "Crown Him with Many Crowns."

We love to sing this hymn but there is something that you might not know about the author and his spiritual journey. The author of this hymn is Matthew Bridges, a British poet who was born on July 14, 1800, Maldon, Essex, England. He was educated in the Church of England, and he was very critical about the Roman Catholic Church, until he became in contact with the Oxford Movement and the influence of John Henry Newman, and he converted into catholic church, in 1848.

During this transition time between Anglicanism and Catholicism, he wrote this hymn. He thought of his hymn as a sermon in song, based on Revelation 19:12.

“Crown Him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon His throne,
Hark! how the heav'nly anthem drowns
All music but its own;
Awake, my soul, and sing
Of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Thro' all eternity.”

Bridges’ idea was to exalt Christ’s triumph at the end of time. Nevertheless, in the original second stanza, we can see some catholic influence after his conversion.

“Crown him the Virgin's Son,
the God incarnate born,
whose arm those crimson trophies won
which now his brow adorn:
Fruit of the mystic Rose,
as of that Rose the Stem;
the Root, whence mercy ever flows,
the Babe of Bethlehem.”

Anglican clergyman Godfrey Thring later revised and expanded it, creating the version most familiar today. The original work of Bridges had six stanzas, but with the addition of Thring, the hymn ended with twelve stanzas. And it is very notorious that each stanza starts with the phrase “Crown Him…” and from hymnal to hymnal, the number of stanza and their order change.

• Stanza 1: Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne…
• Stanza 2: Crown Him the virgin’s Son, the God incarnate born…
• Stanza 3: Crown him the Lord of love, behold His hand and side…
• Stanza 4: Crown Him the Lord of peace, whose power a scepter sways…
• Stanza 5: Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time…
• Stanza 6: Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, one with the Father know…
• Stanza 7: Crown Him with crowns of gold…
• Stanza 8: Crown Him the Son of God, before the worlds began…
• Stanza 9: Crown Him the Lord of light…
• Stanza 10: Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave…
• Stanza 11: Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all doth reign…
• Stanza 12: Crown Him the Lord of heaven, enthroned in worlds above…

Yes, this is a glorious hymn to sing, and I will close my article with my favorite stanza, a vision that I believe we will see in heaven.

“Crown Him the Lord of love;
Behold his hands and side,
Those wounds, yet visible above,
In beauty glorified:
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
For Thou hast died for me:
Thy praise and glory shall not fail
Thro-out eternity.”
​
In His service,
Israel