Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
Psalm 72:1-2 says, “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!” What a wonderful psalm. Isaac Watts, the father of the English hymn, used this psalm to write a hymn to proclaim that Jesus is the real King of the whole universe. This is a very familiar hymn for us, its name is “Jesus Shall Reign.”  

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He was a very intelligent boy; he learned Latin when he was four years old, and he was able to write verses when he was seven years old. In 1702 he became pastor in London. 

“Jesus Shall Reign” is a wonderful missionary hymn, but when Watts wrote this hymn there was not a great mission effort in England. Sixty years later, England sent its first missionary, William Carey, to India.

The first stanza tells us about Jesus as the real King, and His kingdom is over the whole world,
“Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.”

Some churches use this hymn for Advent season, the time when Christendom is waiting for the long-expected Messiah, but we can and must use this hymn in any season, because our King, who came as baby, is coming back to this earth as the triumphant King.

“Blessings abound where'er he reigns:
the prisoners leap to lose their chains,
the weary find eternal rest,
and all who suffer want are blest.”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, rejoicing in our glorious King.

“Let every creature rise and bring
the highest honors to our King,
angels descend with songs again,
and earth repeat the loud amen.”
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In His service,
Israel