Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,

“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17).

What a powerful and beautiful passage this is. This is Paul talking to the young pastor, Timothy, about his own work, and making clear that the glory is for God alone, Paul is just a sinner saved by grace and the only example that he can give is that God had patience with him, saving him to preach that, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (v. 12).”

This same passage was used by Walter Chalmers Smith to create his famous hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.” Walter Smith was born on December 5, 1824, in Aberdeen, a port city in Northeast Scotland. He attended grammar school at the University of Aberdeen, and after that he went to New College, Edinburgh. In 1850, he was ordained as a minister in the Free Church of Scotland, a Calvinist denomination.

He pastored several churches, but in 1874, he became pastor of the Free High Church (Presbyterian) of Edinburgh, until his retirement in 1894. During this pastorate, Smith created a hymns collection called “Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life.” For this collection, he wrote the hymn “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.”

1 Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes;
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

2 Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

3 To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish–, but naught changeth Thee.
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4 Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight.
All praise we would render; O help us to see
'tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee!

The tune that we are very familiar with is a Welsh hymn with a very simple pattern (AABA), easy to learn and sing. The name of the tune is ST. DENIO, and perhaps is after Saint Deiniol (died 572), traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales.

This hymn is rich in sound doctrine and very useful for any season in the life of the church and/or believers. Please, use it as part of your quiet time and worship our God, who is our King, who is immortal, who is invisible, who is wise.

In His service,
Israel