Vol. 273: "I Know the Lord Will Find a Way"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "I know the Lord will find a way for me; I know the Lord will find a way for me; If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me.
2. "The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world;' The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world;' If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me.
3. "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'; Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'; If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this seems to be a psalm of praise to God extolling His work, but also a hymn that teaches us about our dependence on God as well as His willingness to bless.

All the information I have found on authorship simply indicates that this is a traditional folk hymn/melody (at least Praise for the Lord indicates it to have been arranged by Palmer E. Wheeler).  If any other information is available, please forward it to me so I can update this commentary at a later time.

This hymn has just a few recurring lyrics throughout, so rather than displaying the lyrics in outline form, I will comment on each phrase:

• "I know the Lord will find a way for me."
• Besides being the title to the song, it introduces the first verse (being sung twice) and concludes the first and second verses.
• A question that has come up about this song could be phrased, "The Lord will find a way for me to what end? What way is He going to find for me?"
• A brother and I have had discussions on this and we've narrowed it down to possibly meaning one of the following:
• "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to be saved and go to heaven.
• "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to escape temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
• Hopefully we can flesh that out better as we study the remaining phrases from this song and we'll revisit this phrase towards the end of this commentary.

• "The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world.'"
• We know THIS is true, it is well documented (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8).
• This phrase introduces the second verse and is sung two times in a row.

• "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
• This phrase introduces the third verse (sung twice) and closes it as well.
• This is an allusion to Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25 (and the minas in Luke 19).
• In both accounts, a ruler distributes his wealth to some of his stewards while he goes away on some other business.
• When he returns, he settles accounts with them.
• There are some stewards who return not only the original wealth with which they were entrusted but additional wealth which they had procured using his money.  To them, he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
• But in both accounts, there is one steward who is fearful of his master, but only so much so that he hides the money entrusted to him (in one account, he buries the talent in the ground; in the other, he hides the mina in a napkin[!]).  Also in both accounts, the master refers to him as a wicked servant, withdraws the funds entrusted to him and gives them to the servant who had gained the most for the master.  And in Matthew's account, that "wicked and lazy servant" is ordered to be "cast...into outer darkness" where "[t]here will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"!
• Interestingly enough, Matthew's writings go further as Jesus describes what is going to happen at "the end of the age".  He describes a scene where the "sheep" and the "goats" have been separated, one group on the right, the other on the left.  To those sheep on the right, He will say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world[!]"
• All of these accounts bear witness that it will be grand to hear Him say, "Well done"!

• "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right,"
• Let's take that apart piece by piece:
• "If I walk in heaven's light...."  There are many passages of scripture that refer to this:
• John 8:12, where Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
• Paul has some interesting points about this in his letter to the Ephesians: "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible" (Ephesians 5:8-13).
• John in his first letter also brings up an exceptional point about the reward we have of walking in the light: "[I]f we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:8).
• "Shun the wrong and do the right,": "shun the wrong" can be rephrased as "turn away from evil."
• David tells us in the 37th Psalm, "Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.  For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints.  They are preserved forever" (Psalm 37:27,28).
• King Solomon has some good things to say about turning from evil:
• Only a fool would avoid turning from evil (Proverbs 13:19; 14:16).
• One turns away from evil by fearing the Lord (Proverbs 16:6).
• Peter even quotes David from another Psalm: "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good ["shun the wrong and do the right"!]; let him seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:10-12; Psalm 34:12-16).
• Therefore, we know it is good to "walk in heaven's light" (where we will be seeking to please the Lord AND be cleansed from sin) as well as to turn away from evil and do good.

• "I know the Lord will find a way for me."
• Another problem I have with this phrase is that it seems to limit God.  There is not a rogue particle in this universe that the Lord does not know about, and nothing that can take Him by surprise.  So, although it sounds like we have confidence in Him that He "will find a way for me," what is He searching for?  What is it He cannot find yet?
• Therefore, I would propose that when the song is sung, the following changes should be considered:
• "I know the Lord has made the way for me" [to be saved and go to heaven].
• "I know the Lord will make the way for me" [to escape temptation].
• This brings us back to the question with which we began this commentary: a way for what?
• The first two verses give this as a condition: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me."
• Side note: "[preaching] the Word to all the world" is a command by the Lord as the second verse says.  And if we seek to please Him, as we do by walking as children of light (Ephesians 5:8,10), then we will keep His commands (John 14:15, 21).
• Therefore, by preaching the Word, we are walking in the light and doing right.
• In the third verse, besides asking the rhetorical question, it answers by giving a similar condition: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
• We are given two statements of conditional probability: if A, then B.  if A, then C.
• A: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right,"
• B: "I know the Lord will find a way for me"
• C: "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'" [I will receive my reward!]
• Taking it logically, if A then B (A -> B) and if A then C (A -> C), then B must be C.  Therefore, "the Lord will find a way" for me to go to heaven (to be saved) where it will "be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
• Therefore, I posit that this song says "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to be saved and go to my reward in heaven!

As I have stated before, however, the phrasing makes it sound like the Lord is actively searching for a way for me to be saved and join Him in heaven.  That way has been provided through Jesus and what He did on the cross.  As there is salvation found in no other name than Christ's (Acts 4:8-12, emphasis on verse 12), God is not looking for any other way for us to be saved!

As such, I recommend that when this song is sung, it would behoove us to reword the main phrase and title of the song to say, "I know the Lord has made the way for me."  Even if one takes the position of the brother whom I mentioned earlier, who believes this refers to being provided with a way of escape from temptation, I would venture that, since time is nothing to the Almighty (2 Peter 3:8), who's to say that the means of escape wasn't already made (or known about ahead of time) by Him?

As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments on this....

--bas4d

 

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

Vol. 621: Ten Thousand Angels

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "They bound the hands of Jesus, in the garden where He prayed; They led him thro' the streets in shame.  They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin; They said, 'Crucify Him; He's to blame.'
2. "Upon His precious head they placed a crown of thorns; They laughed and said, 'Behold the King.'  They struck Him and they cursed Him and mocked His holy name.  All alone He suffered ev'rything.
3. "When they nailed Him to the Cross, His mother stood nearby; He said, 'Woman, behold thy son!'  He cried, 'I thirst' for water, but they gave Him none to drink, Then the sinful work of man was done.
4. "To the howling mob He yielded; He did not for mercy cry.  The Cross of shame He took alone.  And when He cried 'It's finished,' He gave Himself to die; Salvation's wondrous plan was done.

• Refrain:"He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world (the world) and set Him free.  He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, (alone), for you and me."

(Words and music by Ray Overholt, Copyright 1959, Renewal 1987 by Lillenas Publishing Company)

As we once again begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", we can see that this is a psalm of praise to God (more specifically God the Son, the Messiah Jesus) giving high praise for His work in dying on the cross (along with all the preparation up to that point), as well as high praise for His power ("He could have called ten thousand [twelve legions of] angels") and the humble quality of His character (since He did NOT call those angels down to save Him but "died alone for you and me").

This song was written by Ray Overholt (1924-2008) who began his music career when, at an early age, living on a farm near Middleville, Michigan, he took two dollars, bought a guitar, and taught himself how to play.  By the age of ten he had written a tune called "The Lonesome Cowboy" ("Ray Overholt and His Grand River Boys").

He went on to become a cowboy-country music singer in the Grand Rapids area, even hosting his own "Ray's Roundup" TV show on WOOD-TV.  He went on to write more songs, much of his music having been covered by at least 100 artists including Loretta Lynn and Kate Smith ("Ray Overholt").

In 1958, however, at perhaps the pinnacle of his show-business career, he began writing the song we know today as "Ten Thousand Angels".  By his own account:

One day I thought to myself: I’ve written secular songs, I’d like to write a song about Christ. I opened the Bible. I knew a little about it from my mom. I began to read how Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane told Peter to put away his sword. Jesus told Peter that He could ask His Father and He would send twelve legions of angels. I didn’t know at the time that would have been more than 72,000 angels (cf: MATT 26:53). I thought a good title for a song would be “He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels”.... I wrote the first verse and put it in my guitar case. I then told the club [where I was performing] that I was quitting.  I finished the song and sent it to a publishing house, which reluctantly agreed to publish it (C. A. I.).

Now that we are familiar with some of the history behind this song, let's check it's scriptural integrity.  As I have been doing for the last few commentaries, I have reprinted the lyrics in outline form so we can hopefully stem some confusion.

1.  
• "They bound the hands of Jesus, in the garden where He prayed;
•  Confirmed in John 18 (particularly verse 12).
• They led him thro' the streets in shame.
•  This seems to be a little heavy in artistic license.  Three of the Gospels give account that the chief priests and elders were trying NOT to be conspicuous about this: they feared the people (Matthew 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2).  The only times they would have had to walk Him through the streets would be from Gethsemane to the house of Annas (former high priest), from Annas' house to the house of Caiaphas (then current high priest and son-in-law to Annas), then from Caiaphas' house to Governor Pilate's headquarters (John 18:1-28).  The first two trips were at night, the last trip was in the early morning (John 18:28), presumably all times when there wouldn't have been much of a spectacle.  Even if you account their journey from the governor's HQ to where King Herod was lodging and then the return trip (Luke 22:5-11), all of this happened before His crucifixion at 9 o'clock in the morning (the third hour, Mark 15:25), and Pilate still had one more interrogation session with Him and the soldiers still had to make THEIR preparations for His walk to the cross.
• They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
• This they did at the house of Caiaphas after their interrogation and before sending Him to Governor Pilate (Matthew 26:67-68; Mark 14:65).
• The soldiers who took Him into the Governor's HQ, preparing Him for His crucifixion, also spit on Him (Matthew 27:27-30; Mark 15:16-19), but this took place during the events of the second verse.
• Considering Jesus truly was (is) "free from sin" (more accurately, He is "without sin", Hebrews 4:15), therein lies the shame: that He had to go through all this for our benefit and salvation (Isaiah 53:4,5).
• They said, 'Crucify Him; He's to blame.'
•  The mob definitely shouted for Him to be crucified (Matthew 27:23; Mark 15:13,14; Luke 23:21,23; John 19:15).
• The mob did not directly say, "He's to blame."
1. This statement seems rather vague to begin with.  To blame for what?  Actually, this vague quality seems rather parallel to one of the "accusations" brought against Jesus.  When Governor Pilate asked what accusation they had against Him, they answered, "If this Man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered Him over to you!" (John 18:29-30)
2. This could again be more poetic license.  Many times song writers will illicit sympathy from the audience by saying that the hero of their ballad was maliciously accused of something of which he was innocent and everybody says "He's to blame!!"
3. However, there were other "accusations" brought against Jesus that could fit the "He's to blame" motif, such as when they said, "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to pay tribute to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2).  Apparently, according to them, He was the reason they weren't paying their duties to Caesar (would that WE could get away with an excuse like that before the Internal Revenue Service!).
2.  
• "Upon His precious head they placed a crown of thorns;
• They laughed and said, 'Behold the King.'
• They struck Him and they cursed Him and mocked His holy name.
• All of this is well documented (Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20; John 19:1-3) although each account says the Roman soldiers mocked Him.
• All alone He suffered ev'rything.
• Some commentators have stated this to be a false statement because Jesus was not alone, in fact at this point the whole battalion of the governor's soldiers was there with Him in the headquarters (Matthew 27:27)!  And yet, even in a crowd of people, one can feel so alone, especially when the rest of the group seems (is) pitted against you.
3.  
• "When they nailed Him to the Cross, His mother stood nearby; 
• He said, 'Woman, behold thy son!' 
• This, too, is well documented (John 19:26).
• He cried, 'I thirst' for water, but they gave Him none to drink,
• John 19:28 shows that Jesus said, "I thirst."  We can only assume that he meant water.
• In the Praise for the Lord hymnbook, the lyric is written, "He cried, 'I thirst' for water...", directly quoting Him and implying what He (and most normal people) would have been seeking in a situation like this.
• However, John points out in this verse that He made the request to "fulfill the Scripture".  In John 19:29, he points out that a jar full of sour wine was nearby; someone got a sponge loaded with it, placed it on a hyssop branch, and gave it to Him to drink.
• Apparently, the Scripture to be fulfilled was Psalm 69:21.
• However, in other versions of this song (such as the Paperless Hymnal), Jesus is quoted as saying, "I thirst for water."
• Some may find this matter to be more trifling, others may make a bigger deal out of this.  In the end, it seems certain that the Lord would have preferred water to drink.  Whether or not he truly wanted it, he still had a prophecy to finish and this was how He chose to do so.
• Then the sinful work of man was done.
•  It is at this point, in John 19:30, that Jesus said, "It is finished."
• One could make the point that the soldiers still had to check the body and not break His legs (John 19:33; Psalm 34:20; Exodus 12:43-48, emphasis on verse 46), He had to be buried (John 19:38ff, Isaiah 53:9); and so on; but in essence, it was over (with the exception of the resurrection!).
4.  
• "To the howling mob He yielded; He did not for mercy cry. 
• Again, well documented, He never cried for mercy; in fact there were a few times He could have spoken, possibly even in His own defense, but chose not to do so. 
• The Cross of shame He took alone. 
•  Although one could make the argument that Simon of Cyrene was compelled to help Him carry the cross (Mark 15:21), but He still bore the brunt of everything that happened as He hung on that cross.
• And when He cried 'It's finished,' He gave Himself to die;
• Salvation's wondrous plan was done.
•  Again we can go by a strict interpretation of John 19:30 for this.  It is still up to us to respond correctly to this in order to receive His salvation!

Refrain:

• "He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world (the world) and set Him free. 
• He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, (alone), for you and me."
• As was mentioned by the song's author, Jesus Himself mentioned that He could have called twelve legions of angels (Matthew 26:53).
• At the time, Mr. Overholt did not realize that a legion could consist of anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 people.
• That would range 36,000 to 72,000 angels!
• Considering how powerful ONE angel is (Numbers 22:22-35; Daniel 6:22) imagine how formidable an entire army of them would be (2 Kings 6:15-17), a comfort to those under their protection, torment and distress to their intended target!
• But he felt the lyric sounded good (and there is a certain poetic sense to it).

On a personal note, I have heard this song sung in two different ways: one where all four verses are sung before singing the chorus, the other where the chorus follows every verse.  Some songs lend themselves to the first version, such as "Low in the Grave He Lay" [#408 in PftL] ("Up from the grave, He arose" only once!).  I tend to believe the second version to be more fitting for this song, because there are many times throughout this event (at any "station of the cross", if you will) where the Lord could have said "I have had enough of this, I want to go HOME!!!"  All praise is due Him for His humility in going through all of it for the benefit of all of us, who were still sinners at the time (Romans 5:6-11, emphasis on verse 8[!])!

I must admit that I have had reservations about singing this song in worship before, particularly the third verse.  But as I study it more and take a closer look into each Gospel's account of the crucifixion, as we did here, I find it easier to sing in good conscience.

Of course, I welcome your comments or thoughts on this....

-bas4d

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Works Cited

• "Ray Overholt", c-2017, West Mich Musical Hysterical Society.
• "Ray Overholt and His Grand River Boys", http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=12856, c-2000-2017, Hillbilly-Music.com, Modesta, CA.
• "Samuel S. Wesley and Ray Overholt", Christian Assemblies International.

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 (Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

Vol. 805: "I Come to the Garden Alone"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear, Falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses.
2. "He speaks and the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing; And the melody That He gave to me, Within my heart is ringing.
3. "I'd stay in the garden with Him Tho' the night around me be falling; But He bids me go: Thru' the voice of woe His voice to me is calling.

Chorus-- "And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known."

(Words & Music by C. Austin Miles)

Using our Prime Directive "checkoff list", with a little creativity (and perhaps a little fudging) we can see that this could count as a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His character as well as His work (as perceived by the author) and also a spiritual song with the intention of cultivating feelings of spiritual devotion.  

Born in 1868 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, C. Austin Miles attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and the University of Pennsylvania.  But in 1892, about the age of 24, he gave up his career as a pharmacist and wrote his first Gospel song entitled "List, 'Tis Jesus' Voice," published by the Hall-Mack Company, the publishing arm of which he served as editor for 37 years.  He has been quoted as saying, "It is as a writer of Gospel songs I am proud to be known, for in that way I may be of the most use to my Master, [W]hom I serve willingly although not as efficiently as is my desire."

As I did in a previous commentary, I am writing this in outline form in the hopes of staving confusion, avoiding rambling, and hopefully providing more clarity and succinctness.

1. 
   
• "I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses;" 
• This is rather poetic in description.  Whenever one is ready to hear the Word from God, it matters not if that one is in a garden (metaphorically or otherwise), in one's own house [Acts 10:24-26], at a riverbank [Acts 16:13], or even in an upper room [Acts 20:7-12](just be careful if you get the window seat!).  So long as one is ready to hear [heed] the Word that is preached.
• "And the voice I hear, Falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses."
• "Disclose" is defined (according to dictionary.com) as "to make known; reveal or uncover; to cause to appear; allow to be seen; lay open to view; Obsolete: to open up; unfold."
• If we change the sentence to be less poetic sounding (dropping the redundant "Falling on my ear" for example) and substitute for the word "discloses" to further attempt clarify meaning of this lyric, we could come up with two variations:
• "The Son of God reveals/uncovers the voice I hear" (assuming the original sentence was intentionally worded backwards, almost like the speech patterns of Yoda from the Star Wars franchise).
• "The Son of God unfolds/becomes clear/apparent/known" (a variation on the idea that "the voice I hear...[is] the Son of God disclos[ing]).
• As unclear as this sounds attempting to analyze it, it seems to convey the idea that the author is about to hear from the Word of God.
• As I have pointed out before, Jesus does not speak directly to us today in audible form (hence "the voice I hear, Falling on my ear" is poetic).  He does, however, speak to us via the Word of God (the Bible) through the dictation of the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-13) to the inspired writers (2 Timothy 2:16-17; 2 Peter 3:15-16).  Since God has completed His Word, it is safe to say that there are only two ways the author would be hearing "the Son of God disclos[ing]":
• Someone is preaching the Word to him in this garden (real or metaphorical).
• The author is reading the Word in this garden (ditto, ditto).
• There is no new revelation coming (Galatians 1:8,9), so again this is NOT an audible voice the author is hearing (at least not directly from the Son).
2. 
   
• "He speaks as the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;" 
• There is no precedent in scripture (of which I am aware) that describes Jesus speaking in such a beautiful way that the birds would stop.
• In fact, Isaiah described Him prophetically as one whose appearance would NOT be desirable (Isaiah 53:2).
• And although He said many things with which the common people agreed (and the Pharisees disliked hearing, particularly about themselves, Mark 12:12; Luke 20:19), He was still performing the threefold duties of preaching: reprove, rebuke, and exhort (2 Timothy 4:2).
• "and the melody that He gave to me,"
• Melody could refer to either:
• a succession of notes that are the principle part of a harmonic composition.
• a poem suitable for singing
• We don't see many Biblical examples of Jesus singing (and even when He did, it was with other people [Matthew 26:30]).
• As such, if He is giving someone a "song", it is to convey an important thought of some sort (which is the principle reason why we sing in worship: teaching and encouraging one another in wisdom [Colossians 3:16]).
• "Within my heart is ringing."
• Ringing means "to give forth a clear resonant sound; to be filled with sound,"
• If the information He is giving me (through this song or melody) is in my heart being filled with sound (ringing in my heart), it seems to be an encouragement...but only to me! (Possibly almost as useless as speaking in tongues without a translator [1 Corinthians 14:13-19])
• If this information is of any use, it would be prudent to encourage others as well (keeping in mind the other two-thirds of preaching); so hopefully this is not remaining as a ringing in my heart!
• But what is this song/melody/information being communicated?  This song never tells us!
3. 
   
• "I'd stay in the garden with Him Tho' the night around me be falling;"
• Considering this song setting began earlier in the morning, "while the dew [was] still on the roses," the author has spent a great portion of the day with Him.  Although it took three verses to even hint at this idea, it is commendable.
• "But He bids me go: Thru' the voice of woe His voice to me is calling."
• This line makes little or any sense whatsoever!
• Robert Cottrill has some commentary on this song:
• "It helps a little when we learn that Austin Miles was thinking of the time when Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb of Jesus on [His Resurrection] morning (John. 20:1-18). And when He spoke her name (vs. 16), she knew who he was. As I say, it helps to know that–but only a little."
• He also asks a very important question: what (or whose) is this "voice of woe" to which the author is referring?
• Since woe is defined as "grievous distress, affliction, or trouble; an affliction", and everything else in the song has been encouragingly joyous, where is this bitterness coming from?
• If we stick with the narrative of Mary Magdelene from John 20, there was no "voice of woe" on Jesus' part!
• Cottrill further mentions that the song's author said, "I wrote, as quickly as the words could be formed, the poem exactly as it has since appeared."  Cottrill comments even further, "Perhaps he should have given the matter a little more thought!"

Chorus;

• "And He walks with me,"
• If we walk with Him (Ephesians 2:10; 4:1; 5:2), then He is walking with us as well.
• "and He talks with me,"
• As I mentioned earlier, He speaks to us through the Word.
• "And He tells me I am His own;"
• We can know that we belong to Him (Mark 9:41; Romans 1:6; 8:9; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Galatians 5:24).
• "And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known."
• Why has "none other" ever known this "joy we share" with Christ?  As I mentioned earlier, if it is only resounding in my heart, what good is it doing for anyone else?
• This lyric seems to be more "feel good" than anything else and lends credence to a criticism of this song (also mentioned by Cottrill) that this song is nothing more than a sentimental ballad.
• It's almost as blasphemous as what was brought up in an episode of South Park where some of the kids were talking about starting up a Contemporary Christian Rock Band; all they had to do, they thought, was take some popular love songs and substitute "Jesus" for any reference to a girl, girlfriend, a love, etc. (As humorous as this may sound, I do not recommend the viewing of South Park and am sorry to have watched it myself).

This is a hymn that has been sung by many congregations in the brotherhood and leaves a feeling of sentimentality for many.  But it seems to be more of a spiritual cotton-candy: sweet to the taste, but not at all substantive.  I can see singing this song at special services for said sentimental reasons, but not in any situation where teaching and evangelism (particularly to those who are lost) are involved.

As I end every commentary with this, I still welcome your thoughts….

(Back to Introductory Volume)

Vol. 588: "Sinners Jesus Will Receive"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "Sinners Jesus will receive: Sound this word of grace to all Who the heav'nly pathway leave, All who linger, all who fall! [Refrain]
2. "Come: and He will give you rest; Trust Him: for His word is plain; He will take the sinfullest: Christ receiveth sinful men. [Refrain]
3. "Now my heart condemns me not, Pure before the law I stand; He Who cleansed me from all spot, Satisfied its last demand. [Refrain]
4. "Christ receiveth sinful men, Even me with all my sin; Purged from ev'ry spot and stain, Heav'n with Him I enter in."

Refrain-- "Sing it o'er and o'er again: Christ receiveth sinful men; Make the message clear and plain: Christ receiveth sinful men!"

(Original Words by Erdmann Neumeister; Translated to English by Emma F. Bevan; Music by James McGranahan)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", we can see that this is a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His character and His work as well as a hymn teaching about His willingness to bless.

This song, in its modern form, took 165 years to come together.  It was initially written in 1718 by Herr Erdmann Neumeister (originally in German), based on a sermon he gave which began "Jesus nimmt die Sünder an!  Saget döch dies Trostwort allen" (which translates in English, according to my iTranslate app, "Jesus takes the sinner! Tell ye all these words of consolation.").  Originally it consisted of eight verses, six lines in each, all closing with the phrase "Jesus nimmt die Sünder an."

It was translated into English by Mrs Emma F. Bevan for Songs of Eternal Life, a hymn book she wrote and published in London, England, in 1858.  Interestingly enough, she produced two versions of the translation.  The first one translated all eight verses and remained somewhat true to Herr Neumeister's original work (although some have criticized her translation for using some English hyperbole that would not have originated in German; some of this can be read in the article "'Sinners Jesus Will Receive' - the British Reception of Neumeister's Hymn" by John S. Andrews in The Evangelical Quarterly, 4th Quarter, 1983 [pp 223-230] along with a comparison of the original in German and both of Bevan's translations).  The second version she produced is the one we typically sing today, condensed to four verses, four lines for each, and an additional refrain.

The tune as we know it today was written in 1883 by James McGranahan for The Gospel Male Choir song book, published by the John Church Company, Cincinatti, OH.

So now that we are better acquainted with the history behind this song, let's see if it maintains Scriptural integrity:

The first verse (and the refrain, for that matter) basically give a command: "Sound this word of grace to all Who the heavenly pathway leave, All who linger, all who fall."  The refrain continues by entreating us, "Sing it o'er and o'er again:" and "Make the message clear and plain:"  What is this word of grace we are to sound?  What are we singing over and over?  What is the message we are to clarify?  "Sinners Jesus will receive" according to the first verse, and "Christ receiveth sinful men" according to the refrain.  So while there's nothing wrong in and of itself with making a clarion call per se, at least we know the message is sound as we see plenty of examples where Jesus did in fact receive sinners (Matthew 10:9-13; Mark 2:17; Luke 15:2-7).

In the second verse, it says, "Come and He will give you rest."  Jesus even told us so in Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  The verse continues, "Trust Him for His word is plain."  A good definition of "plain" would be "clear to the mind; evident; manifest or obvious" (from dictionary.com) and there are many points in God's Word where it's made obvious how evident (plain) His Word is (John 16:25; Romans 1:19; 1 Corinthians 15:27).  Continuing, "He will take the sinfullest."  If we take the Apostle Paul at his word, then we know that the Lord will in fact "take the sinfullest" since He did take one who referred to himself as "the foremost" of sinners (some versions even say "chief")(1 Timothy 1:15).

If I may throw a slight editorial content here, I'm certain there are many who can read what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15 and say that the things they have done would make them the foremost of sinners.  But think about what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7 when it's difficult for one to remove a splinter from somebody else's eye when there's a huge two-by-four plank in your own eye. Personally, I have always wondered how much hyperbole this is; after all, many have made the case that all sin is sin in God's sight, so what if both people in the parable each have simply a splinter in one of their eyes?  Why would one see it as a beam in his own eye?

If we were in an actual lecture hall setting this could be easy to demonstrate, but try to follow me on this one: picture if you will me standing in front of all of you in the lecture hall setting and I ask all of you to hold up your pens.  As I hold up my own, we can all generally agree that our writing tools are very similar in size to each other.  Now I instruct you to hold your pen up to your eye (in a safe manner, of course); now the question is which pen looks bigger? Yours or mine?  The point is the pens are virtually the same size.  It's a matter of perspective in this instance (regardless, before either one of us tries to get the splinter out of the other's eye, we better get the stuff out of our own first).

The third verse begins, "Now my heart condemns me not."  And why should our hearts condemn us, when "[t]here is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)."  "Pure before the law I stand.  He Who cleansed me from all spot satisfied its last demand."It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7).  And since forgiveness of sins can only be achieved by shedding blood (Hebrews 9:22), it is Jesus Who, when He shed His blood for us on the cross, satisfied the final demand of the law (Hebrews 9:11-14)!

The final verse becomes a possible testimony one could give along the lines of this song: "Christ receiveth sinful men, Even me with all my sin;" again this seems to parallel Paul's statement of being the foremost of sinners.  As the verse concludes, "Purged from every spot and stain, Heaven with Him I enter in."  As we know that Christ's blood cleanses us from sin (1John 1:7), it is through Christ that we obtain eternal life (1John 5:11-15)!

Such is a message to "sing...o'er and o'er again, to "make...clear and plain"!  Let us be certain to "sound this word of grace to all!"

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Vol. 053: "Years I Spent in Vanity (At Calvary)"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary. [Refrain]
2. "By God's grace at last my sin I learned, Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary. [Refrain]
3. "Now I've giv'n to Jesus ev'rything; Now I gladly own Him as my King; Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary. [Refrain]
4. "O the love that drew salvation's plan! O the grace that brought it down to man! O the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary."

Refrain-- "Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary."

(Words by William R. Newell; Music by Daniel B. Towner)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this seems to be a song of testimony ["Years I spent in vanity and pride..."], so it is making known that deposition (speaking) through the song.  We can see also that this is a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His work as well as a hymn teaching about His willingness to bless.

The words of the song were written by William R. Newell in 1895.  They came to him on his way to teach a class at the Moody's Bible Institute in Chicago, IL.  When he arrived, he slipped into a vacant class room and quickly penned them on the back of an envelope.  The music was written by Daniel B. Towner who studied music at the feet of some renowned teachers and musicians including John Howard and James Webb.  He was music director for many organizations including Moody's Bible Institute where he likely got to see the lyrical work from this song.

I wish to try something a little different with THIS commentary and hope it will be less confusing.  Before, I would ramble on about each verse and each line of each verse in many paragraphs; THIS time I want to attempt doing this in more of an outline form in the hopes of being more succinct and clear with the lyrics on which I'm commenting.

<Also, this is the first commentary I am doing by request. Somebody told me they had been approached that this song was unscriptural. She didn't remember what specific part of the song made it that way, but hopefully by analyzing this song thoroughly we can ascertain what would make the song unsound OR be able to allay those fears and be better able to sing the song "with the spirit" as well as "with the understanding" (1 Corinthians 14:15).>

• "Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified,
•  Again, this is testimony, rather subjective; since it says nothing that is out-rightly unscriptural [e.g.-- The Lord sent the Spirit upon me and I spoke in tongues], I find nothing against it.
• "Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.
• Since vanity and pride are marks of ungodliness, one can say that the one giving the testimony was ungodly.  Fortunately for him (as for all of us), "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6)."
• As is written in Luke 23:33, "[W]hen they came to the place that is called The Skull [referred to as "Calvary" in many translations], there they crucified him...."
• "By God's grace at last my sin I learned, Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned,
• We can see examples of this being played out many times, where people learn of their sinful state, are thus in fear, and want to know what to do to avoid condemnation for spurning the Law of God (Acts 2:37; 16:29-30).
• The only part of this I find potentially questionable about this hymn is where the song writer says that he learned of his sin by the grace of God.  One could view that as sounding a little Calvinist.  And if we take the phrase literally, it may sound like "Unconditional Election" and "Limited Atonement", that the writer would only have learned of his error by God's grace.  However, as I will point out in my comments on the refrain, God's desire is for no one to perish but that all would come to repentance.
• On the other hand, it is by His grace that any of us learn of our (once) sinful conditions.  He gives us whatever chance we can get, whether it be providing Peter on the Day of Pentecost (or sending him to see Cornelius)(Acts 2 & 10 respectively), whether it be sending Philip to Gaza to meet the treasury official from Ethiopia (Acts 8), whether it be stopping Saul (later to be known as Paul) on the way to Damascus and sending Ananias to teach him (Acts 9), or even using Paul to prevent Elymus Bar-Jesus from speaking lies to proconsul Sergius Paulus so that he would hear the Word and eventually believe (Acts 13:4-12).  But it is still up to us to either send or be sent to make sure the Word is preached that they may believe (Roman 10:14-15).
• "Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary." 
•  I'd like to think it obvious that this is poetic license since turning to a "place of the Skull" for salvation would be pointless.  It is what Jesus did on Calvary that saves us.  No, He did not simply go there and get killed; besides the fact that He fulfilled a LOT of prophecy while being taken to and while hanging on the cross (John 19:28), He allowed Himself to be taken, giving Himself freely, so as to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins (John 10:14-17), thus demonstrating such a love for us that can not be paralleled or surpassed (John 15:13)!
•  "Now I've giv'n to Jesus ev'rything; Now I gladly own Him as my King; Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary."
•  This does not ascribe to the Rapture (the removal of the faithful from the world), but refers to a religious ecstasy resulting from one's faith (see definition of "raptured").  With that clarification, the rest of the verse can be considered testimonial and poetic license on the writer's part.
• "O the love that drew salvation's plan!"
•  As was mentioned before, there is no greater love that one can demonstrate than that One gives His life for His friends (John 15:13) (and we are His friends if we do what He commands, John 15:14)
• "O the grace that brought it down to man!"
•  Also as I mentioned before, it is by His grace that we learn of our sinful conditions, not in the Calvinistic sense, but that He wants us all to be saved and will provide a way that we may hear His word and come to repentance (as mentioned in the second verse and the refrain).
• "O the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary."
•  Considering that we were enemies of God as sinners before He imparted His grace to us, it was a considerable gulf (even metaphorically speaking) that God traversed when He did make the way of reconciliation to Him possible (Romans 5:7-11)

• Refrain

• "Mercy there was great, and grace was free;"
•  Paul talks a great deal about mercy and grace in his letters, but he has a good focus on both in Ephesians 2:1-10.  As he points out,
  we "were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us" [remember how Jesus was quoted by the disciple whom He loved: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)], "even when we were dead in our trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" [again, it is good to remember Romans 5:8 where we are reminded that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."], "so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
• As I've dealt with Calvinism in some previous commentaries (and even in this one already), it seems good I should revisit it now.  I want to ensure how clear it is that I do believe we are saved by the grace of God and not because of works we might attempt.  That being said, if I am to be saved there is something I must do to receive this grace; after all, as Paul says here, we have been saved by grace through faith.  That does not mean that a simple mental assertion of His existence will bring Him to impart His grace to me; even demons believe that God exists, and that strikes them with fear (James 2:19).  If I truly believe in God, if I have true faith, I will act accordingly.  It is impossible to demonstrate faith without action of some sort (James 2:18).  But those actions must be in accordance to what He commands us to do (John 14:15).  Those actions in and of themselves will not save us, thus the grace is the gift of God and not the result of works (Ephesians 2:9).  God would have it that every soul was saved from perishing, but we must reach repentance first (2 Peter 3:9) and one is rather unlikely to repent if one does not believe, worse yet one can not believe if they have not heard; after all, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17).
• "Pardon there was multiplied to me;"
•  One can see through the prophet's writings that wicked people must forsake their wicked ways and unrighteous people must forsake their unrighteous thoughts in order to return to the Lord (so that He may have compassion on them) and to our God ("for He will abundantly pardon", Isaiah 55:6-7).
• "There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary."
•  Paul tells us to "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1, NKJV)."

I hope this allays any fears about the song being unsound and demonstrates its scriptural integrity.  As always, though, I welcome your thoughts.

(Back to Introductory Volume)

Vol. 526: "Pass Me Not"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.
2. "Trusting only in Thy merit, Would I seek Thy face; Heal my wounded, broken spirit, Save me by Thy grace.
3. "Thou, the Spring of all my comfort, More than life to me, Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in Heav'n but Thee?

Chorus-- "Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by."

(Words by Fanny J. Crosby; Music by William H. Doane)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", we can see that this is a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His work as well as a hymn demonstrating praise and supplication as well as teaching (or reminding us of) our dependence on God.

This song was written by Fanny J. Crosby and is one of at least 2,000 that she wrote in her lifetime (some biographies credit her with writing as many as 8,000!). Due to an error on the part of the doctor attending to her, she lost her sight at the age of six weeks (!), but she seemed to feel it was all part of Divine Providence, since she is quoted as saying:

• It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me (from http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/r/o/crosby_fj.htm).

When one considers not only the sheer quantity of hymns she produced, but also the fact that she is still one of the most well known women in these United States, it's no wonder that the vast majority of American hymn books contain a portion of her work.

There are a lot of Biblical allusions in this song, thus indicating Miss Crosby was fairly well versed in the Scriptures. But, then again, so were Saul and Apollos, and both started in bad positions for Christ. Fortunately both were corrected (Saul in Acts 9 and Apollos in Acts 18:24ff). Is there a need for correction in this song?

As the first verse and the chorus share many lyrics in common (and may be the sticking point for me), I will proceed in reverse order for this song and begin with the last verse. "Thou, the Spring of all my comfort," it begins; this seems to allude to Isaiah 61 where it starts,"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...."  And as Isaiah lists the many good things that the Anointed One was going to do, in verse two of that chapter he lists, "to comfort all who mourn" (incidentally, this is the same passage the Anointed One reads in the Nazareth synagogue in Luke 4 to the fulfillment in the ears of the people who were there!).  One could also make the case for quoting Jesus in some of His final words to His disciples, before He goes to the cross, in John 14:27 when He says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.... Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  The final verse of the song ends by saying, "More than life to me, Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in heav'n but Thee?"  This is very similar to what Asaph the psalmist writes in Pslam 73:25: "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You."  Similar sentiments were made by King David, the man after God's heart, in 2 Samuel 7:22 and 1 Chronicles 17:20 (his prayer of gratitude that, although the Lord refused to allow him the honor, his progeny would build the temple in his stead), and Peter in John 6:68-69 when Jesus asks the remaining disciples if they want to leave Him as well.

The second verse of the song says, "Trusting only in Thy merit, Would I seek Thy face."  One can find many examples in the New Testament of people who sought to see or meet with Jesus based on His merits (the fact that He healed so many). We see ten lepers in Luke 17:13ff; Zacchaeus in Luke 19; and the blind beggar (Bartimaeus) in Matthew 20:30ff, Mark 10:46ff, and Luke 18:35ff.  The verse continues, "Heal my wounded, broken spirit," similar to what King David writes in Psalm 34:18: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."  And this second verse of the song ends, "Save me by Thy grace." Paul (formerly Saul before his earlier mentioned correction) makes the point many times of how we are saved by the grace of God through faith (Rom 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).  And although we work to demonstrate our faith (James 2:14-26, emphasis on verses 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26), it is not the work that saves us.  Were it not for the grace of God, none of us would be saved!

There is another verse that was originally written for this song as the second verse (thus, de facto, we have just covered the fourth and third verses [?]).  Although it is not included in the Praise for the Lord hymn book we are covering, I still want to make mention of it as it reads, "Let me at Thy throne of mercy Find a sweet relief."  This seems to concur with what the inspired writer says in Hebrews 4:14-16: "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  The song verse continues, "Kneeling there in deep contrition" (as we see in Proverbs 22:4, the Lord rewards those who demonstrate humility and fear), "Help my unbelief" (this echoes the feelings demonstrated by the father of the young man with the unclean spirit in Mark 9:23-24).

This brings us to the final matter, the first verse and chorus, the only difference of which is their respective openings.  "Pass me not, o gentle Savior (the chorus substitutes "Savior, Savior,"), Hear my humble cry."  Of course, we know from King David's statement in Psalm 34:15 that "[t]he eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry."  But the verse and chorus continue, "While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by."  Granted, this closing statement is reminiscent of what Abraham tells three men who were standing before his tent in the oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18:3, "'O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.'"

However, it bears to be noted what the prophet foretells about how people would be called by God in the last days in Joel 2:32-- "it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls."  Peter mentions this passage in the first Gospel sermon given on that Pentecost in Acts 2 and it points out a doctrinal error that many espouse in Calvinism: it is those who call upon the name of the Lord (calling upon His authority) who are saved.  Those "who escape", those "among the survivors" (two variant ways of mentioning people who have been saved) are the ones "whom the LORD calls."  Unlike the error of "Unconditional Election" (the "U" in Calvinism's "TULIP", with God allegedly choosing whom He calls according to His own intention without any consideration of an individual's merit), we see that the Lord calls upon those who call upon Him, further punctuating what the inspired writer tells us in Hebrews 11:6, that "He rewards those who seek Him."  Therefore, the Lord is NOT going to pass somebody by if they are calling upon Him.  This makes the song smack of Calvinism and should either be revised or not sung at all.  It has a catchy tune and all, just like "Jesus is Coming Soon", which draws us in to want to sing it, but this is why we should check the scriptural integrity of the songs we propose to sing either to God in praise or to each other in encouragement and thus avoid spreading false doctrine.

[Calling upon the name of the Lord and being called by God have some overlapping thoughts with another topic I wanted to expand upon, drawing near to God, from Volume 436's commentary on "Nearer, Still Nearer". As before, once I have completed this separate piece, I hope to provide a link to it from here.]

Although I end every commentary with this, as always, I do welcome your thoughts…

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