I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.
Today’s song is Ancient of Days from 1992.
Ancient of Days seems like a peculiar phrase. I remember it in a line from the old hymn “O Worship the King”:
Our shield and defender,
the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise
But sometimes terms are applied to God that we don’t understand, but we’re OK with them, because they apply to God. For example, I don’t know what a lily of the valley is, but I used to mention it in an old chorus that we used to sing, and people often called Jesus the “lily of the valley” during worship. In Song of Solomon 2:1, it’s a term that applies to beauty, so people apply it to Jesus.
So what does Ancient of Days actually mean? It means someone who goes back before time itself. The title Ancient of Days appears three times, all in Daniel 7 in the Old Testament. Here, it’s applied to the Father. In the hymn, some might sing it to the Son. But both are God, as is the Holy Spirit, so you could apply the term to all three. Sometimes the same terms are applied to different members of the Trinity. For example, both the Father and the Son are called King of Kings and Lord of Lords in the Book of Revelation.
It’s always a great comfort to me to know that God is outside time and creation. He isn’t constrained in the way that we are, although you could argue that He’s constrained by His own nature. His attributes don’t change. I just asked Microsoft Copilot to list His attributes for me – “list all God’s attributes”. It’s good to have such information so easily accessible. And it reminds me of how great God is and the fact that He is only a prayer away.
Anyway, here are some other versions of today’s song:
Hibernia Gospel 