Hymns: Down From His Glory

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 old hymns.

Today’s song is Down From His Glory from 1921

Down from His glory
Ever-living story
My God and Savior came
And Jesus was His name
Born in a manger
To His own a stranger
A man of sorrows, tears
And agony

What condescension
Bringing us redemption
That in the dead of night
Not one faint hope in sight
God gracious, tender
Laid aside His splendor
Stooping to woo, to win
To save my soul

Oh, how I love Him!
How I adore Him!
My breath, my sunshine
My all in all
The great Creator
Became my Savior
And all God's fullness
Dwelleth in Him

Without reluctance
Flesh and blood His substance
He took the form of man
Revealed the hidden plan
Oh, glorious mystery
Sacrifice of Calvary
And now I know Thou art
The Great I AM

Oh, how I love Him!
Oh, how I love Him!
How I adore Him!
My breath, my sunshine
My all in all
The great Creator
Became my Savior
And all God's fullness
Dwelleth in Him

The great Creator
Became my Savior
And all God's fullness
Dwelleth in Him

I knew the tune back in the 1970s from an advert for an ice cream and an Elvis song:

Of course, the tune is from a classical Italian song “O Sole Mio” from the late 19th Century. The hymn is all about the incarnation of Jesus. Even Christians (at least nominal ones who don’t know the Bible) get confused about the incarnation. Some think that Jesus came into existance when he was born in Bethlehem. It’s true that this was the beginning of Jesus as a human being, but in heaven, He was always the Son of God. So He came down from His glory.

A Muslim once asked me “How can God have a Son”. I can understand why he’d ask that. I think of the term “Son” as more of an analogy. Both Muslims and Christians surely believe that we have little real understanding of God in His essence. The word Son conveys the relationship between two members of the trinity. It’s something like what would be between a King and His Son. But of course, God is outside of time, so Son is more about status rather than someone that emerged from God. But as a human, He was born of the Holy Spirit. And He isn’t the only one that’s called the Son of God in the Scripture. We are all adopted into God’s family when we believe, and sometimes angels and Israel itself is called Son of God. But Jesus is the Son of God eternally.

The following is a key passage about the incarnation of Jesus.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!
⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

So, He became human and went through the kinds of things that humans go through and more. And He became our model, our great example, and our Saviour. And we are encouraged to worship Him. In the Bible, any worship directed to anyone other than God is always condemned, even when it’s directed to great men and angels. So, He is God, but He also speaks of the Father as His God. How can God be His God if He Himself is God? Well, He is also human, and we are encouraged to model ourselves on Him. And the greatest command is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And He did just that.

Here are other versions of today’s hymn: