I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy đ. 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 Lift Jesus Higher from the 1960sâ1970s.
I do remember hearing this one in my teens. I associated it with the Roman Catholic charismatic movement. I used to find Mass quite boring, but I didn’t like the trendy folk Mass culture either – or the charismatic happy clappy stuff.
I remember a news feature on the charismatic movement showing nuns with guitars singing “Happiness” – the Ken Dodd song in a charismatic meeting. It wasn’t my kinda thing đ.
I was into punk rock at the time, so if I saw somone like Ken Dodd on Top of the Pops, I’d just laugh at him đ. When I commmitted my life to Christ in 1980, some of the Pentecostal churches in Cork used to sing the modern choruses. I became a little more open-minded about them then. And, this one is based on a New Testament passage on what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane:
27 âNow my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? âFather, save me from this hourâ? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!â Then a voice came from heaven, âI have glorified it, and will glorify it again.â 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, âThis voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.â 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
It must have seem strange to the disciples to hear Jesus saying that his crucifixion would draw people to him. Surely, that would have been the end of Jesus. And in early church history, any depiction of Jesus tended to avoid the crucifixion. The very worst people in society were crucified.
But he rose from the dead, and the cross now has a central place in history – 2026 is 2026 years from what? Nowadays, they change AD to CE – but there’s no getting away from the central place of the cross. And even more important is the meaning of the cross – Jesus taking the penalty for the sins of all those who repent and believe in Him.
What does drawing “all men (or people)” mean? It doesn’t mean that everyone will believe, but like a magnetic force, it will draw all people – but some might choose to be drawn in a different direction. But the message of the hymn is to proclaim his name and to continue spreading the message of salvation. Several other hymns are based on the passage. Here are two examples – an old one and a new one:
Jesus made another reference to being lifted up in the following passage – where he speaks of Moses lifting up a bronze snake in the Old Testament. Anyone who looked at the snake was healed of snake bites, which were a judgement from God for their constant complaining against Moses and God. Many Old Testament stories subtley or sometimes, explicitly, point to the cross.
John 3:14-16
 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.â 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.Â
Anyway, here are some other instances of today’s hymn – some are loosely based on it đ:
Hibernia Gospel 