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 Jesus the Name High Over All from 1749.
1 Jesus, the Name high over all,
in hell or earth or sky;
angels and mortals prostrate fall,
and devils fear and fly.
Jesus, the Name to sinners dear,
the Name to sinners giv’n;
it scatters all their guilty fear,
it turns their hell to heav’n.
2 O that the world might taste and see
the riches of His grace!
The arms of love that compass me
would all the world embrace.
Thee I shall constantly proclaim,
tho’ earth and hell oppose;
bold to confess Thy glorious Name
before a world of foes.
3 His only righteousness I show,
His saving truth proclaim;
’tis all my business here below
to cry, “Behold the Lamb!”
Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His Name,
preach Him to all, and cry in death,
“Behold, behold the Lamb!”
It’s one of thousands of hymns written by Charles Wesley.
You get instances of worship toward Jesus in the gospels, but it’s after the resurrection and his ascension into heaven that the most memorable passages occur about worshipping Him:
Philippians 2:9-11
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.
Revelation 5:13
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
In the latter passage, both the Father and Son (the Lamb) are worshipped. When John was overcome by the glory of an angel, he felt like worshipping Him, but was stopped by the angel:
Revelation 19:10
At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
It’s clear that John wouldn’t have thought that the angel was God, but perhaps he bowed before him like you would bow before a great king – or maybe he worshipped him because he saw him as representing God. But this is inappropriate for anyone but God. And no-one is ever rebuked for worshipping Jesus, because Jesus is God the Son. And God the Father is pleased to have us worship the Son. And Jesus, being a fellow human, and our model, encourages us to glorify the Father. So because the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God, it is fine to worship them all. But I don’t think that we should direct anything like worship to Mary or saints. That’s one of the reasons why I left the Roman Catholic (RC) church. It’s fine to be inspired by them and maybe even in awe of great people. The RC church says not to worship them – just venerate them. But in my experience, people didn’t really see the distinction. I remember a “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” prayer. I don’t imagine that many people switched between worship and veneration after they mentioned Jesus 😀. With respect to prayer, most prayer in the New Testament is directed to the Father. We pray to the Father in Jesus name, and the Holy Spirit is with us as we pray – and draws us to pray.
I saw an interesting discussion on praying to the Spirit on YouTube.
Anyway, here are some other versions of today’s hymn:
