Rejoice, the Lord is king!
- Details
- Published: Monday, 01 August 2016 22:53
- Written by James Dean
I've had an old hymn stuck in my head today which is actually a welcome change and I'm wondering if I can orchestrate the same thing happening to me every day so that I'm able to praise God even while my mind is on other things.
The hymn, Rejoice, the Lord is King, was written by Charles Wesley and picks up on themes from a wide variety of scripture but it focuses on our joy in Jesus as King and assurance of his reign forever. Look at the words of the first verse:
Rejoice, the Lord is King!
your Lord and King adore;
mortals, give thanks and sing,
and triumph evermore:
We've been studying Genesis in our recent sermons and there is so much packed into those 4 lines alone that directs our worship to where it should be - to our Creator! We can easily recognise the hymn-writer's inspiration:
The Psalmist wrote:
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
Psalm 97:12
and Paul, writing to the Philippians, wrote:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Philippians 4:4
But we find this hard, don't we? To rejoice in every situation, whether good or bad - is that even possible? When our focus is drawn to a difficult situation it's sometimes hard enough to simply draw breath let alone turn that to anything resembling praise. But that is what we're called to do. It is when we lift our eyes and look above our immediate circumstances to the sovereign God that we are able to rejoice. When our joy is grounded in God and not in what's going on around us we can be joyful and rejoice no matter what. In those moments, it's often singing a song or a hymn that will drag my mind up to where it should be and lift my spirit to praise.
I'm reminded of that truth in the chorus of the hymn which is an easily remembered anthem and I need to frequently remind myself of as it echoes Paul's exhortation:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
rejoice, again I say, rejoice.
There is so much more you could say about this hymn, but for now I'll just leave the remaining verses for you to sing your own praises to our wonderful God!
2. Jesus, the Saviour, reigns,
the God of truth and love;
when he had purged our stains
he took his seat above:
3. His kingdom cannot fail,
he rules both earth and heaven;
the keys of death and hell
are to our Jesus given:
4. He sits at God’s right hand,
till all his foes submit
and bow to his command
and fall beneath his feet:
5. Rejoice in glorious hope!
Jesus the Judge shall come
and take his servants up
to their eternal home:
We soon shall hear the archangel’s voice;
God’s trumpet-call shall sound-Rejoice!
Need help with a tune? Try Darwall (
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