Hymn: “Crown Him with Many Crowns” – Matthew Bridges (1800-1894)
Tune: DIADEMATA
I heard a newscaster say, “For a horse to be royalty, it has to wear three crowns.” He was, of course, referring to the Triple Crown in horse-racing… a feat not achieved since Affirm’s 1978 victory.
This hymn's many-crown concept is scriptural (Revelation 19:12), but it is also a ‘picture this’ image. I understand that in eastern cultures, the official crown of a king was more like a turban, and every time he conquered another kingdom, a piece of cloth in that kingdom’s color was wound into the turban. Therefore the more colored strips in the crown, the more kingdoms he ruled. That is a much easier concept than envisioning a king with several golden crowns stacked up on his head!
When we understand this notion, the hymn calls us to give over more and more territory to the Lamb who sits upon the throne – that is, Jesus. That might be submitting more of our personal ‘turf’ (spiritual growth) or it might summon us to bring more people into the kingdom (evangelism) – or even to reach more world peoples (missions).
Recognizing Christ as our “matchless King” is an important step in our following after him. In worship at the church I attend, we sometimes sing the chorus “There Is None Like You.” In a contemporary song, we are echoing this same sentiment: “You are matchless!” We need to revere Christ as the one-and-only truly holy Son of the Most High God. Until we put him in his rightful place, we come up short in our worship.
While the world awaits another Triple Crown champion, the church celebrates the victories of their multi-crowned King – One who was there before the race began and who knows no finish line.
Tenore Sings This Hymn
Garrett Martin’s Creative Improvisation
No comments:
Post a Comment
You are welcome to comment on any of the posts. They are sent to ME directly. Thanks for any feedback you would like to make.