Crown Him with Many Crowns
Friends, the hymn we’ve been singing through the month of April is Crown Him With Many Crowns. It was written by Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring. (There are more, but of the 5 stanzas we sing, Thring wrote verse 4, and Bridges wrote the others). This hymn invites us to join in the scenes of worship described in the last book of Bible, Revelation. The mood is triumphant; the scope is universal.
Verse one introduces the idea of crowning Jesus. Revelation 5:6, 12-13 identifies him as the “lamb who was slain”, but who is seated on the heavenly throne with God, worthy to receive exactly the same divine honours. I presume the idea of “many crowns” comes from Rev 4:10-11. There 24 “elders” sit on subsidiary thrones around God’s great throne, but lay their gold crowns before him and offer him all their worship as their Creator.
Verse two reminds us of the resurrection. Jesus is the “Lord of life”
…Who triumphed o’er the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife
For those He came to save.
What a great verse to be singing around Easter time.
Verse three calls Jesus the “Lord of love”. It recalls the report in John 20:20-29 that the disciples could still see the scars of the wounds in the risen Jesus’ hands and side. This is not a sign of continuing suffering, but they are “beautifully glorified” – a permanent reminder of what the lamb who was slain has done for us.
Verse four affirms that Jesus holds the key to our heart-felt desire “from pole to pole that wars may cease”. In an age of conflict and persecution, we take comfort in the reality that the “Lord of peace”s is on the throne even now. But if we will not surrender to Jesus now, true peace will only come through the final judgment, when he will (e.g. Rev 2:11-21, fulfilling Psalm 2) forcibly make peace by overthrowing all who oppose him and do violence on the earth. Then “his reign shall know no end” and “his pierced feet” will be surrounded by “fair flowers of paradise”.
Verse five uses exalted language to describe God’s majesty. The “potentate of time” mean Jesus is “ruling power” or “monarch” over time. The “rolling spheres” which he created presumably refers to the rotating sun and moon and planets and stars (which were known when this hymn was written in 1851). It reminds me of Isaiah 40:22 which says of God, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers”! And the original phrase “ineffably sublime” meant Jesus is “unspeakably beautiful” or “perfect beyond words”, but has been replaced in our modernised version by the slightly clearer, “in majesty sublime”.
I hope this exploration of some of the hymn’s lyrics will fan your desire to crown in your life the one of whom it sings… Hail – through all eternity – Jesus as Creator, Redeemer and your Matchless King!
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant