10 My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among ten thousand. 11 His head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. 12 His eyes are as the eyes of
doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. 13 His cheeks are as a bed of
spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 14 His hands are as gold rings set
with the beryl (Song 5:10-14)
.
. . . fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with
banners? (Song
6:10)
I have written of this hymn before, but choose to do so again for its beauty as
a rose unfolding with time. We may consider the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ
to be fully comprehended in an instant of time, but with the passage of those
moments, we see even more glorious and resplendent beauty in His magnificent
Personage. I was reminded of this great old hymn by a dear friend recently, and
could not resist a re-visitation.
The hymn is known as the Crusader Hymn for it was sung by the children who, en
masse, marched off to their demise to its notes on Crusade from Europe. All
were captured and enslaved, or died, during the event.
A fond memory that is written, in indelible love, on my heart was to hear this
great hymn sung at breakfast time during retreat in north Alabama by the
Samford University Acapella Choir under the able direction of the good Dr. L. Gene
Black in 2002. The choir was comprised of some 200 members, and their
harmonious singing of this hymn lifted us all to the very gates of Heaven. The
most popular modern version of the hymn is entitled, Fairest Lord Jesus; but
the original translation by Joseph A. Seiss – a Lutheran theologian – was
entitled Beautiful Savior. It is Seiss’ translation that I will comment on in
this devotion. The lyrics of this hymn were written by Jesuit scholars (date
unknown), and the tune is a Silesian folk tune called CRUSADER.
Beautiful Savior, King of Creation
Beautiful Savior, King of Creation
Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I’d love Thee, truly I’d serve Thee,
Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.
Fair are the meadows, Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in the flowers of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
He makes our sorrowing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine, Fair is the moonlight,
Bright the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, Praise, adoration
Now and forevermore be Thine!
Beautiful Savior, King of Creation Son of God and Son of Man! Our
Lord Jesus Christ is the Master Artist who drew out and flung the stars into their
orbits at the early instant of Creation. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
and thus the King of Creation itself since All things were made by him; and
without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3 (KJV) He placed
the sun and moon at their stations, and artfully fashioned the mountains,
meadows, seas, vegetation, and you and me. When we view the multi-colored and
beautiful sunrise, how much more of beauty must be the Artist who fashioned
them! Our Lord Jesus Christ is both the Son of God, and also the Son of Man.
Possessing both natures, He was able to relate to us the character of the
Father, and to redeem us from our sins as the unblemished Lamb of God.
Truly I’d love Thee, truly I’d serve Thee, Light of my soul, my joy, my
crown. How can we truly love and adore a Lord of such high
majesty and power? How could the sinner, over-burdened with guilt and the
filthy rags of sin, presume to love One of such exalted Nature? We love him,
because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (KJV) We could never have approached
the Throne of Mercy and Grace had the scepter not been lowered to us. He is the
Light of our souls and the Light of Life itself: In him was life; and the
life was the light of men. (John 1:4) Nothing of greater meaning or
beauty can exist for us than the One who gave us life by the giving of His own
Life; the One who became our Day Star of Light in a dark sky of sin.
The Jordan River, like the life of our Lord, is a short river that has its
origins in the snowy heights of Mount Herman. As it flows south, it creates a
beautiful band of green life on its way. It spills into the Sea of Galilee
which teems with life. Emerging on the south tip of that Sea, it continues
through the wilderness – down and down to the lowest place on earth – the Dead
Sea. The Jordan dies in the desert Wilderness just as our Lord died in the
desert Wilderness of our sins. The Dead Sea is dead because it surrenders not a
drop of the Water of Life which it receives; but the Wilderness of sin could
not hold the Water of Life that came down from Heaven, for He arose as victor
over death and sin. Fair are the meadows, Fair are the woodlands, Robed
in the flowers of blooming spring; everywhere our Lord goes, He
gives life and light to the wilderness darkness.
Our Lord places a melody in our hearts, and a burning Light in our souls. Jesus
is fairer, Jesus is purer, He makes our sorrowing spirit sing. The song
He gives us a divine and heavenly one: Ye shall have a song, as in the night
when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a
pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. And
the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the
lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame
of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. (Isaiah
30:29-30)
Fair is the sunshine, Fair is the moonlight, Bright the sparkling stars
on high; The sunshine, the moonlight, and the sparkling stars are
things of great beauty; but these are simply the icing on the cake of Creation.
What of the sons and daughters of God? Since these things were made for our
comfort, must not our Lord consider us to be of even greater beauty in His
Crown? When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. (Psalm
8:3-5) The crowning
achievement of God’s Creation is the man and woman which He created in the
Garden eastward at Eden. Though many souls have been misappropriated by the
serpent of that Garden, the Lord knows, and shall reclaim, His own from among
them: And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him. (Mal 3:17)
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer Than all the angels in the sky. Jesus does, indeed, shine
brighter and purer because He is the Personification of Light. Without Him, all
is darkness and there could be no light to shine. I
am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but
shall have the light of life. (John 8:12) Some have questioned this as a
contradiction of Matthew 5:14 in which our Lord tells His people Ye are the light of the world. This is to be viewed in the same sense as
we consider the light of the moon. Any elementary astronomy knows that the moon
has no light except that which it receives from the Sun. Likewise, no Christian
has any light except that Light which it receives from the sun of righteousness
and the Day Star of our salvation.
The last verse is a benediction to all that precedes it: Beautiful
Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man! Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration Now and forevermore be Thine! Can you imagine
anything more beautiful than the strong and Everlasting Arm that reaches down
to pull your drowning soul from the swirling waters of the sea of sin? He is
King of Kings, and Lord of Lords – of ALL kings, and of all LORDS. We
cannot honor, praise, and adore Him enough. But that of which we are capable –
our ALL – is due Him. And that will be enough. If we are crowned with the
Ensign of Love, if we are called and chosen according to His purpose, if we
love as we are loved, we shall not suffer shame or damnation. The River we
cross at last shall be a glorious Jordan whose far banks are lit continually
with the Light of our Beautiful Savior.
