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nd after six days Jesus taketh Peter,
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured before
them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. (Matt 17:1-2)
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he people that walked in darkness have
seen a great LIGHT: they
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2)
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e have also a more sure word of
prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the DAY
STAR arise in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19)
I chose this hymn as much for its
artful composition and beauty of expression as for its direct appeal for the
season of Epiphany. The word pictures flow as a peaceful river through pastures
of contentment. One can
almost see and feel the beauty of a celestial sunrise that shall mark the final
day in the annals of this world. The heart-wrenching fevers and suffering of
the world have been borne in misery, but also in hope of a future Promise – and
the consummation of that future Promise is illustrated wonderfully in the lines
of this old Presbyterian classic hymn.
Lyrics for this hymn are the
composition of Thomas Hastings in 1831; and the tune, Wesley, was the work of Lowell
Mason in 1830.
Hail to the Brightness of Zion’s Glad Morning
Hail
to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Joy
to the lands that in darkness have lain!
Hushed
be the accents of sorrow and mourning;
Zion
in triumph begins her mild reign.
Hail
to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Long
by the prophets of Israel foretold!
Hail
to the millions from bondage returning!
Gentiles
and Jews the blest vision behold.
Lo,
in the desert rich flowers are springing,
Streams
ever copious are gliding along;
Loud
from the mountain tops echoes are ringing,
Wastes
rise in verdure, and mingle in song.
See,
from all lands, from the isles of the ocean,
Praise
to the Savior ascending on high;
Fallen
the engines of war and commotion;
Shouts
of salvation are rending the sky.
Hail to the brightness of Zion’s
glad morning! Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain! Hushed be the
accents of sorrow and mourning; Zion in triumph begins her mild reign.
Are you one of those incorrigible sleepy-heads who are difficult to rouse from
bed at the breaking of day? Never mind! There is coming a Day Break whose
brilliant beams and effulgent light you will not be able to block out even with
closed eyes. 30 And then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matt 24:30-31) Why do you suppose Matthew makes
reference to the Trumpet? It is because that was the custom of the
Bridegroomsmen in sounding a trumpet when the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ)
approached the house of His betrothed Bride (the Church). The dawning of this
Day of the Lord will be unlike the dawning of any other day for glory, for
beauty, for joy, and for span; for this Day shall begin and never end. The
light shall illumine the dark mountains of North Korea where manmade lights are
not visible at night; the jungle regions of Africa, and all of the islands of the
sea. God has His elect in
all of these quarters, and He knows who, and where, they sleep. The only human
utterances will be of joy muffled by awe. Sorrow and mourning shall become a
distant memory. Finally, truly upright and righteous reign shall be established
in the earth. The brightness of Christ’s person, as on the Mount of
Transfiguration, will no longer blind our eyes when we are changed into a
glorious body with Him.
Hail to the brightness of Zion’s
glad morning! Long by the prophets of Israel foretold! Hail to the millions
from bondage returning! Gentiles and Jews the blest vision behold.
In case you may forget, the first line of the first verse is repeated in the
second. Our Lord Jesus Christ was present in the primordial darkness of
Creation. He was the Executive Agent of Creation – 1 In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth.
Genesis
1:1 1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word (Jesus Christ) was God. 2 The same was in the beginning
with God. 3 All things were made by him; and
without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3) From the first verse in Genesis to
the last in Revelations, this is the Word that personifies our Lord Jesus
Christ – all of the historical books of the Bible, all of the poetic books, all
of the prophets, all of the Gospels, epistles and prophecies are of Christ!
There will be no border or boundary separating nations, tribes, or tongues in
that Day. Sin is a deadly bondage; but mortal life itself is bondage to the
soul that yearns for its Maker. Lying in wait from the desert dunes of the
Sahara, the rocky mountains of Persia, the plains and river valleys of Asia,
the frozen prairies of the north and south, and in every patch of ground of
this primitive planet, the souls of God’s Elect shall arise from their dusty
deposits and rise up with those Elect yet living to see and meet their dear
Savior.
Lo, in the desert rich flowers
are springing, Streams ever copious are gliding along; Loud from the mountain
tops echoes are ringing, Wastes rise in verdure, and mingle in song.
The most beautiful foliage of all of the world is found in desert regions where
virgin soil has lain dormant for extended periods of time. Suddenly, a
refreshing rain graces the waste places and the desert blooms in a grand
abundance of beauty and joy. In flying over the deserts of old Persian, I was
astonished at the carpet of elegant colors that graced the desert sands after a
rare rainfall. The world today is all a desert – a desert and a wilderness of
sin. But the day comes when the rains of the Lord shall replenish the earth
with a righteous downpour. The desert places will bloom again. The thousands of
martyred souls in the deserts of Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, and every other
imaginable Hell Hole shall arise in full bloom of beauty to meet their Lord.
There will also be a resurrection of those wicked who beheaded them whose
rising will be to a different kind of eternity altogether – eternal suffering
and darkness. And . . . . there will be music the likes of which no Bach or
Beethoven could have conceived. The gifted and gilded choir of angels shall
sound forth in chorus whose beauty shall lift the souls of the righteous to
high Heaven.
See, from all lands, from the
isles of the ocean, Praise to the Savior ascending on high; Fallen the engines
of war and commotion; Shouts of salvation are rending the sky.
The most glorious and beautiful chorus I have ever heard was on the Island of
Isabel of the Solomon Island Chain. The deep rich voices of the male members
seated on the left, echoed by the harmonious and shrill voices of the ladies,
and enriched by the pipe organs of bamboo, made one’s soul lift from its mortal
anchorage and drift toward the very Gates of Heaven. God hears those wonderful
voices, and they praise and glorify His Name. 14 They shall lift up their voice,
they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. 15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in
the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in
the isles of the sea.
(Isaiah 24:14-15) It is no secret either many of our martyrs – even Anglican
martyrs – glorified the name of the Lord even from the fires of martyrdom. John
Hus, a Czech priest of pre-Reformation died in the fires singing a Psalm of
Praise. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake holding his right
hand into the fire for having made a false recantation previously. Bishop Hugh
Latimer encouraged his fearful friend, Nicolas Ridley, with these words just
before the two were tied to the stake to be burned outside Oxford: Be of
good cheer, master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a
candle in England, as I hope, by God's grace, shall never be put out.
There will no longer be raised shouts
of vengeance on the part of the martyred souls for their joys will overtake
lesser causes. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord! War, pestilence, and disease will be
the former things; and every tear will be wiped from the eyes of those faithful
of God.
Will you and your loved ones be of the
blessed few who shall hail the brightness of Zion’s glad morning?
