Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is “Holy forever and ever is God” by John Bell. It is a setting of (or at least inspired by) verses from the book of Revelation.
The first two verses praise God as creator and overall sovereign of his creation. The other three are more specifically addressed to Jesus. In the book the hymn is suggested as suitable for Ascension Day, when Jesus finally left the earth in bodily form and took up his reign in God’s eternal kingdom. But it is still suitable for this Easter season, not least because in the fourth verse we declare “Worthy the Lamb who was sentenced and slain! Worthy the Lamb in his rising again!”, the Lamb being Jesus as sacrifice.
In the last verse the Lamb is sitting on the throne (as king, or judge) having proved himself worthy for the position by living a blameless life on earth and being a willing sacrifice for the rest of sinful humanity. I couldn’t find an appropriate image to depict this, as it is such a contradiction (at the same time suffering lamb and all-powerful king) that all the illustrations I found were contrived or twee. Stained glass artists have usually depicted the sacrificial lamb below the enthroned Christ, and left it to the viewer to try and superimpose these images in some way, for neither image makes sense without the other. That is just one pair of images from Revelation, and not the strangest by a long way. No wonder it’s a notoriously difficult book to understand!
The other reason this is a suitable hymn for the Easter season is that each verse ends with an Alleluia! (very much the Easter acclamation). Tomorrow’s hymn also has alleluias, but in a different setting…
I liked the fact that this hymn was an enthusiastic romp through some of the imagery of Revelation, and I liked the fact that it had a strong rhythmic drive and sense of direction and purpose. At the same time I’d have appreciated some kind of pause between verses so as to be able to catch my breath and reflect – of course this is incompatible with it being a romp! But somehow the fact that John managed to get a musical interlude in at the end before the final “Amen” raised the question of whether he couldn’t have managed it between the verses as well?
I’d have appreciated some kind of rhyme for the third line of each of the verses: the first two lines rhymed, so is it in fact impossible to make the third rhyme as well? Maybe …
… the Sovereign Lord / by all creation forever adored.
… blessing we bring / shouting our worship, adoring our King.
… people for God / called to your priesthood wherever they’ve trod.
… his rising again / Worthy the Lamb of all praise and acclaim!
… as is right / Let earth and heaven exclaim in delight
I think perhaps this kind of question indicates a deeper facet of hymnwriting – that often we need others’ insights and critiques in the business of honing our words to make them as effective as possible for conveying God’s message. And, of course, John Bell has this in Graham Maule and other members of the Resource Group. So maybe it was felt better to leave this lyric unmodified for some reason?
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About the book of Revelation, I have found Michael Wilcock’s “I saw heaven opened” (IVP in “The bible speaks today” series) very helpful in seeing the wood from the trees. He suggests the book can be more constructively seen as a kind of film-script. Developing this theme, I wonder if it can be seen as an opera libretto? I have versions of a number of the songs, and I’d appreciate a script-writer’s help (a Tim Rice to my Andrew Lloyd-Webber?) in forming what I have into a musical.