Series

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING

Folk music is noteworthy for its repetitive, straightforward lyrics and its easily remembered tunes. What Wondrous Love Is This has these characteristics and is rightly called an American folk hymn. As is usually the case with songs passed down through oral tradition, the original author or authors are unknown. The first printed version of the text can be traced back to an 1811 hymnal bearing the lengthy title A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs. The melody now associated with the hymn was an early 18th century English ballad and first appeared alongside in the 1835 edition of the famous American hymnal Southern Harmony. The tune “Wondrous Love” is especially suited to playing on folk instruments such as fiddles, flutes, guitars, and harps.Read More »“What Wondrous Love Is This” WS 723, LSB 543

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’” (Matthew 2:1-2)
The magi, guided by God, did not find the “King of the Jews,” as they supposed; they found the King of all people. Jews of Jesus’ day looked to the Old Testament patriarch Abraham as their religious and ethnic ancestor. God had made a covenant with Abraham that from his descendants would come the Messiah; and for the most part, Jews considered the promise of the Messiah to be exclusive to their ethnicity. Gentiles, in most Jews’ reckoning, were not included in that promise. However, in that regard they overlooked the glorious God-given Messianic prophecy of Isaiah, who wrote, “The Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your [Jesus’] light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isaiah 60:2-3)Read More »TLH 128 “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning”