Bowling Green Covenant Church

The Traveler’s Advisory

I recently discovered an old hymn titled By Christ Redeemed, In Christ Restored. It was written over 150 years ago by George Rawson, with music by John B. Dykes. It is a sacramental hymn to be sung whenever the Lord’s Supper is celebrated.

By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored,
We keep the memory adored,
And show the death of our dear Lord,
Until He come.

His body broken in our stead
Is here in this memorial bread,
And so our feeble love is fed
Until He come.

The streams of His dread agony,
His life blood shed for us, we see;
The wine shall tell the mystery
Until He come.

And thus that dark betrayal night
With the last advent we unite
By one blest chain of loving rite
Until He come.

Until the trump of God be heard,
Until the ancient graves be stirred,
And, with the great commanding word,
The Lord shall come.

O blessed hope! with this elate
Let not our hearts be desolate,
But, strong in faith, in patience wait
Until He come.

The last words of each stanza point us toward the hope we have in Christ. Were we not by Christ redeemed, His return would terrify us rather than cause us to rejoice. Were we not in Christ restored, His second coming would cause us to flee His presence rather than fall at His feet in worship. Rawson’s words may not be inspired in the same way Scripture is inspired, but they contain a weightiness sorely lacking in much of our contemporary worship.

The hymn preaches a Biblical anthropology, a sound Christology, an orthodox theology and a hope-filled eschatology. The Biblical anthropology of the hymn declares that by Christ alone we are redeemed from God’s wrath against us for our sin. In Christ alone we are restored to a state of righteousness, holiness and purity before God. The Christology of the hymn is found in such lyrics as His body broken in our stead/Is here our memorial bread and The streams of His dread agony/His life blood shed for us we see. When Christ broke the bread and blessed the cup He established the New Covenant. The very moment He said the words of institution, “This is my body,…This is my blood…,” the Old Covenant was fulfilled the culmination of which was His crucifixion the next day. Thus the wine shall tell the mystery that we are redeemed and restored by His active obedience (He lived a sinless life) as well as His passive obedience (He laid down His life as a voluntary sacrifice). An orthodox theology permeates the entire hymn summarized by the words of another songwriter/theologian, Michael Card, We in our helpless thought we were strong/He became helpless to show we were wrong/We in our foolishness thought we were wise/He played the fool to open our eyes.

The eschatology of the hymn is captured in the refrain, Until He come. Now there is much debate in Evangelical circles as to when Christ will return. And the hymn gives no indication as to what Rawson thought about the timing of Christ’s second coming. That said, I do not believe the Church is a parenthesis in the plan of God, nor do I believe that God has one plan for the Church and another for the present-day nation of Israel. Nor do I believe the Church must be removed from this world in order for God’s plan of salvation to be fulfilled. I do believe the Church, comprised of Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, is the Israel of God. I believe that all people, regardless of their ethnicity, race or gender are by Christ redeemed, in Christ restored. I believe that for anyone to have the hope of eternal life with Christ they must confess their hope in in His body broken in our stead; in His life blood shed for us.

Then and only then can any of us say with confidence — O blessed hope! with this elate/Let not our hearts be desolate/But, strong in faith, in patience wait/Until He come.

You think about that.

MM