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Sunday Hymn: Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun

This Isaac Watts (I love Isaac Watts for the record) hymn is based on the second half of Psalm 72, which includes the words (in verse 17),  “His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.” If you’re interested in how the language of the sun traveling (running successive journeys) jives with modern science, then read about solar orbit HERE. The ‘Solar Orbit’ post has received very little traffic, but it is actually one of my favorite posts, and I refer to it fairly regularly in conversation as an example of how scientific opinion is always changing.

This version is not great. It is a song that is meant to be sung by congregations more than individuals, but it’s the best I could find that included the lyrics.

Servant-Kings in the Sky

Writing of fourth century Greek philosopher/scholar Chalcidius, C.S. Lewis remarks,

He wholly rejects the anthropocentric cosmology of Genesis in which the heavenly bodies were made ‘to give light upon the earth.’ He holds it would be absurd to suppose that the ‘blessed and eternal’ things above the Moon were ordered for the sake of perishable things below (The Discarded Image, p. 51).

Chalcidius, in this respect, would fit in well with moderns, but not with the biblical account of God’s purpose in creation. We (the earth) are not the center to be sure. But consider the paradox:

The Sun is the center. The Sun and the Moon rule over darkness. And yet, in ruling, they exist to serve and give. It’s not a leap, then, to recognize that when Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world,’ he is declaring himself to be a Servant-King.

Those who cannot fathom that the heavens were ordered for the sake of perishable things see only kingship in the heavenly bodies. They cannot see the stars as servants. How much less then can they fathom the King of the universe, who came not ‘to be served, but to serve’ and give his life ‘as a ransom for many’? Walk in the light of the Servant-King.

  • Genesis 1:15 And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights- the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night- and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.