March 24th, 2008
Crown Him!
“The whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”
Luke 19:37b-38
This “whole crowd of disciples,” a living, breathing, joyful throng of people, gathered together as Jesus entered Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago. Their goal was to praise God, and their actions did not go unnoticed. The Pharisees immediately told Jesus to “shush” them, but Jesus replied with his famous saying, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Can you picture it? A group of people who love Jesus so much that their joy overflows and they have to praise him. I had a glimpse of that yesterday.
Our church has a small sanctuary, but it was packed this Easter Sunday. After the choir sang a beautiful cantata ending with a regal repetition of “Jesus Christ is Lord,” the entire church stood up to sing the first and last verses of “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” As we sang verse four, I looked out at everyone robustly singing, “O that with yonder sacred throng We at His feet may fall! We’ll join the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all; We’ll join the everlasting song, And crown Him Lord of all!”
I cannot describe the feeling I had at that moment. It was a mixture of godly pride at being one of this group so enthusiastically praising our God and King and anticipation for the future when we will be with thousands and thousands of others falling at his feet and crowning Jesus Lord of all. An amazing joy filled me at seeing a glimpse of what heaven will be like and knowing that these people here, these who I serve with, and worship with, are part of that everlasting throng. And I know we were not the only church joyfully amazed at God yesterday.
I pray that we will continue praising him. I pray that that amazement of Jesus will continue. I pray that we will each fall at his feet, acknowledging him as King and anticipating the day when we will be part of an eternal throng. I pray that while living our lives here on earth we will keep our focus not on ourselves, but on our King who reigns eternally. If we live lives praising God, you can be sure it won’t go unnoticed.