Photos from hymnary.org
It is estimated that about 100 of Dr Bonar's hymns have continued to be part of hymnals and Christian worship around the world. They are often contemplative and reflective in style and demonstrate his 'intellectual and personal grasp of Divine truth'. Hymnary.org conclude a section of their bio of him with these words:
To sum up: Dr. Bonar's hymns satisfy the fastidious by their instinctive good taste; they mirror the life of Christ in the soul, partially, perhaps, but with vivid accuracy; they win the heart by their tone of tender sympathy...
For the purpose of this blog, the hymn I want to draw attentionto is one called 'All praise to Him' which has also been popularised by its more modern slight revision from Sovereign Grace music.
ALL PRAISE TO HIM WHO BUILT THE HILLS
This is a great song of heartfelt praise to God for so much that we can take for granted but should ponder deeply on - such things as the hills and streams, the stars, and the morning light. And this leads into the greatest cause for praise - Christ himself, God's son who gave his life for us to take us from darkness to light.
But then at almost the middle pivot point of the 6 stanza hymn, at the beginning of verse 4 he describes what it was that Jesus did to enable our transition from darkness to light. He reminds us that Jesus was the expression of God's love to us and died as the sacrifice in our place.
The key phrase to notice is that in being our sacrifice, what did this great preacher Horatius Bonar say that Jesus died for? What did Jesus bear for us in his sacrifice?
3 WORDS
Bonar uses three words, first 'woe', then 'sin' and then 'shame'. While rhythm and rhyming are important in a poem, the final thought or word in a poem or line of a poem, is also of great importance. It is the word of greatest weight and emphasis because it is the place when the poem is read that the reader tends to pause.
In the three words he uses, the final word is 'shame'. Jesus bore our 'woe' (that punishment due to us, and is a word which I would suggest also in Scripture has both a curse and shaming context), he bore our sin (to fall short of glory), and he bore our shame.
Horatius Bonar chose three words in regard to what Jesus bore for us on the cross - and all three have a shame rather than guilt/transgression context.
Once again we see that what theologians of the past understood the cross of Christ to accomplish was to bear our shame.
It is interesting to note that out of three words, he didn't choose or mention 'guilt' at all. Once again the word is conspicuous by its absence, demonstrating that it was not a concept that figured as either or primary or even secondary or even 'thirdly' of importance. That Christ 'primarily' bore our 'guilt' once again seems to be something that is a more recent emphasis in the church.
THE KEY ISSUE
For Bonar, shame was not an 'extra' issue that Jesus dealt with on the cross in addition to guilt, it was the main issue. So much was it the main issue that in using three different words to fill out the concept of what was accomplished on the cross, 'guilt' wasn't even mentioned.
It is wonderful that so many in recent decades are coming to recognise that God wants to help and heal from shame. But oftentimes the understanding is still that 'shame' is a psychological side issue for the context of further counseling. It is still often not recognised as figuring in the atonement that was accomplished at the cross. And it is hardly ever referred to as the main issue which Christ's atonement dealt with. Guilt is still often seen as the major object of what Christ bore for us on the cross, or some would say it was the only object of Christ's sacrifice. These ones might only concede to say that if shame was part of it, the shame aspect is secondary or within the guilt aspect.
Yet, here Bonar shows us that relegating shame to a lessor or insignificant place is something quite inconsistent with historical theology. It is a more 'modern' development. Yet it is a slide backwards not forwards in our theology. It not only fails to thus adequately address the deep issues of shame in people's hearts, but I would suggest, it neglects the core issue of the cross.
In his contemplative style, Bonar also reminds us that it is as we recognise that Jesus bore our shame that we not only come to rejoice in God's love and receive his truth and peace and holiness, but we are drawn to bow to the Lord, and are also stirred to praise and given the strength and joy to live as exiles on this earth.
His hymn begins on the note of praise, and ends on the note of praise, and pivots in the middle on the reason for the praise….- God's love in providing our shame bearer. That's the good news of the gospel…that Jesus came to earth at that first Christmas, to live holy in human flesh, and then to bear our shame, and thus set us free from the weight of our sin and release us from the curse of woe due to us.
In Christ we have blessing of shame-removal, and our hearts being filled with God's love and joy, and all to his praise!
So below are the words of the song…and links to the traditional versions tunes are here and here, and a link to my favourite rendition of the more recent revised version is here
1 All praise to Him Who built the hills;
All praise to Him the streams Who fills
All praise to Him Who lights each star
That sparkles in the sky afar.
2 All praise to Him Who wakes the morn,
And bids it glow with beams new-born;
Who draws the shadows of the night,
Like curtains, o'er our wearied sight.
3 All praise to Him Whose love hath given,
In Christ His Son, the life of heaven;
Who gives us, for our darkness, light,
And turns to day our deepest night
4 All praise to Him in love Who came,
To bear our woe, and sin, and shame;
Who lived to die, Who died to rise,
The all-prevailing the sacrifice
To bear our woe, and sin, and shame;
Who lived to die, Who died to rise,
The all-prevailing the sacrifice
5 All praise to Him Who sheds abroad
Within our hearts the love of God:
The Spirit of all truth and peace,
The fount of joy and holiness.
6 To Father, Son, and Spirit now
Our hands we lift, our knees we bow:
To Thee, blest Trinity, we raise
E'en here, in exile, songs of praise.
Our hands we lift, our knees we bow:
To Thee, blest Trinity, we raise
E'en here, in exile, songs of praise.
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