We continue to be inspired by Heber’s text today. It is safe
to say that songs of praise, begun by the seraphim and cherubim, have been
echoing throughout the millennia through the voice of the people.
Reginald Heber was born in 1783 to a wealthy, educated
family. By the age of seven, he was translating Latin Classics into English
verse. He entered Oxford at age 17 and won two awards for poetry during his
time at the University.
Heber became rector of his father’s church near Shrewsbury,
England. He remained there for sixteen years. While working at the little
church in Hodnet, Heber also served on staff of a literary journal.
He longed to improve the singing of his little congregation
at Hodnet. During his time there he began writing songs. Heber wrote over 57
hymns over the course of his career.
Most of his hymns, though, were not published until he
passed away in 1826. His widow published his impressive volume of hymns, which
are arranged according to the church year, Hymns Written and Adapted to the
Weekly Church Service of the Year. This, along with A Selection of Psalms and
Hymns for the Parish Church of Banbury brought his most eminent hymn into the
spotlight.
Holy, Holy, Holy was written for Trinity Sunday. Trinity
Sunday is one week after Pentecost Sunday. This is evidenced by “God in three
persons, blessed Trinity,” which is found in the first and last verses.
He is said to have been impressed by the holiness of God and
often wrote the words “Only Thou Art Holy.” His lyrics for Holy, Holy, Holy are
drawn from Revelation 4:8 where the “four living creatures sang day and night:
Holy, holy, holy.”
He was the Anglican bishop over all of British India from
1823-1826. He worked tirelessly to build a training school for local clergy and
traveled extensively around India preaching the gospel.
In 1826, Reginald Heber died in British India from a stroke,
leaving an impressive legacy within Christianity. He had served the people of
India for just three years. He had a deep fondness for India, and had been
appointed the Bishop of Calcutta in 1823. The primitive conditions, duties of
the position as Bishop and hot climate took a toll on his heath. He was only 43
when he died.
In 1861, a publisher asked John Bacchus Dykes to furnish him
with a tune for the words of Holy, Holy, Holy. John had a natural aptitude for
music; he graduated with a music master that same year. John had been a church
organist since he was ten years old and was co-founder and president of the
Cambridge University Musical Society.
John accepted the assignment and within thirty minutes he
wrote the tune "Nicea," which carried the praise of the Trinity to
Christians everywhere.
The year after he composed this famous tune, John was
appointed vicar of St. Oswald. This put him in charge of a parish. He was
thirty-nine and had already held several lesser church posts. John's people
came to love him.
He managed to write over 300 hymn tunes. These included some of our favorite hymns, such as "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee."
John died in 1876. He was just fifty-three years old. Those who loved and
admired him helped support his widow and children.
Liberty Bible Commentary: Two things may be noted regarding the time. First, He prayed very early, before other activities could distract or interfere. Second, the account comes the day after His encounter with many demons. An even more remarkable aspect of this prayer is the length Jesus took to assure privacy. He went into a solitary place.
Warren Wiersbe: Meeting with God is not an appointment on a clock but an appointment in your heart . . . make your time with Him a daily appointment.
Biblestudytools.com: The ministers of the Gospel begin the worship of God, and lead in it, who are the four living creatures; when the members of churches, who are the four and twenty elders, follow, and approach the divine Being in a most humble manner: and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever in Spirit, and in truth, with faith and fervency, in every part of duty they are directed to; and cast their crowns before the throne, signifying, that they received them, from Him that sits upon it, being by the grace of God what they are; and that they are unworthy to wear them in His presence, being but unprofitable servants in all they do; and hereby also acknowledging their subjection to Him as their King and Lawgiver.
Bibliaplus.org, Albert Barnes Bible Commentary: Let all that swell in the seas praise God. His reign is an occasion for universal gladness. All in the inanimate world; all among the irrational tribes of being; all in the air, in the waters, or on the earth, have occasion for praise, and would render praise if they could appreciate the wisdom and goodness present in their creation. Though unconscious, the lower creatures seem to celebrate His praise; but man only can give an intelligent utterance to thanksgiving.
Both Isaiah 6:1-4 and Revelation 4:2-11 share the words, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Isaiah received his vision in the eighth century B.C.; John the Apostle recorded his revelation in the first century C.E. [Common Era]; while Reginald Heber composed his hymn in 1826, in the nineteenth century.
The real message of this hymn is one of the basic doctrines of the church. Embodied in its four verses are the attributes of the ‘Trinity: “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.”
God alone is holy and yet He commands us to be holy. Jesus is the answer to this dilemma. Scripture teaches us that Jesus has brought us into God and made us partakers of His divine nature. He has made us one with God if we have received Jesus as our Savior!
By His Grace . . .
