Exegeting the Hymns 19 - Come People of the Risen King

Come People of the Risen King
w/m Keith & Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend
Youtube Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJsizuCKq9k

Come, people of the Risen King
Who delight to bring Him praise
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the Morning Star of grace
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in

Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! 
One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!

Come, those whose joy is morning sun
And those weeping through the night
Come, those who tell of battles won
And those struggling in the fight
For His perfect love will never change
And His mercies never cease
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace

Come, young and old from every land 
Men and women of the faith
Come, those with full or empty hands 
Find the riches of His grace
Over all the world, His people sing 
Shore to shore we hear them call
The Truth that cries through every age
Our God is all in all

We have sung this song a half-dozen times at MABC and it is a great call to worship.  It is a call to everyone of all ages, all walks of life, in every point of their walk with Christ.  While we all are as diverse as our fingerprints, we all, as true believers in Christ, are subjects of the King of kings.  So this song sounds the trumpet and rings the bell to all for the worship of Jesus Christ.

Come, people of the Risen King who delight to bring Him praise.  This is not just a call to all who have been saved, but specifically to those who delight in giving praise to the Lord.  Do we jump out of bed on Sunday mornings, giving enough time so that we are not rushed nor late to the service?  Are we excited for that countdown clock on the screen to reach 0 so we can join our voices with others in the body in lifting up God-honoring lyrics that tell of the works and attributes of our Heavenly Father?  Do we delight to bring Him praise?  When we focus on Him, and not ourselves, how can we do otherwise?  

Come all and tune your hearts to sing to the Morning Star of grace.  In Revelation 22:16, Jesus refers to Himself as the Morningstar.  He is our audience of One.  He is the one we sing to.  Some of us warm up our voices before leading worship, but we all should be warming up our hearts to sing.  Our thoughts should not be on the screen, lights, band, volume, or anything else that we can let distract our minds.  Focus on Christ, and Christ alone.  From the shifting shadows of the earth we will lift our eyes to Him, where steady arms of mercy reach to gather children in.  Each week, our circumstances change, so one week, we may come with a heavy, burdened heart, and the next be on the mountain top.  Although our world may change, praise God, His arms of mercy never do.

Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!  Rejoicing is a command.  How can we rejoice when our world falls apart?  Clearly we can because it is commanded.  The key is looking to Christ, not to our circumstances.  Christ is sovereign and never changes!

Come, those whose joy is morning sun and those weeping through the night.  Come, those who tell of battles won and those struggling in the fight.  I am always aware that in our MABC congregation or in any audience for our concerts, there will be a great variety of situations souls are coming from.  That is why I don’t start the service with “How y’all doing today!” because some may honestly answer “terrible”.  I try to focus on Christ, not our “feelings” because Christ meets us all right where we are with His love and mercy for every situation…as the song continues, “For His perfect love will never change and His mercies never cease, but follow us through all our days with the certain hope of peace”.

Come, young and old from every land, men and women of the faith.  Come, those with full or empty hands find the riches of His grace.  What great wordplay focusing on the true riches found in God’s grace!  Over all the world, His people sing.  Shore to shore we hear them call.  The Truth that cries through every age, our God is all in all.  It’s awesome to think that every Sunday, there are people from all over the globe who are, in their own way and own style, lifting up the same Jesus that we are.  No matter where you are, somewhere, someone is praising our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for what He’s done…and each Sunday morning, we get to be that someone!

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