Exegeting the Hymns #54 - Here I Am To Worship

Here I Am to Worship
w/m - Mark Hayes, Tim Hughes 

Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

King of all days
Oh so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross

This one has been around forever (actually since 2001) and we are adding it to our repertoire this month once again (after some time off).   

Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness. I can’t help but think of Philippians 2 and the humility of Christ, the King of Kings, coming to earth. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Opened my eyes, let me see beauty that made this heart adore You. Blind. That is how we come into this world, spiritually blind. Just as He opened the eyes of the blind man in John 9, He opens our eyes so that we can see His beauty, making our heart adore Him. We see and we run to Him as our heavenly Father. That’s the great work of regeneration. Hope of a life spent with You. This hope is not a hope like the world has, a wish or a mere intention. Our hope is a steadfast assurance because the object of our hope is sovereign.

Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that You're my God. When we view the work of Jesus Christ in His life, death, and resurrection, our only response is to be in awe and praise, and thank and honor Him. We worship His greatness, we bow down to His Holiness, and we dedicate our lives to Him as our God. You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me. The chorus here turns to the writer’s/worshiper's personal view of God in light of His love and mercy. It gives God personal praise for Who He is and what He has done.

King of all days, oh so highly exalted, glorious in heaven above. A dozen times, we are reminded in scripture that Jesus, when He was done His work on earth was seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Colossians 3:1 says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” We also return to Philippians 2 where Jesus is given the name above all other names, LORD. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  

Humbly You came to the earth You created. All for love's sake became poor. Jesus humbled Himself and became the Lamb slain in our place. He did it because of His love, not a love of desperation or neediness, but a love of decision, a love that would bring glory to the Triune God.

I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross. I must admit, this bridge did confuse me at first. My initial reaction was, “I do know how much it cost… it cost the life of Jesus”. But I think the word “Know” here means more of a full comprehension. I’ll never be able to fully comprehend, to wrap my mind around, Jesus dying in my place. I know it is to bring Himself glory, and to have a called out people who will praise Him for eternity… but why me? That is what I can’t comprehend. All I can do is bow down and worship.

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