December 26: God's Triumph: King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Day 28 - Saturday, December 26
Title: GOD’S TRIUMPH: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
Scripture: Revelation 19:6; 11:15; 19:16
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of this world is become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings, And Lord of Lords.
Poetry:
Eleven Addresses to the Lord
by John Berryman
A Prayer for the Self
Who am I worthless that You spent such pains
and take may pains again?
I do not understand; but I believe.
Jonquils respond with wit to the teasing breeze.
Induct me down my secrets. Stiffen this heart
to stand their horrifying cries, O cushion
the first the second shocks, will to a halt
in mid-air there demons who would be at me.
May fade before, sweet morning on sweet morning,
I wake my dreams, my fan-mail go astray,
and do me little goods I have not thought of,
ingenious & beneficial Father.
Ease in their passing my beloved friends,
all others too I have cared for in a travelling life,
anyone anywhere indeed. Lift up
sober toward truth a scared self-estimate.
GOD’S TRIUMPH: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
God is good and God is great, and both of these things are true to our endless comfort.
Because He is good, we can trust Him: none of His plans and ways are evil.
Because He is great, we can trust Him: all the good plans He has, He can do.
No one else has the ability to do all the good he wants to.
And no one else even has the will.
God is good and God is great: He is able to both will and do.
Today’s music and art and scripture all aim in one direction: in praise to this good and great God. In the music, Hallelujah! follows Hallelujah! in a spiral of glory that echoes the song that the saints in light forever sing before this good and great God. In the art, a spiral of angels and saints ring round the height of a church dome—as close to a symbol of the heavens as one of our buildings can come—and there is no doubt who is at the center of their affections, their praise, their love.
It is Christ, hand held up in blessing and judgment.
Christ, who suffered and died and rose again.
Who ascended, and who will return to His people in glory and judgment.
God is good and God is great, and we see neither of these things so clearly as we see them in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Our Lord.
Those words—that truth—is also to our endless comfort.
He is our Lord: we are His people. In the march of history—this march that is sometimes so dreary and hopeless and exhausting—we are the ones who are marching towards a destination.
And that destination is not just a place, it is a Person.
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Today is the day after Christmas, which makes it St. Stephen’s Day, the day when the church has long remembered and commemorated the death of the first martyr.
Stephen saw—in truth and light more bright and real than even Handel’s glorious notes can conjure—the Person who waited for him when he finished his faithful journey.
Stephen, that good and faithful servant, saw his Lord: Christ our brother, great and good, Son of the most high God.
Stephen did not lose hope: he saw his Hope. And a moment later, he obtained all that hope seeks. The One we hope for—and sing to, and march towards—was and is faithful and true, and He is Love Himself.
These three remain: hope and faith and love. But the greatest of these is Love.
Dear friends, do not lose hope. Though the road is long and dreary and exhausting, sing your Hallelujah! What we cannot will, what we cannot do, the One who loves us can. Trust Him, when you cannot even trust yourself.
Faith finds all it seeks. Look to Christ, trust in His mercy, and sing!
The Lord is good, and His mercy endures forever. Amen. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Prayer:
O Lord God, you are great and good. Have mercy on us, that we may lift up our hearts in hope as we await the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We bless and praise you. Hallelujah!
Amen.
Jessica Snell
Biola Class of 2003
Editor of Let Us Keep the Feast: Living the Church Year at Home
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Video
He Shall Reign Forever
CCCA Video
https://vimeo.com/155409945
The other worldly qualities of the majestic “Hallelujah Chorus,” one of the greatest works of art in the canon of western music, is coupled here with paintings of “Christ the Pantocrator.” For centuries it has been the practice in Eastern Orthodox churches and cathedrals throughout the world to place large images of Christ in the domes of cathedrals, which soar high above the earthly spaces occupied by the congregation. This practice indicates that the victorious Christ is indeed the center of all things. The video ends with images of colossal statues of Christ found in various international locals, towering above metropolises and visually proclaiming, “He shall reign forever and ever!”
About the Music
Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: 21. Hallelujah Chorus
Lyrics
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!
For the lord God omnipotent reigneth!
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world;
is become
the kingdom of our Lord,
and of His Christ,
and of His Christ.
And He shall reign for ever and ever!
King of kings, forever and ever, hallelujah, hallelujah,
and Lord of lords, forever and ever, hallelujah, hallelujah!
And he shall reign forever and ever!
King of kings, forever and ever,
and Lord of lords, hallelujah, hallelujah,
And He shall reign forever and ever.
Forever and ever, and ever and ever,
King of kings and lord of lords!
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah!
About the Poet:
John Berryman (1914-1972) was an American scholar and professor as well as a poet. Berryman is best-known for The Dream Songs (1969), an intensely personal sequence of 385 poems for which he received both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. Through these poems he invented a style and form able to accommodate a vast range of material while expressing his turbulent emotions. Berryman suffered a great loss at 12 when his father shot himself outside the boy’s window. This event haunted him throughout his life and recurred as a subject in his poetry. Berryman graduated from Columbia University in 1936, then went to study at Cambridge University for two years on a scholarship. He published his first important book of poetry, The Dispossessed, in 1948. In 1955, after teaching stints at Harvard and Princeton, Berryman took a position at the University of Minnesota, where he remained until his death. The frankness of Berryman’s work influenced his friend Robert Lowell and other Confessional poets like Anne Sexton. The poet’s lifelong struggles with alcoholism and depression ended in 1972, when he jumped off a Minneapolis bridge in the dead of winter.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-berryman
About the Devotion Author:
Jessica Snell
Biola Class of 2003
Editor of Let Us Keep the Feast: Living the Church Year at Home
Jessica Snell is a writer who graduated from Biola University and the Torrey Honors College in 2003. She’s the editor of Let Us Keep the Feast, a book about celebrating the Christian church year at home. Her work has appeared in Touchstone Magazine, Christ in Pop Culture, Daily Science Fiction, and many more. She and her husband live in sunny Southern California with their four children.