December 22: Behold a Righteous King Shall Reign
♫ Music:
Day 20 - Friday, December 22
Title: BEHOLD A RIGHTEOUS KING SHALL REIGN
Scripture #1: Isaiah 22:20–24a (NKJV)
Then it shall be in that day, that I will call My servant Eliakim; I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house.
Scripture #2: Isaiah 32:1 (NKJV)
Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.
Poetry & Poet:
“Christmas Day”
by John Keble
What sudden blaze of song
Spreads o'er th' expanse of Heaven?
In waves of light it thrills along,
Th' angelic signal given
"Glory to God!" from yonder central fire
Flows out the echoing lay beyond the starry choir;
Like circles widening round
Upon a clear blue river,
Orb after orb, the wondrous sound
Is echoed on for ever:
"Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,
And love towards men of love--salvation and release."
Yet stay, before thou dare
To join that festal throng;
Listen and mark what gentle air
First stirred the tide of song;
'Tis not, "the Saviour born in David's home,
To Whom for power and health obedient worlds should come:"
'Tis not, "the Christ the Lord:"
With fixed adoring look
The choir of Angels caught the word,
Nor yet their silence broke:
But when they heard the sign where Christ should be,
In sudden light they shone and heavenly harmony.
Wrapped in His swaddling bands,
And in His manger laid,
The Hope and Glory of all lands
Is come to the world's aid:
No peaceful home upon his cradle smiled,
Guests rudely went and came, where slept the royal Child.
But where Thou dwellest, Lord,
No other thought should be,
Once duly welcomed and adored,
How should I part with Thee?
Bethlehem must lose Thee soon, but Thou wilt grace
The single heart to be Thy sure abiding-place.
Thee, on the bosom laid
Of a pure virgin mind,
In quiet ever, and in shade,
Shepherd and sage may find;
They, who have bowed untaught to Nature's sway,
And they, who follow Truth along her star-paved way.
The pastoral spirits first
Approach Thee, Babe divine,
For they in lowly thoughts are nursed,
Meet for Thy lowly shrine:
Sooner than they should miss where Thou dost dwell,
Angela from Heaven will stoop to guide them to
Thy cell.
Still, as the day comes round
For Thee to be revealed,
By wakeful shepherds Thou art found,
Abiding in the field.
All through the wintry heaven and chill night air,
In music and in light Thou dawnest on their prayer.
O faint not ye for fear
What though your wandering sheep,
Reckless of what they see and hear,
Lie lost in wilful sleep?
High Heaven in mercy to your sad annoy
Still greets you with glad tidings of immortal joy.
Think on th' eternal home,
The Saviour left for you;
Think on the Lord most holy, come
To dwell with hearts untrue:
So shall ye tread untired His pastoral ways,
And in the darkness sing your carol of high praise.
BEHOLD A RIGHTEOUS KING SHALL REIGN
Jesus Christ is the Pantocrator, the ruler of the universe, of all creation. He will rule in righteousness and with justice. Not only the earth, but all creation sits, as it were, on his left knee, supported by his left hand, and blessed by his right—supported and blessed with the hands that still bear the scars of his crucifixion.
It is so easy to think of justice not in this way, not in the manner of support and blessing, not in the manner of peace and prosperity, but to think of it with a different, harsher light. It is so easy, so natural, to think of God, in his justice, punishing sin. God upholding the law against us. God judging the nations. To think of rejections, prohibitions, and denials. Thou shalt not.
And of course this is not false. As Anselm of Canterbury reminds us, a God who does not uphold his will against rebels, against the disobedient, is one who does not uphold the cause of the weak, the downtrodden, the victims—one who does not uphold his own cause and will. One for whom it is a matter of no consequence whether his will is done or not, and therefore one who is not just to himself, does not give himself what he is due.
Indeed. But this is not justice in its natural habitat. Justice is first and foremost a matter of clothing, strength, and responsibility, of houses and households, of security and glory, and therefore of stability and blessing. Sin and evil will someday be no more…but God’s justice will abide, will be the never-ending source of stability, pattern, and responsibility within which all of the new creation will flourish. For Christ will reign in righteousness, and his princes will rule with justice. And all will be well.
What do we hope for? To be sure, we hope for good and just rulers. We hope for peace on earth, whether in Northern Iraq, Israel, and Palestine, or in our neighborhoods. For peace and justice are good things—great goods. And we can only hope for the true king of righteousness by longing for that which characterizes him, for righteousness and justice. Personal salvation from our sin, indeed (and God be praised!)—but the vision of Scripture includes such a personal grace within a larger, more comprehensive picture: a picture of peoples, of nations, of creation as a whole sitting under the good judgment and righteous rule of the same One who made the heavens and the earth in the first place of Jesus Christ the ruler of all creation.
Prayer
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we ache—and whole peoples ache. The world around us is a history of wrongs upon wrongs, in response to yet more wrongs, stored up in generational bitterness and resentment. We either long for peace, or shudder at the knowledge of how vulnerable the relative peace we have at the moment truly is. Arise! Shine! Come! Come soon. Bring your justice, your righteousness, your judgment, and bless us to walk in your ways.
Amen
Dr. Adam Johnson
Associate Professor of Theology
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
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 Art:
Christ the Judge (closeup and in situ)
Fra Angelico
1447
Fresco
Chapel of San Brizio
Orvieto Cathedral
Duomo, Orvieto, Italy
In the summer of 1447, Fra Angelico, assisted by Benozzo Gozzoli and several other minor artists, painted a fresco of the prophets in one of the triangular ceiling vaults and Christ the Judge in another ceiling vault in the Chapel of San Brizio, a large Gothic construction built around 1408 in the Orvieto Cathedral. In the center of the quadrant above the altar, Christ proffers the globe of the universe as he raises his right hand to summon the dead from their graves. Seated upon banks of clouds against a golden background, he radiates a gilded aureole of light, the scintillating rays of which illuminate the faces and garments of the seraphim surrounding him.
https://www.wga.hu/html_m/a/angelico/14/3brisio.html
About the Artist:
Guido di Pietro (1395–1455), known as Fra Angelico, was one of the great masters of the early Italian Renaissance. Born in the countryside of Florence, Fra Angelico (angelic friar) was already an established artist when he joined the Dominican order. Though he received commissions for important altarpieces from his own monastery, San Domenico in Fiesole, he was sought out by other Dominicans in Florence, Cortona, Perugia, and other religious institutions as far away as Orvieto and Rome. Known for his pious treatment of biblical subjects, he portrayed his subjects with unprecedented psychological understanding and a compelling realism. English writer and critic William Michael Rossetti wrote of the friar, “Fra Angelico led the devout and ascetic life of a Dominican friar, and never rose above that rank; he followed the dictates of the order in caring for the poor; he was always good-humored. All of his many paintings were of divine subjects, and it seems that he never altered or retouched them, perhaps from a religious conviction that, because his paintings were divinely inspired, they should retain their original form. He was wont to say that he who illustrates the acts of Christ should be with Christ. It is averred that he never handled a brush without fervent prayer and he wept when he painted a Crucifixion. The Last Judgment and the Annunciation were two of the subjects he most frequently treated.” Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982. He is known as the patron saint of artists.
About the Music:
“Behold, a King Shall Reign” from the album Emmanuel: A Musical Celebration of the Life of Christ
Lyrics:
Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness.
My servant, My chosen One,
In whom, My soul delights.
I have put My spirit upon Him,
And He shall bring forth justice
In faithfulness––to all the earth.
Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness.
My Servant, My chosen One,
In whom My soul delights.
Sayeth the Lord, Sayeth the Lord.
I will raise up a righteous Branch,
A King to wisely reign.
He'll proclaim peace to the nations,
And will do what's just and right.
He is robed in greatness and splendor,
His garments stained in crimson.
Redemption comes––on David's throne.
Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness.
My Servant, My chosen One,
In whom My soul delights.
Sayeth the Lord, Sayeth the Lord. (2x)
Behold, behold, behold,
Sayeth the Lord, Sayeth the Lord.
About the Composers/Performers:
Sandy Patty and BeBe Winans
Sandra Faye "Sandi" Patty (b. 1956) is an American Christian music singer, known for her wide soprano vocal range and expressive flexibility. Patty was born into a family of musicians— her father was a minister of music and her mother served as the church pianist. After graduating from high school in San Diego, she attended San Diego State University and Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, where she studied voice and graduated with an emphasis in conducting. Her reputation as a performer and studio singer grew during the late 1970s, and it was during this time that she initiated contact with legendary Christian musician Bill Gaither. In 1990, Patty's inspirational single release "I'll Give You Peace" was released on her album entitled Another Time...Another Place. At the peak of her career, Patty's concerts were so heavily attended that she performed in often sold-out mainstream arenas and concert halls across the United States. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she averaged over two hundred concerts a year.
https://www.sandipatty.com/
Benjamin "BeBe" Winans (b. 1962) is an American gospel and R & B singer and radio host. He is a member of the noted Winans family, most members of which are also gospel artists. Winans has released nine albums—seven with his sister CeCe as BeBe & CeCe Winans and one with three Winans brothers. Winans hosts his own nationally syndicated radio program, The BeBe Winans Radio Show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeBe_Winans
About the Poetry and Poet:
John Keble (1792–1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet. He and his brother Thomas were educated at home by their father until each went to Oxford. While still at Oxford, he was ordained in 1816, becoming a curate of St. Michael and St. Martin's Church, Eastleach Martin, in Gloucestershire while still residing at Oxford. Upon the death of his mother in 1823, he left Oxford and returned to live with his father and two surviving sisters at Fairford. Meantime, he had been writing The Christian Year, a book of poems for the Sundays and feast days of the church year. Victorian scholar Michael Wheeler calls The Christian Year simply "the most popular volume of verse in the nineteenth century.” Despite its widespread appeal among Victorian readers, the popularity of Keble's The Christian Year faded in the twentieth century despite the familiarity of certain well-known hymns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keble
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Adam Johnson
Associate Professor of Theology
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
Adam Johnson is a theologian and a professor for the Torrey Honors College who focuses on the doctrine of the atonement, exploring the many ways in which the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ affect the reconciliation of all things to God. His most recent book is The Reconciling Wisdom of God: Reframing the Doctrine of the Atonement. He and his wife, Katrina, have been married nineteen years and have three sons. They love camping and exploring America’s national parks.