April 22: The Universality of Messiah's Eternal Reign
♫ Music:
Day 52 - Friday, April 22
Title: THE UNIVERSALITY OF MESSIAH’S ETERNAL REIGN
Scripture: Psalm 72:1-19; Psalm 93
Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice.
The mountains will bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will break in pieces the oppressor.
They shall fear You
As long as the sun and moon endure,
Throughout all generations.
He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing,
Like showers that water the earth.
In His days the righteous shall flourish,
And abundance of peace,
Until the moon is no more.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
And His enemies will lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
Will bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba
Will offer gifts.
Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
For He will deliver the needy when he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy.
He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
And precious shall be their blood in His sight.
And He shall live;
And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him;
Prayer also will be made for Him continually,
And daily He shall be praised.
There will be an abundance of grain in the earth,
On the top of the mountains;
Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon;
And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And men shall be blessed in Him;
All nations shall call Him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who only does wondrous things!
And blessed be His glorious name forever!
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.
Your testimonies are very sure;
Holiness adorns Your house,
O Lord, forever.
Poetry:
We had thought we were beggars…
by Anna Akhmatova
(translated by Robert Chandler)
We had thought we were beggars,
with nothing at all,
but as loss followed loss
and each day
became a day of memorial,
we began to make songs
about the Lord’s generosity
and our bygone wealth.
JESUS IS KING OF ALL
Akhmatova’s poem, “We had thought we were beggars,” was written in 1915, soon after Russia entered WWI. That first line became shorthand for future Russians talking about worsening conditions in their lives. “We had thought we were beggars then,” but now there’s war or revolution or purges or political crackdowns or economic hardship. And how many others around the world could use the same line? First there’s a volcano but now there’s a pandemic. First there’s a hurricane, but now there’s an earthquake. First there’s a dictator, but now there are gangs and militias. First there’s a coup, but now there’s a civil war. And on and on.
A recently evacuated Afghan wrote: “Before the Taliban, it was not great…but [now] Christians are living in fear, in secret, totally underground.” That quote is from the January 19, 2022, issue of Christianity Today which goes on to state that 1 in 7 Christians worldwide live in nations with high levels of persecution (especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America). Laura Stevenson’s art puts this in visual form—blood-red crosses lie scattered on the floor. How we long for the day when, “[The Lord] will spare the poor and needy, will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight,” as today’s psalm says. Thankfully, we know that this day will come. Jesus is King!
Psalm 72 and today’s musical versions of the psalm exuberantly describe his rule. “There is a king…his coming lifts the eyes of the poor, for all the powers of their oppressors will hurt them no more.” “Blessings abound where'er he reigns: the prisoners leap to lose their chains, the weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest.”
I’m sure the curators of art for this calendar project wish they could have featured multiple works of art today. Illustrating Psalm 72 we might have paintings of mountains, ocean coasts, gentle rain on grassy hillsides, fields of ripe grain, and orchards laden with fruit. There would be portraits of people from every nation—blue-turbaned Tuareg from the Sahara, fur-robed Inuit from the Arctic, jean-clad youth from cities around the world, and everyone in between. We would watch video of kings, queens, emperors, sultans, nawabs, emirs, presidents, chancellors, premiers, and prime ministers all bowing before the throne of Jesus with the most precious gifts their cultures can offer. There would be photographs from the newest space telescope revealing secrets of the sun and astounding moons from distant planets. Illustrating Psalm 93 we might have a sculpture of an immense throne rising above the crashing waves of the sea. We need all of that art and more to help us understand the coming reality of God’s kingdom, when our natural, political, and cultural world will be transformed. Our world today is filled with tyranny, violence, and need, but that is temporary. Ps 72:17 says, “All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.” As the ambassadors of Jesus our King, let’s be about that blessing right now—working for justice, peace, and abundance for all nations; working to overcome oppression, violence, and poverty in all neighborhoods; and speaking of the reason we do so—to honor our King.
Prayer
Our Lord and King, we rise today to bring you our highest honors. We long for the day when you will reign completely. We pray for world leaders to act in accordance with your righteousness. We pray for those who are suffering. We pray that what we do today would give everyone we interact with a taste of your kingdom, so that they too will hunger for it and turn to you to be satisfied. Rule in our hearts, no matter what we are going through, we pray.
Dr. Kitty B.Purgason
Professor Emerita
Department of Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Cook School of Intercultural Studies
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 Artwork:
Beyond the Structure
Matter + Spirit Exhibition
Laura Stevenson
2019
Wood, acrylic light diffusers,
LED lights, power supply, aluminum
108 x 34.5 x 6.75 in.
Beyond the Structure by artist Laura Stevenson is the result of a gathering of North American art professors with their Chinese counterparts in June 2018 in China. Sponsored by the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, artists considered issues of art, contemporary society, spirituality, and their role as culture makers, critics, and seers. The resulting artworks created during this time were exhibited in Matter + Spirit which presents a remarkable body of art that reflects the perennial tensions between the material and the spiritual in human life and in society. Stevenson intends her work to be a comment on the church in China which is projected to have the largest population of Christians in the world by 2030. The sculptural piece shows how the church isn't defined by its walls as the Holy Spirit and message of the Gospel can’t be confined by anything or anyone including the state or persecution.
About the Artist:
Laura Stevenson is an artist and Assistant Professor of Art at Taylor University. She holds a M.F.A. in Painting from the University of New Hampshire and B.A. degree in Studio Art from Taylor. Stevenson has exhibited work throughout the United States and internationally in New Delhi, India. In 2018, Stevenson was accepted by the Nagel Institute at Calvin University to participate in a two-week art fellowship in China. Following the seminar, artists produced work that is a part of a traveling group exhibition called Matter and Spirit that is continuing to travel throughout the US for the next two years. Beyond the Structure is included as a part of this traveling exhibition. Stevenson works in a variety of mediums ranging from painting, printmaking, sculpture, and interactive installations. Her work shows interest in perception and discovering more about what may often appear as unseen in cultures, the news, and our daily lives. As Stevenson works, she thinks about her choice to engage or disengage with people she is surrounded by, both familiar faces and strangers. She asks questions about what it could look like to move toward common ground with one another despite perceived differences in our increasingly polarized society.
You can see her work at www.laurastevensonstudio.
“Long Live The King (Psalm 72)” from The Psalm Library
Lyrics #1:
There is a king who rides of the heavens
His coming lifts the eyes of the poor
For all the powers of their oppressor
Can hurt them no more
He is a king like no one before him
His justice fall like rain on the hills
And all who live their lives with that hunger
Will have their fill
Long live the king
Forever he shall reign
Let the heavens ring with his praise
Long live the king
The sun and moon will fade
His kingdom never passing away
There is a righteous fire in his footsteps
An everlasting peace in his wake
He is the king for ocean to ocean
And age to age
Long live the king
Forever he shall reign
Let the heavens ring with his praise
Long live the king
The sun and moon will fade
His kingdom never passing away
Humbled low in a manger
Lifted high on a tree
Rose victorious savior
Jesus Christ our king
Humbled low in a manger
Lifted high on a tree
Rose victorious savior
Jesus Christ our king
Long live the king
Forever he shall reign
Let the heavens ring with his praise
About the Composers:
Kip Fox and Dr. Paul Elliot
The Psalm Library, a project of the Center for Worship Leadership (CWL), at Concordia University Irvine (CUI), California, is bringing together gifted co-writers who have musical and theological depth to create contemporary music grounded in the rich doctrinal history of the Lutheran church. The first song of the project was “Long Live The King (Psalm 72 ),” a collaboration between singer/songwriter Kip Fox and CUI theologian Dr. Paul Elliot. Fox, an alumnus of Concordia and a worship leader at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Mesa, Arizona, serves as the director of the CWL’s Songwriter Initiative, which connects and supports Lutheran songwriters across the country. Fox says that in working with Dr. Elliott, his “strong exegetical work on every aspect of Psalm 72 guided me through the main themes.” The thing that stood out to both men is the song’s joyous, celebratory nature in describing the reign of King Solomon and, more distantly, the reign of Jesus Christ. Verse 15 focuses the theme with the words, “long may he live.” “The whole theme points to the messianic nature of the psalm,” Fox says. He tweaked “long may he live” to “long live the king,” which is “more natural to our modern vernacular and sang better than the original line,” he says.
https://www.cui.edu/academicprograms/christcollege/center-for-worship-leadership
Kip Fox has been in the music ministry for over twenty years. As a nationally recognized songwriter and worship leader, he has traveled the country extensively, teaching his songs and leading worship for congregations and gatherings of every shape and size. Fox has had several artists record his songs. His greatest joy is to write and teach new songs that encourage people to see the grace of God in new ways. He currently serves as a worship leader at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Mesa, Arizona, and as director of the Songwriter Initiative for the Center for Worship Leadership at Concordia University in Irvine, California. Kip and his wife, Michelle, reside in Scottsdale, Arizona.
http://kipfox.com/
Dr. Paul Elliott received his Ph.D. and M.Phil. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is the lead professor of Hebrew for Concordia University Irvine's Christ College. Dr. Elliott contributed the paper “The Israel of God in the Sermon: Connecting Old Testament Texts to New Testament People” in the publication Feasting in a Famine of the Word in 2016 and is preparing a commentary on the prophet Habakkuk. https://www.cui.edu/academicprograms/undergraduate/majors/theology/faculty
About the Music #2:
“Jesus Shall Reign” from the album Jesus Shall Reign
Lyrics #2:
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does its successive journeys run
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till sun shall rise and set no more
Blessings abound where’er He reigns
The pris’ner leaps to lose his chains
The weary find eternal rest
And all the sons of want are blessed
[Chorus]
To our King be highest praise
Rising through eternal days
Just and faithful He shall reign:
Jesus shall reign!
People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His name
[Chorus]
Let every creature rise and bring
Blessing and honor to our King
Angels descend with songs again
And earth repeat the loud amen!
About the Performers #2:
Keith and Kristyn Getty occupy a unique place in the world of contemporary Christian music today as preeminent modern hymn writers. In reinventing the traditional hymn form, they have created a distinguished catalog of songs teaching Christian doctrine and crossing genres by connecting the world of traditional and classical composition with contemporary and globally accessible melodies. These modern hymns are rooted in the traditions of Celtic and English hymnody handed down to the North Ireland–born couple and their longtime writing partner, Stuart Townend. Their best-known hymn, “In Christ Alone” (penned by Keith and Stuart and recorded by Keith and Kristyn), echoes this heritage and has been voted one of the best-loved hymns of all time in the UK. Kristyn Getty has made alterations to “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” originally a sixth-century Latin carol, with the aim of turning the song into a missional prayer that emphasizes the return of Christ.
https://www.gettymusic.com/
About the Composer #2:
Original words by Isaac Watts (1719) and original music by John Hatt (1793).
New words and music by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Ed Cash
Edmond Martin Cash (b. 1971) is a producer, songwriter, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. He was named the producer of the year at the Gospel Music Awards for four consecutive years (2004–2007) and gained recognition for his work with Christian singer Chris Tomlin. In addition to several Grammy nominations and countless BMI Citations of Achievement, Cash has produced or written with artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Colin Bernard, Amy Grant, David Crowder Band, Kari Jobe, Dave Barnes, Caedmon's Call, Casting Crowns, and Annette Lee. He is a member of the band We the Kingdom. Cash gained further recognition as a songwriter for having co-written and produced "How Great Is Our God," which earned him five Dove awards. Cash is also a recognized musician with credit for acoustic and electric guitar and backing vocals; album credits for playing banjo, mandolin, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer organ, harmonica, Rhodes, programming, synthesizer, piano, drums, bass guitar, percussion; and for both string and choir arrangements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Cash
http://edcash.com/
https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/08/14/we-the-kingdom-christian-music-hot-new-band-family-affair/3313379001/
About the Poet:
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) was one of the most significant Russian poets of the twentieth century. Akhmatova's work ranges from short lyric poems to intricately structured cycles, such as Requiem, her tragic masterpiece about the Stalinist Terror, a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union, which occurred from 1936 to 1938. Primary sources of information about Akhmatova's life are relatively scarce since war, revolution, and a totalitarian regime destroyed most of the written records. For long periods she was in official disfavor and many of those who were close to her died in the aftermath of the revolution, including her first husband, Nikolay Gumilyov, her son Lev Gumilyov, and her common-law husband, Nikolay Punin. Between 1935 and 1940, Akhmatova composed, worked, and reworked the long poem Requiem in secret. A lyrical cycle of lamentation and witness, the poem depicts the suffering of the common people under the Soviet Terror. Requiem finally appeared in book form in 1963, but the whole work was not published within the USSR until 1987. It consists of ten numbered poems that examine a series of emotional states; exploring suffering, despair, and devotion, rather than composing one clear narrative. This long poem is often critically regarded as her best work, and also as one of the finest poems of the twentieth century.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/anna-akhmatova
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Kitty Purgason
Professor Emerita
Department of Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Biola University
Kitty Barnhouse Purgason is professor emerita of TESOL at Biola University. She has a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from UCLA. She has lived, studied, served, or taught in India, Russia, Korea, China, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Mauritania, Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman, Vietnam, Spain, and Tajikistan, She is a three-time Fulbright fellow and a US State Department English language specialist. She is the author of Professional Guidelines for Christian English Teachers (William Carey Library).