"Your throne, oh, God, is forever and ever: the scepter of Your Kingdom is a right scepter."

               Psalm45:6 

The title of our fourth collection is also the title of Track 15. It is taken from Psalm 45, a prophecy of a royal wedding song of loves, praising Jesus Christ, the King, at His future marriage to the resurrected Bride. The songs in this album form a “song” about the manifold love of God and how it changes our lives.

Besides traditional Celtic folk melodies, (some revised as “American”), this collection includes a melody composed by Franz Schubert and an original tune by Barri Armitage.

1.   “OH, LORD, OUR POTTER,” adapted from Isaiah 64:8, expresses the tender love of God as He molds us into His image of righteous character, sometimes through the “furnace” of trials to firm what He has shaped.  Yet, His “hand controls the gauge, no more heat than we can take.”

The melody is from an Irish folk song, “Where the River Shannon Flows,” written in 1905 by James L. Russell.

2.  “DELIGHT IN THE LORD,” adapted from Psalm 37, encourages us to delight and trust in the Lord. He loves us and promises to deliver us in the evil times, for “He will never forsake His own, nor leave them in the hands of men.” He assures us “in the famine, you shall have bread.”  The melody is from “Who Is Sylvia?” by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).

3.  “WHEN HE OPENS THE SEA,” adapted from Exodus 13:17 through 14:16, shows how Pharaoh learned “no one is stronger than God.” Though “we each must come to our Red Sea when we can’t save ourselves if we fight or flee,” this song charges us to trust that this will strengthen our faith, “for our Savior, Who loves us, will open the Sea.” The tune is modified from the traditional American folk song, “The Streets of Laredo.”

4.  “COUNT IT ALL JOY,” adapted from James 1:1-6 and verse 12, continues the theme of trusting in God’s love, even to the point of counting it all joy when we experience trials.  We can do that if we remember that Christ is shaping His nature in us. We must “let patience complete its work” until we are “perfected, lacking nothing,” for “[a] crown of life is reserved” at the resurrection when we “will be ready with Christ to serve.”  The melody is modified from a traditional Scottish folk song, “Cam’ Ye to Athol?”

5.  “MY BELOVED’S VINEYARD,” adapted from Isaiah 5:1-7, 27:2-6 and John 15:1-8, very movingly sings of our Beloved’s care for His vineyard, ancient Israel. “There was nothing more He could have done to tend His vines.” Yet, she turned away from Him and bore wild grapes, so  He had to let her suffer, going her own way. In the Kingdom, she will repent and see her need for Him. Meanwhile, through His Spirit that “gives us nourishment,” we can be His vineyard, bearing good grapes now, and in the Kingdom, filling “the world with [His] true wine.”  The tune is from an Irish folk song, “Love’s Young Dream,” written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852).

6.  “REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE,” adapted from Revelation 2:1-7, is the message of our Savior to the Ephesian era of the Church as recorded by the apostle, John. In Acts 2:42-43 and Ephesians 1:12-15, Paul speaks of the Ephesian church. The message holds true for us today, since Christ instructs us to “hear what is said” to all the church eras (Rev. 2:7). At the beginning of love, we do everything to please the loved one. The secret of a lasting marriage is to never lose that first zeal. This analogy applies to our relationship with Jesus Christ.  At the beginning, we delighted in His commandments, “savored [His] every Word,” and loved others as He loved us. The song ends with our prayer to love Him “as at the first.”  The melody is by Barri Armitage.

7.  “ON OUR BEHALF,” adapted from II Corinthians 5:21 and Leviticus 23:11, is a true “song of loves.” The first two verses meditate on the great love the Father and Son have shown on our behalf. The last verse sings of the love “now we must show, remembering the love that healed our breach.”

This song shows the connection between Christ being accepted as our spiritual “Wave Sheaf” and the wave sheaf offering of Leviticus 23:11. God had commanded that no barley be eaten until the priests “lift up” or “wave” an offering from the first of the harvest. This was to be done on the Sunday that fell during the days of unleavened bread and would then be accepted for the people.

During the days of unleavened bread in the year Christ was crucified, around the time the priests were preparing to lift the wave sheaf that first day of the week, Christ stood outside the tomb and told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him as He had not yet ascended to His Father (John 20:17).  Christ did ascend that morning. Scripture describes the reunion when Christ came before the throne of God. In Revelation 5:9-12, John records the vision as those in heaven rejoiced that Jesus Christ had overcome death and completed the means for our salvation.  He had “been found worthy to open the seals, so the plan could move on and the Kingdom come.”

Just as Christ, our Passover Lamb, was sacrificed on our behalf on Passover Day (I Cor. 5:8), so in another metaphor, Christ, our Wave Sheaf, the First of the Firstfruits (Romans 8:29 and Revelation 14:4), was lifted up and His offering accepted by God on our behalf on that Wave Sheaf Day. The death penalty for sin was paid by Christ,  God’s justice was satisfied, and we can now claim that offering and ask forgiveness for our sins (Romans 3:23-26).

The Israelites of old could begin to bake and eat unleavened bread made with new grain after the first sheaf of the new crop was lifted up and accepted by God.  Now we, justified and cleansed by the acceptance of Christ’s offering by God , can be nourished by the “Bread of life,” Jesus Christ (John 6:35), feed on the Bread of His Word,  and grow to be more like Him. “Oh, such great love we had never known; on our behalf, such love as They have shown.”

The tune is from a traditional folk song called “Careless Love.”  I liked the melody for this song, but at first, was hesitant to use it because of the contradiction of the title with God’s unselfish love. Now, I feel it is appropriate if looked at as a warning to not take “such great love” carelessly.

8.  “TO DWELL IN UNITY,” adapted from Psalm 133, uses the beautiful analogies of anointing oil and the dew of Mt. Hermon to describe the sweetness of Christian unity and love. “How good and how pleasant forevermore!” The tune is from an Irish folk song, “The Rose of Tralee,” written by Charles W. Glover (1806-1863).

9.  “MY BRETHREN,” adapted from Hebrews 2:11-12 and related Scriptures, reminds us that Christ will not be ashamed to say, “These are My brethren” when He presents us to the Father. “[S]ince Christ, our Head, sanctifies each one, should we not care for each other” and serve our brethren with love as if we were serving Christ?  The tune is from a traditional Irish folk song, “The Hills of Kerry.”

10.  “LOVE BEYOND KNOWLEDGE,” adapted from Ephesians 3:16-21, is a prayer that we may be able to comprehend “the breadth and length and depth and height of love we know can come only from [God], and be filled with [His] fullness, the love of Christ.”  This love is beyond our knowledge, but with Christ living in us, we can begin to know in part. The tune is from an Irish folk song, “Macushla,” written by Dermot MacMurrough in 1910.

11.  “OPEN THE DOOR,” adapted from Revelation 3:15-21, is Christ’s message to the seventh era of the Church.  It is a warning about the self-satisfied pride and arrogance of those who are lukewarm and thus unable to be used by Christ. He is ready to spew them out of His mouth, but says He rebukes those He loves. He stands outside and knocks at the door of each heart. The song ends with a fervent response in the ones who hear and “open the door.” The tune for the verses is a traditional Scottish folk song, “Thy Cheek Is of the Rose’s Hue.”  The melody for the chorus has been modified from a tune with both English and Irish origins. The latter is called “The Ould Orange Flute.”

12.  “LIKE A BRIDE ADORNED,” adapted from Revelation 21:2, sings of the spiritual Bride who wants to be “prepared to meet Her Husband like a Bride adorned.”  The song begins with a passage from Ezekiel 16, telling how the Lord God cleansed and married physical Israel in the covenant at Mt. Sinai. “Jerusalem, Your loved one, was like a queen content.”  But soon “she forgot her vows; to other gods she turned.”  She continued in her own way, and at Christ’s death, that marriage was terminated.  Christ, the Lord, is now betrothed to His Church, spiritual Israel, and “[He] will lead a daughter to be a Bride of truth” both “pure and beautiful,” ready to marry Him at His return. The tune is fittingly from an old Irish air called, “Love Thee, Dearest.”

13.  “THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS,” adapted from Philippians 3:10, II Corinthians 4:16-18, and Romans 8:18, gives us the encouragement that the weight of our present trials cannot be compared with the weight of our coming glory. If we suffer with Christ, “through it all He will provide,” and at the resurrection will reveal His glorious Bride. The tune is from a traditional American folk song called “The Riddle Song.”

14.  “LOVE SONG OF THE BRIDE,” adapted from Song of Songs, is a testimony to the enduring love between Christ and His Bride. “A love like ours cannot be quenched. Our love is for all time!”  It has been set to the modified tune of “My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose,” a Scottish folk song.

15.  “A SONG OF LOVES,” adapted from Psalm 45, is a prophecy of a royal wedding song praising Jesus Christ, the King, at His  marriage to the resurrected Bride. In Psalm 45:1, Scripture has recorded the speaker’s feelings: “My heart overflows with noble words.” Could this be a glimpse into God the Father’s excitement at the royal wedding?  The authority in the speaker’s words seems similar to the voice from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:17) and at His transformation (Matthew 17:5). “Oh, God, Your throne is forever, and Your scepter always will last, for You love all that is right and good and hate all wickedness.”

In verse 3 of this song, there is a flashback to the present age as the speaker charges the “daughter” to leave her father’s house and submit and cleave to her Lord. He describes the glorious rewards if she thus makes herself ready. This is instruction for us now, as the betrothed bride, just as it was for Christ’s disciples (Matthew 19:29).  A chorus praises the King and His Bride, for “Their love will spread over all the earth, and Their love and Their throne will last, will last forever.” In other Scriptures we see that Christ loves His Bride as the Father loves Him (John 15:9), and the Father loves Her as He loves His own Son (John 17:23). The melody is modified from a song written by Carl Hahn in 1921 called “The Green Cathedral.”