After a sanctified and sumptuous Sunday (the Lord’s Day) I awoke this Monday morning with thoughts wafting through my mind of His bountiful mercy and grace.

They settled on the first verse of a hymn we will be singing in worship next Lord’s Day.

   Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne;
Hark! how the heav’nly anthem drowns
 all music but its own:
Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
 And hail him as thy matchless King 
through all eternity.

Meditation on these words brought the word “fathomless” to mind. The first time I heard this word was in an anthem that we sang in a former church. No one else was familiar with it either; and so the minister of music spent time helping us to understand something that is beyond our comprehension.

Fathomless is the word that describes the idea of “the Lamb upon his throne.” This Lamb of God who came and died for men is beyond the grasp of human understanding.

When we think of human innovation, the work of men’s hands that we can hold in our own hands, we are amazed. But, the works of God, from creation to redemption, justification, sanctification and glorification are unsearchable. His realm, His kingdom is “matchless.” There is nothing comparable.

Bottomless Love
 We are taught to seek and find what He has prepared for us of His kingdom, His righteousness and salvation, though it is incomprehensible, beyond our knowing.

     Crown him the Lord of love;
 Behold his hands and side,

Rich wounds, yet visible above,
 in beauty glorified:
No angel in the sky
 can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye
 at mysteries so bright.

We meditate on these truths and find a bottomless love.

Endless Power

     Crown him the Lord of peace;
 Whose pow’r a scepter sways
     From pole to pole, that wars may cease, absorbed in prayer and praise:

His reign shall know no end;
  and round his pierced feet

Fair flowers of Paradise extend
 their fragrance ever sweet.

 Limitless Excellence

     Crown him the Lord of years, 
the Potentate of time;
Creator of the rolling spheres,
 ineffably sublime:
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
  For thou hast died for me:
Thy praise shall never, never fail 
throughout eternity.

 Matthew Bridges 1851                             George J. Elvey 1868

“Crown Him With Many Crowns”: Music and Lyrics
Sheet Music