“Loved with Everlasting Love” (Trinity Hymnal 703)

Hymn of the Month, May 2017
Researched and written by Rev. Nicholas Davelaar

Many of the hymns we sing are gems of wisdom, guidance, and admonition, drawn from God’s Word and set to music so that the word of Christ might dwell in us richly. Let’s take some time to dig into another of these this month, “Loved with Everlasting Love.”
 
History
In one sense, the Trinity Hymnal resembles the anthologies students sometimes use in high school English classes. Those anthologies contain a wide-ranging assortment of literature drawn from many eras and places, everything from a bit of Homer’s Iliad to a poem or two by Dylan Thomas. The Trinity Hymnal definitely has a narrower scope than such an anthology—it contains only poetry set to music—but all its hymns similarly represent a variety of eras and places. Of more than 700 hymns, most come from people who contributed only a single one. Prolific contributors such as Isaac Watts (36 hymns), Charles Wesley (19 hymns), and John Newton (13 hymns) are in the minority. Most of the songs we sing are like this month’s hymn: the edifying, singular contribution by a person whom history has largely forgotten.

George Wade Robinson, the author of this hymn, was born in Ireland in 1838. After pursuing higher education in Dublin and London, he was ordained as an Anglican priest in his native Ireland. He was later called to serve in Britain, where he remained until his death on January 18, 1877, at the age of 38. Little else is known about him. He left a few collections of sermons and poetry, but he is remembered almost exclusively for this hymn.
James Mountain, the composer of the tune, was a contemporary of Robinson. Born in England in 1844, he spent much of his life serving as a pastor and evangelist. He died in 1933. He wrote a number of hymns—so many, in fact, that he published a book of them during his lifetime—but it is his musical compositions that live on. The Trinity Hymnal contains three of them, including the tune for “Jesus, I am Resting, Resting.”

Those who are familiar with this hymn may notice some words are different from what they remember. The reason for that is simple: the text in the Trinity Hymnal was altered by the American theologian Edmund Clowney (1917-2005). Clowney was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and later the Presbyterian Church in America. He is remembered not only for his writings, but also for his service as president of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia and later Westminster Seminary California. Clowney wrote or altered a handful of hymns in the Trinity Hymnal. As far as this hymn is concerned, in a few spots he updated its language, for instance by changing Oh, this transport all divine to from his presence all divine in verse 1. Mostly, however, he changed words, phrases, and even the whole third verse in order that the text of the hymn would more closely align with the testimony of the Bible. For instance, early in verse 1 we sing of the Spirit sent from Christ above who dost witness that we have been loved with everlasting love. Robinson’s original, in contrast, spoke of the Spirit breathing from above who hast taught us that we have been loved with everlasting love. As a result of this particular change, the text of this hymn better reflects Scripture’s encouraging teaching about where the Holy Spirit is at this time and what he is doing. Needless to say, this and similar alterations have produced a richer and more solid hymn for us to sing not only for God’s glory, but also for our hope and joy.
 
Sources: Hymnary.org, Wikipedia.org, Songsandhymns.org, and Barryshymns.blogspot.com.
 
Overview
Simply put, “Loved with Everlasting Love” is a hymn of celebration. In it we remember, rejoice in, and encourage one another to rest in God’s grace, specifically its sovereignty. That sovereignty is impressed upon us, for instance, in the words of the apostle Paul quoted immediately above the hymn in the Trinity Hymnal: “I am convinced that neither death nor life... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God...” (Rom 8:38-39).

Verse 1
Loved with everlasting love,
drawn by grace that love to know,
Spirit sent from Christ above,
thou dost witness it is so.
O this full and precious peace
from his presence all divine;
in a love that cannot cease,
I am his and he is mine;
in a love that cannot cease,
I am his and he is mine.
 
By all appearances, the opening words of our hymn come from Jeremiah 31. In verse 3 of that chapter we hear God tell the people of Israel, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” On the basis of later passages such as the opening chapter of Ephesians, we who believe in Jesus Christ have every reason to believe that declaration of love applies no less to us today. Wonder of wonders, we sinners are loved with everlasting love! Indeed, the fact that we know that love is in itself a testament to his love; it is only because God draws us to his Son that we know that love. As Jesus stated in John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” As if that were not enough, for the sake of our hope and joy the Spirit sent from Christ above further bears witness that it is so. We can say that not merely because of personal experience, but also because of what the apostle Paul wrote in Rom 8:16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Needless to say, this everlasting love of God gives us a full and precious peace, or in the words of Phil 4:7, a peace that “surpasses all understanding.” Thus we finish this opening verse with us rejoicing together that in this love that cannot cease, I am his and he is mine (those final words are drawn from Song of Solomon 2:16).
 

Verse 2
Heav'n above is deeper blue,
earth around is sweeter green,
that which glows in every hue
Christ-less eyes have never seen.
Birds in song his glories show,
flow'rs with richer beauties shine
since I know, as now I know,
I am his and he is mine;
since I know, as now I know,
I am his and he is mine.
 
This second verse is a joyful reflection on the light and life we have in Christ because of God’s everlasting love. In the words of 2 Corinthians 4:6, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Because God has done that, we see the world as if with new eyes. All creation is brighter and sweeter since I know, as now I know, I am his and he is mine.
 
Verse 3
Taste the goodness of the Lord:
welcomed home to his embrace,
all his love as blood out-poured
seals the pardon of his grace.
Can I doubt his love for me,
when I trace that love's design?
By the cross of Calvary
I am his and he is mine.
By the cross of Calvary
I am his and he is mine.
 
In view of the wonder of God’s love, we proceed to call one another to taste the goodness of the Lord, whether for the very first time or once again. In doing so we echo the memorable call of Psalm 34:8: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” From there we go on to describe the goodness of the Lord, explaining where and how we see it. We see his goodness most notably in being welcomed home to his embrace (an unmistakable reference to the Parable of the Prodigal in Luke 15). This welcome is ours through the out-poured blood of the Son of God, which seals the pardon of his grace. As John explained in his first letter, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Can each of us who trusts in Jesus doubt God’s love for us personally? Or in Paul’s words, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”” (Rom 8:32). By the cross of Calvary, I am his and he is mine!
 
Verse 4
His forever, only his -
who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart.
Heav'n and earth may fade and flee,
first-born light in gloom decline,
but while God and I shall be,
I am his and he is mine;
but while God and I shall be,
I am his and he is mine.
 
We finish by looking forward, thinking about our future in the light of the fact that God’s everlasting love. If we are his, who will part us from him? The answer, as Paul made clear at the end of Romans 8, is nothing and no one! Nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). We can rest, knowing that “whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14:8). Because of God’s love, we can rejoice with the psalmist, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Ps 23:6). Is this your joy, your song today?