The Wayside Pulpit No.97

October 11th 2000

"Until He come whose right it is." (Ezek.21:27)

Years ago in Cincinnati,Handel's "Messiah" was rendered by perhaps the greatest chorus on earth: Patti, then in her prime, was the leading soprano; Whitney, the bass; Theodore Toedt, the tenor; Carey, the alto; and this quartet was supported by more than four thousand voices.  

Just before the "Hallelujah Chorus" a death-like stillness brooded over that vast assemblage. Suddenly the bass sang, "For He shall reign for ever and ever"; the alto lifted it a little higher - "For ever and ever", and the tenor lifted it still higher - For ever and ever", then Pati broke in as though inspired - "King of kings, and Lord of lords."  As she broke off, paused, and lifted her eyes, a voice seemed to float down from above as the voice of an Angel flinging out through the great hall the question, "How long shall He reign?" - and the thousand sopranos in unison responded, "For ever and ever." Then the four thousand of the chorus broke forth like the shout of an angelic host, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"  

What a day for this poor sin-ruined, storm-torn, heart-broken, groping-in-the-blind world, when He shall take His rightful throne and reign in all hearts and over all lives for ever and ever!  

-Elmer Ellsworth Helms. 

"Hail, universal Lord!
Messiah - David's Son!
Take Thou the sceptre of the world,
And reign supreme, alone!"

"Oh, it seems to me like a prophecy of the glad day when every knee shall bow, and all the nations of the earth shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And from the teeming millions of Asia shall sound the anthem, "King of kings, and Lord of lords"; the shout from Europe will give it power; and the deep undertone of Africa's redeemed will lend it volume; and America and far-away Australia, and the islands of the sea will join the refrain and pour their matchless music into the ear of Christ; and together, from the uttermost parts of the earth, breaking out in triumphant voice, the whole world shall sing, "King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"  

Come back! Come back! Take the sceptre of our lives! Mount the throne of our hearts! All hail the King! My King!  And thine?"

[This is today's portion in "Springs in the Valley", by Mrs Chas E. Cowman, 1950, a book that has inspired tens of thousands of God's children for half a century, together with her other beloved volume, "Streams in the Desert."]  

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