REJOICE, YE PURE IN HEART[1]
Psalm 33:1 NKJV
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.
This hymn was written in May 1865 as a processional hymn for a choral festival in England’s Peterborough Cathedral. The size of the building for which it was written necessitated a long hymn, and the 1868 text had eleven stanzas of four lines each. Few hymnals reproduce all of these, and the four-line stanzas are sometimes combined into stanzas of eight lines. The content is uncomplicated; an exhortation to rejoice is followed by images of the Christian proceeding through life, and the hymn concludes with praise to God.[2]
For the Christian, all of life is to be lived as an offering of praise to God; like a grand processional at a royal celebration, where the emblem of the king is displayed front and center. For the Christian, the king is Christ and the royal emblem which guides our life is His cross.
Rejoice, ye pure in heart; rejoice, give thanks, and sing.
Your festal banner wave on high – the cross of Christ, your king.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing!
Many people are involved in great national observances and celebrations, and so it is with celebrations in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The angels of heaven join the saints of earth – a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) – to “pour out the strains of joy and bliss.”
With all the angel choirs, with all the saints of earth,
Pour out the strains of joy and bliss, true rapture, noblest mirth!
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing!
Not only is praise to God enjoined from all people, it is also the proper approach to God in all seasons of life. In the morning and in the evening, from youth to old age, in seasons of gladness or sadness, the Christian should “ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 96:8 NRSV)
Yes, on through life’s long path, still chanting as ye go,
From youth to age, by night and day, in gladness and in woe.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing!
Life is not a sprint but rather a marathon, a test of endurance over the long haul. The test comes as we day by day, year by year live to serve our King, Jesus Christ. The journey of life is not easy, “for our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NRSV). But there is a glorious goal at the end of life as we persevere to the end.
Still lift your standard high; still march in firm array.
As warriors, through the darkness toil till dawns the golden day.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing!
The Christian’s rejoicing has a source. The Christian’s praise has an object. And both are the same. The work of God in our lives and in the world is the source of our rejoicing, and thus to Him is our praise given.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.[3]
Praise God who reigns on high, the Lord whom we adore,
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – one God forevermore.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks and sing!
Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] Words: Edward H. Plumptre / Music: Arthus H. Messiter. Tune name: MARION. Text from Our Great Redeemer’s Praise, 2022, Seedbed Publishing.
[2] https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/r/rejoice,-ye-pure-in-heart
[3] Gloria Patri
