“Crown Him with Many Crowns”

"CROWN HIM WITH MANY CROWNS"
"…And on His head were many crowns" (Rev. 19.12)

     INTRO.: A hymn which identifies Christ as the King of kings and Lord of Lords with many crowns upon His head is "Crown Him With Many Crowns." The original text was written by Matthew Bridges who was born at Malden in Essex, England, on July 14, 1800. Educated to be a minister in the Church of England, his main interests were literature and history, and he published a book entitled The Roman Empire Under Constantine the Great, which contained many passages against the Roman Catholic Church.  However, in 1848, under the influence of John Henry Newman and others in the Oxford Movement, he went into the Catholic Church.

     As a writer, Bridges’s other published works include political pieces and several volume of history. However, he is best known today for his religious poetry, from which several hymns have found their way into common usage. Most of them were introduced into the United States by Henry Ward Beecher. His "Crown Him With Many Crowns" first appeared in 1851 in the second edition of Bridges’s Hymns of the Heart and consisted of six stanzas. The tune (Diademata) was composed for this hymn by George Job Elvey (1816-1893). He was music director at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, England, where the British royal family often attended. It first appeared with Bridges’s text in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern.

     Then, in 1874, 23 years after the hymn first appeared, six additional stanzas were written by Anglican minister Godfrey Thring (1823-1903). These first appeared in his 1874 Hymns and Sacred Lyrics.  Most books today use a composite of stanzas drawn from both Bridges and Thring. Bridges spent some of his latter years in Canada, but returned to England where he died at Sidmouth in Devonshire on Oct. 6, 1894.

     Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord’s church during the twentieth century for use in churches of Christ, the song was found in the 1937 Great Songs of the Church No. 2 edited by E. L. Jorgenson; and the 1963 Christian Hymnal edited by J. Nelson Slater. Among books still published today, it may be found in the 1971 Songs of the Church, the 1990 Songs of the Church 21st C. Ed., and the 1994 Songs of Faith and Praise, all edited by Alton H. Howard; the 1986 Great Songs Revised edited by Forrest M. McCann; and the 1992 Praise for the Lord edited by John P. Wiegand.

     This hymn presents several possible reasons for the crowns on Jesus’ head.

I. The first crown represents kingship in general and is said to be on the Lamb
"Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne;
Hark! how the heavenly 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."
 A. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God: Jn. 1.29, 1 Pet. 1.18-21
 B. And this Lamb of God is now upon His throne: Acts 2.29-32, Heb. 8.1
 C. As the victorious Lamb upon His throne, He is worthy of our praise: Rev. 5.6-7, 11-12

II. The second crown belongs to Christ as both Son of God and Son of Man
"Crown Him the Son of God Before the world began,
And ye, who tread where He hath trod, Crown Him the Son of man;
Who every grief hath known That wrings the human breast,
And takes and bears them for His own, That all in Him may rest."
 A. Jesus Christ is certainly the divine Son of God: Matt. 16.16, John 20.30-31
 B. However, Jesus is also the Son of Man in that He became flesh and lived as a man: Jn. 1.14, Phil. 2.5-8
 C. And one stated purpose of His becoming a man is that He might be able to aid those who are tempted: Heb. 2.14-18

III. The third crown is that of love, as demonstrated in His death for our sins
"Crown Him the Lord of love! Behold His hands and side,
Rich wounds, yet visible above, In beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou hast died for me:
Thy praise shall never, never fail Throughout eternity."
 A. Certainly, Jesus is the supreme embodiment and expression of God’s love for sinful mankind: Jn. 3.16
 B. And that love was shown by His willingness to die for our sins: Rom. 5.8
 C. Thus, because of this great love, we can have salvation: Eph. 1.3-7, 2.4-10

IV. The fourth crown is that of life, as manifested by His resurrection from the dead
"Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o’er the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife For those He came to save;
His glories now we sing Who died, and rose on high,
Who died, eternal life to bring, And lives that death may die."
 A. The Bible records the resurrection of Christ from the dead as a historical fact: Lk. 24.1-10
 B. Thus, the central message of gospel preaching in the first century was that Jesus Christ arose from the dead: Acts 2.22-24, Rom. 1.3-4, 1 Cor. 15.1-4
 C. And because Jesus Christ thus showed Himself to be Lord of life, He can give us life: Jn. 1.4, 10.10

V. The fifth crown belongs to Jesus as the Lord of peace
"Crown Him the Lord of Peace, Whose power 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 blessed feet
Fair flowers of paradise extend Their fragrance ever sweet."
 A. It had been prophesied that the Messiah would be the Prince of Peace: Isa. 9.6-7
 B. Indeed, Jesus came to bring peace: Lk. 2.10-14
 C. While worldly peace between warring nations is something to be desired, the peace of Christ is more than that because it makes it possible for sinful mankind to be a peace with God: Eph. 2.13-14

VI. The sixth crown is His as the Lord of Heaven
"Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, One with the Father known,
And the blest Spirit, through Him given, From yonder glorious throne!
No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye At mysteries so bright."
 A. Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven: Dan. 7.13-14, Acts 1.9-11
 B. Having ascended to God, He now has all rule and authority: Eph. 1.19-21
 C. And as the Lord of Heaven, He has opened the way to eternal life with God to all mankind who would obey God’s will: Rev. 22.1-5

     CONCL.: Another stanza sometimes used in books today is:
"Crown Him the Lord of Years, The Potentate of time,
Creator of the rolling spheres, Ineffably sublime.
Crown Him with many crowns, As thrones before Him fall;
Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns, For He is King of all."
Some brethren have objected to this song, perhaps assuming that it is talking about crowning Christ when He comes again. One might mistakenly think that, but this is not what the song says. It pictures the crowning of Christ in heaven following His resurrection and ascension, and thus refers to the fact that He has been crowned and is therefore King upon His throne today. However, it might also be said that we continue to crown Him in the sense that we make Him the King of our lives by yielding our hearts to Him and also by our praises to Him both here and in eternity. Jesus Christ was crowned as Savior and King following His death and resurrection, upon His ascension when He sat down on His throne at the right hand of the Father on high. Today, He is crowned by each individual as we make Him the King of our hearts and Lord of our lives in obedience to His will. And in heaven, the redeemed of all ages, along with the angelic hosts, will crown Jesus forever and ever as the Son of God with their eternal praises to His name. Therefore, it is fitting that, with thoughts of all that Jesus has done for us, we sing, "Crown Him With Many Crowns."