At the recent Feast of Tabernacles here at Fairwood, one of the powerful hymns we sang was the one by the name above—and we sang it several times, if I recall rightly. The eve of Sabbath each week is a wonderful time to turn deliberately away from the frenetic week and contemplate our God, whose “lovingkindness endureth forever.” That lovingkindness includes a vast array of attributes, all of which comprise His character, and there are few better expressions of it than in this hymn.

Let’s look at it in Warrior Songs, No. 185, if you have a copy handy (it’s in other books, too, but not with as many verses). Each verse begins with the cry of the Seraphim in Isaiah, and the Four Creatures (probably Cherubim) in Revelation, attributing unequalled holiness to our Creator God, seated in light unapproachable on the Throne of Eternity.

He is “Lord God Almighty,” the “blessed Trinity” to Whom we gladly lift our worshiping hearts.

He is also “Matchless in wisdom… power… and perfect love.”

He is totally worthy of all adoration and worship from our prostrate souls—“Thou mighty Sovereign, King of eternity”!

And I love the picture in verse four: “all the saints [including each of us this Sabbath] adore Thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea”! This is looking ahead to the great picture in Revelation 15 and these saints are accompanied by the Cherubim and Seraphim themselves—no one wants to be left out in this praise service!

Nor do we. Sabbath is a wonderful occasion for worship, individual adoration, family worship, expressions of thanksgiving for His endless benefits, joint worship with other church members—there are endless ways to do it.

In fact, the last verse gathers us all in: “All thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea.” And why? Because of Who He Is. The hymn closes with inspired words: this is Who He Is—“merciful and mighty” (remember Jesus who was “full of grace and truth”), He is simply “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.”

And He is that right now, right where we live, far above all those cares and issues that we left outside the doorway to the Sabbath this evening. He is “merciful” to us, and “mighty” to shoulder those cares Himself. We, then, are left with nothing more to do than worship Him.

Let’s do it! What a foretaste of Heaven is revealed in these words. Let’s open our songbooks and give this hymn a try, shall we? At least we can hum it over to ourselves. He is worthy, and we can do our bit—with “all the saints”—to give Him worship.

Amen. Maranatha!