Blessing And Honor And Glory And Power

Blessing and honor and glory and power,

Wisdom and riches and strength evermore

Give ye to Him who our battle hath won,

Whose are the kingdom, the crown, and the throne.

Soundeth the heaven of the heavens with His name;

Ringeth the earth with His glory and fame;

Ocean and mountain, stream, forest, and flower

Echo His praises and tell of His power.

Ever ascendeth the song and the joy;

Ever descendeth the love from on high;

Blessing and honor and glory and praise—

This is the theme of the hymns that we raise.

Give we the glory and praise to the Lamb;

Take we the robe and the harp and the palm;

Sing we the song of the Lamb that was slain,

Dying in weakness, but rising to reign.

HORATIUS BONAR (1808–1889)

DO WE SEEK to bless God in our worship? That is the focus of this hymn by Horatius Bonar, based on the worship songs in the book of Revelation.

How do we bless God? The original word for bless means to say good things to or about someone. Let us proclaim good things about God. How do we honor God? We honor our parents by obeying them and making them proud of us. Let us honor God by a life of obedience. How do we give God glory? It involves turning the spotlight on God and turning the light away from ourselves. Let us shine the spotlight on God and His wonderful deeds. How do we praise Him? By telling Him everything we love about Him.

As we come to worship our beautiful Lord, we must learn to focus on what we can give to God.

Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

Revelation 5:11-12