Let Earth And Heaven Combine
19 Dec 2024
As we come to this time of year, we sing hymns that we don’t usually sing the other 11 months. Many of these are the familiar carols. I never tire of singing “Hark The Heralds Angels Sing” or “O Come O Come Immanuel” as they declare the wonder of the incarnation so boldly.
This year I have been particularly struck by the words of a slightly less familiar hymn. “Let Earth And Heaven Combine” is by Wesley and beautifully expresses the glory of “our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.” He poetically describes the humility of our God who “laid his glory by……infant of days He here became……..our God, in manifest below.”
Yet, as I came to sing the fourth verse I found myself pausing. I’ll quote the verse in full -
“He deigns in flesh to appear,
Wildest extreme to join;
To bring our vileness near,
And make us all divine;
And we the life of God shall know,
For God is manifest below.”
Can I really sing that Jesus came “to make us all divine” I thought (as I stood in front of the congregation one Sunday morning)?
Was this a strange error in the midst of wonderful theological truth?
Surely Jesus came to make us more fully human - the men and women we were created to be, without sin, perfectly loving and worshipping God? Can I lead the church to sing these words?
We must, of course, rule out some understandings of that phrase out. There is no sense in which we become God - invisible, immutable, unchanging, uncreated, sharing all those attributes with the Lord that distinguish him from us who are part of the creation. To my knowledge, Charles Wesley didn’t believe that either. He was far from perfect in his theological understanding, but this was not an error he held to.
So why this line? Is it just because it scans? This is a hymn after all. But before I wrote off an entire verse and made a mental note not to pick it again, two Bible verses came to mind.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor 3:18
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires” 2 Peter 1:3-4
It seems that this hymn is drawing from these verses to make the point that just as it is a source of amazement that God should humble himself to become man, it is an equal source of wonder that we sinful human beings can be raised up and transformed. This is all because of what our Trinitarian God has done in his love for us.
We were not created to live independently from God. This has been the lie of sin. We have been brought near to him - so near that we are united to Christ, and live in communion with him.
The final verse of this hymn makes this even more clear. What is the purpose of our life? What is our great hope? It is not simply a place called heaven. It is to be with the Lord and to know him perfectly. “We shall from earth remove, and see His glorious face, then shall His love be fully showed, and man shall then be lost in God.”
I know there is an important point to be made about the physicality of the new creation, and that we wont be floating on clouds but will be with Christ in the new heavens and new earth. But if I’m honest, the challenge I need right now isn’t to focus on what I see around me, but it is to love and desire God more. I need to grow in “heavenly mindedness”, to constantly be reminded that I am made and have been saved for God. The fact I paused when I sang that line in this great hymn pointed that out to me.