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.

Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,
Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over 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.

Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, one with the Father known;
One with the Spirit thru Him giv’n From yonder glorious throne.
To The be endless praise, For Thou for us has died;
Be Thou, O Lord thru endless days Adored and magnified.

Words by Matthew Bridges, 1852 (Vv 1, 2, 4
Words by Godfrey Thring, 1874 (v 3)
Music by George Elvey, 1868

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Revelation 19:11 – 13

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Hebrew 2:9

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55 – 57

Maybe you”ve known one of those people. You know, the person who seems to win everything. The person who has a whole wall of trophies. The kind of person who just seems to be unstoppable.

Now imagine that person taken to the Nth degree and you will begin to see Jesus as portrayed in “Crown Him With Many Crowns. Thring and Elvey draw this image from Revelation 19 where Jesus is described as wearing “many crowns.” This is a descriptive image, but the first thing that I wonder is, What foes a person need with multiple crowns. I mean, if someone is a King does wearing more than one crown make them more of a King.

When we look more closely at the words of this hymn it begins to be explained. The authors write, “Crown Him the Lord of Love”, “Lord of Life” and “Lord oh Heaven.” You see  the many crowns is not to say that He is that much more a king, but rather that He is King of everything.  Just as one trophy does not make someone the best athlete but a whole wall of trophies in several events indicates that the person is top in many fields.

You see, Jesus is King of all creation. King of the sky, the land and the sea. He is King of Love and Life.  He is the King of glory.  Remember, it says “many crowns.”  The clear implication is that the crowns are too numerous to count.

But let’s look specifically at the third verse listed here:

Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over 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.

He is the King of Life.  Remember that the sin we readily live in leads to death.  But Christ has opened the door to Life.  He is victorious over death.  1 Corinthians 15:57 tells us that God “gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Through Him we know eternal Life. So, in response we praise him as the king of life.

And so, I sing with whole-hearted convict, “Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.”

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