This beautiful hymn came to us from two Anglicans, Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring.  Bridges started with Revelation 19 as his inspiration and wrote six verses in 1851.  Thring wrote the other six verses in 1874.  The verses included in a given hymnal depended on the denomination.  For Catholics, we generally see four or five verses that start with “crown Him the Lord of ____”.  

In Revelation 19, St. John starts by describing his vision of heaven.  “The mighty voice of a great multitude in heaven” cried out in shouts of praise (v. 1-3).  A few verses later, St. John gives a more vivid description to the sound: “then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals.” (v. 6)  With that image for a backdrop, St. John sees a white horse coming from the heavens; on the rider’s “head are many diadems” (v. 12).  

As we start to reflect on four of the verses of this hymn, imagine the multitude of souls in heaven, calling out in joyful worship of God.  Think of our triumphant Lord Jesus, the rider on the white horse, who conquered sin and death.  He came from heaven to rescue you and me!  Finally, when considering this hymn, remember that the joyous destination described in the lyrics is our destination.  Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, calling us to join our voices with the heavenly Jerusalem.    

1. 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.

The melody of the song is rousing, very fitting of the third line of the first verse: awake, my soul and sing!  The heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own echoes St. John’s comparison as mighty waters and thunderpeals in Revelation 19:6.  For the modern audience, the closest we can get to such communal noise is a sporting event.  The game-winning shot, the walk-off home run, the last-second touchdown—as a sports fan, it’s an incredible thing to me to watch such moments.  Even those do not compare to the joy of heaven.  The analogy falls very short (especially for Yankees fans), but it would be as if the exaltation from Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in the 2024 World Series lasted forever.  We cannot conceive of it, but a host of angels and saints promises us that all our trials and sufferings are as nothing to the joy of heaven.

2. Crown him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o’er the grave,

Who 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.

3. Crown him the Lord of love, behold his hands and side,

Rich wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified.

No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,

But downward bends his wond’ring eye at mysteries so bright.

4. Crown him the Lord of heav’n: One with the Father known,

One with the Spirit through Him giv’n from yonder glorious throne. 

To Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us hast died. 

Be Thou, O Lord, through endless days adorned and magnified!

These verses emphasize the Passion of Jesus.  Verse 2 mentions death/the grave a startling five times.  The pleasure-seeking era that we live in wants to avoid death at all costs.  Jesus turned the fear of death on its head.  His death became glory; it saved humanity; it opened the door to eternal life.  St. Paul taught the Corinthians to keep the paradox of death and salvation in tension:

“We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” – 1 Corinthians 1:23-25

=Verse 3 extols Jesus’ wounds: not sources of pain but channels of glory.  They are beautiful.  Would any of us call our wounds, beautiful?  Just like death, Jesus flipped the script on wounds and healing.  The grace made available to us through the sacraments means that our wounds can also be channels of grace.    

The trinitarian verse 4 does not hesitate to mention Our Lord’s death.  The third line expresses human gratitude for salvation.  By extension, I think it also expresses gratitude for Who God Is—One Who loves.  Out of love, God made covenants with man; out of love, He remained faithful when man did not.  Not only did God keep His end of the covenant out of reckless love, He provides that very same love to us.  St. Paul mentions this in many places in his letters.  One great example: 

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20

During the Easter season, take time in prayer to praise Our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is risen indeed!