Lift up your eyes

Lift up your eyes and look for him,
Jesus, the coming saviour-king;
born to redeem the world from sin,                  
bringing his peace to all.

Now if you walk in darkest night,
look for his dawn that’s breaking bright;
nothing shall ever stop this light
bringing new hope to all.

Oh lift up your eyes see the King!
Worship the saviour, come praise him,
Jesus the Lord of all.
Oh once in a manger he lay;                 
now lifted high he is reigning,                          
Jesus the Lord of all.

Soon you will see him come again,
not as the child of Bethlehem,
but the returning King to reign;
glorious Lord of all.

Lift up your eyes and look for him,
Jesus, the coming saviour-king;
now in your heart make room for him;                 
worship him, Lord of all.          
                                
Come worship him,
come bow down before him,
come praise him, Lord of all.      
 

With the recording of ResoundWorship’s ‘Christmas Songs’ album going on in August this year, I found myself looking forward to Christmas somewhat earlier than I normally would, & began to get the idea of writing a song specifically for Advent , as there are very few contemporary worship songs that cover this period in the Church’s calendar. I always thought of Advent as a time for looking forward to Jesus coming as a baby at Christmas, but discovered through grappling with the lyrics for this song that there is more to it than that. Yes we are looking forward to Christmas, but at Christmas we actually look back with thankfulness for Jesus’ birth as our saviour, whilst now in the present we give praise to Christ as our risen and ascended King, and we also look forward to when Jesus will come again in glory, when all will recognise and worship him as Lord. I pray this song will help you to keep your eyes on Jesus as we embark on all the busy-ness of this season.