The Heavenly Vision

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

Helen Howarth Lemmel

"The Heavenly Vision", also known as "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" (the first line of its chorus), is a hymn written by Helen Howarth Lemmel. It was inspired by a tract entitled Focused, written by the missionary Isabella Lilias Trotter. Today the chorus is most widely known, and has become a standard reprinted in many hymnals.[1][2]

Lemmel first published the hymn in England as a pamphlet in 1918, and then included it in a 1922 collection called Glad Songs. It was included in a 1924 American collection entitled Gospel Truth in Song and was widely reprinted in other collections.[3]

Versions

In 1992 the Christian band Newsboys included the song (combined with "Where You Belong") on their album Not Ashamed[4] and released a video of the song.

Michael W. Smith features the song on his 2001 live worship album Worship.[5]

Country artist Alan Jackson's recording of this song for his father-in-law's funeral in 2005 became the inspiration for his 2006 gospel album Precious Memories.[6]

The refrain of the hymn was used in the worship song, "Center" by Charlie Hall and Matt Redman.

In 2013, the Christian punk pop band Eleventyseven covered the hymn, titled "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus", on their Good Spells (EP).

References

  1. ↑ Randy Petersen; Robin Shreeves (2014). The One Year Women in Christian History Devotional: Daily Inspirations from God's Work in the Lives of Women. Tyndale House. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-4964-0027-7.
  2. ↑ Brett Denman, "Eyes Upon Jesus", The Oregonian, April 4, 2012.
  3. ↑ Kenneth W. Osbeck (1985). 101 More Hymn Stories. Kregel Publications. pp. 297–299. ISBN 978-0-8254-3420-4.
  4. ↑ Barry Alfonso (2002). The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music. Billboard Books. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-8230-7718-2.
  5. ↑ Rachel Northrup, "Air", The Washington Post, March 2, 2002  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) .
  6. ↑ John Gerome, "Gift of gospel: Alan Jackson's family Christmas present turns into new CD", Associated Press in The Columbian, March 5, 2006  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) .


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