My song is love unknown, My Savior’s love to me; Love to the loveless shown, That they might lovely be. O who am I, That for my sake My Lord should take Frail flesh, and die?
C
My song is love unknown,
G
My
C
Savior's
G
love to
C
me;
Love
F
to the
G7
loveless
C
shown,
That
Am
they might
Dm
love
C
ly
G
be.
O who am
C
I,
That
F
for my sake
My
Dm
Lord should take
Frail
C
flesh,
G7
and
C
die?
2
He came from His blest throne Salvation to bestow; But men made strange, and none The longed-for Christ would know: But oh, my Friend, My Friend indeed, Who at my need His life did spend.
He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed-for Christ would know:
But oh, my Friend,
My Friend indeed,
Who at my need
His life did spend.
C
He came from His blest throne
G C
Salvation
G
to
C
bestow;
But
F
men made
G7
strange, and
C
none
The
Am Dm
longed-for
C
Christ
G
would know:
But oh, my
C
Friend,
My
F
Friend indeed,
Who
Dm
at my need
His
C
life
G7
did
C
spend.
3
Sometimes they strew His way, And His sweet praises sing; Resounding all the day Hosannas to their King: Then “Crucify!” Is all their breath, And for His death They thirst and cry.
Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then "Crucify!"
Is all their breath,
And for His death
They thirst and cry.
C
Sometimes they strew His way,
G
And
C
His sweet
G
praises sing;
F
Resounding
G7
all the
C
day
Am
Hosannas
Dm
to
C
their
G
King:
Then
C
"Crucify!"
Is
F
all their breath,
And
Dm
for His death
They
C
thirst
G7
and
C
cry.
4
They rise and needs will have My dear Lord made away; A murderer they save, The Prince of life they slay. Yet cheerful He To suffering goes, That He His foes From thence might free.
They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they save,
The Prince of life they slay.
Yet cheerful He
To suffering goes,
That He His foes
From thence might free.
C
They rise and needs will have
G
My
C
dear Lord
G
made
C
away;
A
F G7
murderer they
C
save,
The
Am
Prince of
Dm
life
C
they
G
slay.
Yet cheerful
C
He
To
F
suffering goes,
That
Dm
He His foes
From
C
thence
G7
might
C
free.
5
In life, no house, no home My Lord on earth might have; In death, no friendly tomb, But what a stranger gave. What may I say? Heav’n was His home; But mine the tomb Wherein He lay.
In life, no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have;
In death, no friendly tomb,
But what a stranger gave.
What may I say?
Heav'n was His home;
But mine the tomb
Wherein He lay.
C
In life, no house, no home
G
My
C
Lord on
G
earth might
C
have;
In
F
death, no
G7
friendly
C
tomb,
But
Am
what a
Dm C
stranger
G
gave.
What may I
C
say?
Heav'n
F
was His home;
But
Dm
mine the tomb
C
Wherein
G7
He
C
lay.
6
Here might I stay and sing, No story so divine; Never was love, dear King, Never was grief like Thine. This is my Friend, In whose sweet praise I all my days Could gladly spend.
At such a time we need to pray, saying, “Lord, have mercy on me. I do not want to walk by this ugly flesh instigated by Your enemy. I want to enjoy You, Lord. ” Then, perhaps with tears, we may go on to pray, “Father, I take Your Son, my dear Lord, as my burnt offering. I cannot be absolutely for You, but I can enjoy such a life in Him. I take Him as my burnt offering to offer to You, Father. I also take Him as my daily food. ” This will bring us into the enjoyment of Christ as the peace offering. Then, as we are before the Lord, we will be enlightened and exposed, and we will see what kind of person we are. At this point we need the dear Lord Jesus as our sin offering. This is to take as our sin offering the very Christ who is our burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering. This sequence is not a doctrinal matter. Rather, it is according to our personal, and often painful, experience.
The main word stressed in Isaiah 12 is salvation. God is our salvation, and Jah Jehovah is our strength and song. Strength and song both indicate experience. When God’s salvation is experienced by us, this salvation becomes our strength, and eventually it will be our song, our praising. The strength and the song are experiences of salvation. In our experiences our God is Jah and Jehovah. In the New Testament, our God is called Jesus and Christ. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are calling upon Him, we can say in a very intimate way, “My Lord Jesus Christ. ” Sometimes we can express this in a more dear way by saying, “My dear Lord Jesus Christ. ” Jah Jehovah in the New Testament is our Lord Jesus Christ.
We sang this song at church this past Sunday. A brother shared that "yet for the joy to suffering goes" (see change to stanza 4 below) refers to us. We are that joy that the Lord saw as His prize to be willing to endure the cross. That joy is both for us corporately as His church, and for each of us individually as saved sinners.
I think an improvement to stanza 4 would be to change "cheerful He" to "for the joy", which is true according to Hebrews 12:2 and keeps the intention of the hymn's author.
Samuel Crossman was associated with the Bristol Cathedral in England and became its dean shortly before his death. He published a small book called "The Young Man's Meditation." This hymn was lost for nearly 200 years until it was revived in 1868 in the "Anglican Hymn Book." - Songs of the Spirit by Martin
----------------
In stanza 4, the word "cheerful" is not accurate to describe the Lord's emotions while being led to the cross. Some hymnals have changed it to "steadfast" (I think correctly).
-------------------
There is an additional stanza following stanza 3 above:
Thank You Lord that never was love, never was grief so great like Thine. And this is our Friend, He is right in our spirit, we need to spend endless days singing His praise!
This is another gem hymn on the Lord's dynamic complete suffering as a God-man, with the Father's compassion and forgiveness of the sins of all mankind. What a hymn of the divine and mystical truth signified by His all-inclusive and all-encompassing death on the cross. Amen!! Thank You Lord Jesus for Your marvelous accomplishment. You alone art worthy to be praised!
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At such a time we need to pray, saying, “Lord, have mercy on me. I do not want to walk by this ugly flesh instigated by Your enemy. I want to enjoy You, Lord. ” Then, perhaps with tears, we may go on to pray, “Father, I take Your Son, my dear Lord, as my burnt offering. I cannot be absolutely for You, but I can enjoy such a life in Him. I take Him as my burnt offering to offer to You, Father. I also take Him as my daily food. ” This will bring us into the enjoyment of Christ as the peace offering. Then, as we are before the Lord, we will be enlightened and exposed, and we will see what kind of person we are. At this point we need the dear Lord Jesus as our sin offering. This is to take as our sin offering the very Christ who is our burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering. This sequence is not a doctrinal matter. Rather, it is according to our personal, and often painful, experience.
Life-study of Leviticus
Chapter 18 (LSM)
The main word stressed in Isaiah 12 is salvation. God is our salvation, and Jah Jehovah is our strength and song. Strength and song both indicate experience. When God’s salvation is experienced by us, this salvation becomes our strength, and eventually it will be our song, our praising. The strength and the song are experiences of salvation. In our experiences our God is Jah and Jehovah. In the New Testament, our God is called Jesus and Christ. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are calling upon Him, we can say in a very intimate way, “My Lord Jesus Christ. ” Sometimes we can express this in a more dear way by saying, “My dear Lord Jesus Christ. ” Jah Jehovah in the New Testament is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Life-study of Isaiah
Chapter 40 (LSM)
Duncanville, TX, United States
There is another set of words, most beautiful for this tune- John Kent's lyrics:
One of the stanzas says:
Preserved by Jesus when, my feet made haste to hell.
And there should I have gone but Thou dost all things well.
Thy love was great, Thy mercy free,
Which from the pit delivered me.
Detroit, Michigan, United States
We sang this song at church this past Sunday. A brother shared that "yet for the joy to suffering goes" (see change to stanza 4 below) refers to us. We are that joy that the Lord saw as His prize to be willing to endure the cross. That joy is both for us corporately as His church, and for each of us individually as saved sinners.
Oxford, United Kingdom
My favourite hymn
Temuco, Chile
en español esta este himno,o alguien tiene este himno en español es muy disfrutable!
Detroit, MI, United States
I think an improvement to stanza 4 would be to change "cheerful He" to "for the joy", which is true according to Hebrews 12:2 and keeps the intention of the hymn's author.
Detroit, MI, United States
Samuel Crossman was associated with the Bristol Cathedral in England and became its dean shortly before his death. He published a small book called "The Young Man's Meditation." This hymn was lost for nearly 200 years until it was revived in 1868 in the "Anglican Hymn Book." - Songs of the Spirit by Martin
----------------
In stanza 4, the word "cheerful" is not accurate to describe the Lord's emotions while being led to the cross. Some hymnals have changed it to "steadfast" (I think correctly).
-------------------
There is an additional stanza following stanza 3 above:
Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
themselves displease,
and 'gainst him rise.
Kampala, Uganda
Thank You Lord that never was love, never was grief so great like Thine. And this is our Friend, He is right in our spirit, we need to spend endless days singing His praise!
Fullerton, CA, United States
This is another gem hymn on the Lord's dynamic complete suffering as a God-man, with the Father's compassion and forgiveness of the sins of all mankind. What a hymn of the divine and mystical truth signified by His all-inclusive and all-encompassing death on the cross. Amen!! Thank You Lord Jesus for Your marvelous accomplishment. You alone art worthy to be praised!