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We sing the praise of Him who died,
Of Him who died upon the Cross;
The sinner’s hope let men deride,
For this we count the world but loss.
Of Him who died upon the Cross;
The sinner’s hope let men deride,
For this we count the world but loss.
2
Inscribed upon the Cross we see
In shining letters, God is love!
He bears our sins upon the tree,
He brings us mercy from above.
In shining letters, God is love!
He bears our sins upon the tree,
He brings us mercy from above.
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The Cross: it takes our guilt away;
It holds the fainting spirit up;
It cheers with hope the gloomy day,
And sweetens every bitter cup.
It holds the fainting spirit up;
It cheers with hope the gloomy day,
And sweetens every bitter cup.
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The balm of life, the cure of woe,
The measure and the pledge of love,
The sinner’s refuge here below,
The angels’ theme in heav’n above.
The measure and the pledge of love,
The sinner’s refuge here below,
The angels’ theme in heav’n above.
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GOD’S LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY
Why is salvation of Jehovah? Why is God interested in man? In a general way, we can say that it is because God is love. But more specifically, it is because God loves man. If God did not love man, He would not need to save him. Salvation is accomplished because, on the one hand, man has sinned and, on the other hand, God has loved. If man had not sinned, there would be no place and no way for the love of God to be manifested. And if man had sinned but God had not loved, nothing would have been achieved either. Salvation is accomplished and the gospel is preached because on the one hand God has loved and on the other hand man has sinned.
Man’s sin shows us man’s need. God’s love shows us God’s provision. If there is only the need without the provision, nothing can be done. But if there is the provision without the need, the provision will be wasted. Salvation is accomplished and the gospel is preached due to the two greatest facts in the universe. The first is that man has sinned and the second is that God loves man. These are two immutable facts. They are two facts that the Bible emphasizes. If you drop either of these two ends, salvation will be lost. You do not need to drop both ends. As long as one end is gone, there will be no possibility for salvation to be accomplished. God has love and man has sin. Because of these two facts, there is salvation and there is the gospel.
GOD’S LOVE
The Bible never fails to point out the love of God. In our Bible study this time, we will cover the truth of the gospel only in a sketchy way. We will mention a lot of things, but will not consider them in detail. Tonight I cannot cover every aspect concerning the love of God found in the Bible. I can mention this matter only briefly. We must consider three aspects of the love of God. First, God is love. Second, God loves man. And third, the expression of God’s love is in the death of Christ.
God Is Love
Let us come to the first point: God is love. This is recorded in 1 John 4:16 . Here it does not say that God loves. Nor does it say that God may love, or that God can love, or that God has loved or will love. Rather, it says that God is love. What does it mean to say that God is love? It means that God Himself, His nature and His being, is love. If we can say that God has a substance, then God’s substance is love.
The greatest revelation of the Bible is that God is love. This revelation is what man needs the most. Man has many conjectures and theories about God. We ponder all the time about what kind of God our God is, what kind of heart our God has, what intentions God has toward man, what God Himself is like. You can ask anyone about his idea of God, and he will give you his concept. He will think that God is this kind of God or that kind of God. All the idols in the world and all the images made by man are products of man’s imagination. Man thinks that God is a fierce God or a severe God. He pictures God this way and that way. Man is always trying to reason and to explore what God is like. In order to correct the different conjectures man has concerning God, He manifests Himself in the light of the gospel and shows man that He is not an unapproachable or unfathomable God.
What is God then? God is love. This statement will not be clear to you unless I give an illustration. Suppose that there is a patient person. He has patience no matter what he encounters and no matter how difficult or bad the conditions are. For such a person, we cannot say that he has acted patiently. The adverb patiently cannot be used to describe him. Nor can we say that he is patient, using an adjective. We must say that he is patience itself. Perhaps we would not refer to him by his name. Instead, behind his back we would say that Patience has come or that Patience has spoken. When we say that God is love, we mean that love is the nature of God. He is love from inside to outside. Therefore, we would not say that God is loving, using an adjective, or that God loves, using a verb. Rather, we would say that God is love, applying the noun to Him.
The Gospel of God
Chapter 2 (LSM) CWWN, vol. 28
Accra, Greater Accra Region, Ghana
Thank you very much for making it possible for me to access this hymn upon a click of a button.
Indeed this is one of my favorite hymns. It's so inspiring and soul touching and also gives we the hope as Jesus Christ died on the cross to cleanse away our sin.
May the Lord help us to flee from sin and do His will.
May the good LORD bless you.
Amen.
Detroit, MI, United States
Thomas Kelly was the only son of Judge Kelly of Kellyville, Ireland. While studying to become a lawyer, he became convicted of sin. Eventually he found peace with God through justification by faith. In 1792, with several other evangelicals, he was ordained a minister of the Church of Ireland. Kelly met with great opposition from his family because he preached the doctrine of justification by faith alone and not by works. Apparently, he said it would have been less of a trial to go to the stake than to set himself against those he loved. He married at the age of 30. Soon after his ordination, he left the established church and became a Dissenter. He raised up a number of independent churches. He suffered a stroke at the age of 85 while preaching and died a year later. Most of his life he went from place to place in Ireland, preaching the gospel. He is credited with 765 hymns. Kelly is able to handle difficult meters with dexterity. Most of his hymns which are still in use today are hymns of praise. This hymn is one of his most popular. - Songs of the Spirit by Martin
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See Patrick's comment on 3/31/2010 for another stanza. It goes before the last stanza.
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Re. HopethroughJesus' comment 10/14/2011. I find it odd that "Cross" is capitalized. Most publications of this hymn do not capitalize it at all, but some do. The Little Flock Hymnbook of the Brethren capitalizes it in stanza 3, but not in stanzas 1 or 2, which makes sense because in stanzas 1 & 2 it refers to the instrument of His death, but in stanza 3 it refers to the Lord's death on our behalf.
Thank you, Patrick, for your very thoughtful comment. St John says, We beheld His glory, the glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The disciples saw this glory in Jesus' life, death and resurrection. And this fullness we receive!
I like the tune, but believe some of the words should be altered to give Jesus praise for His sacrifice. It sounds like a piece of wood did everything which I don't believe the writer intended.
London, United Kingdom
"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" Psalm 85:10
This hymn is like that scripture. A beautiful tune and powerful words are joined together. There is another verse to this hymns that goes:
"It makes the coward spirit brave, and nerves the feeble arm for fight; it takes the terror from the grave, and gilds the bed of death with light."