1) When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but Loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
2) Forbid it, LORD, that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ my God
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His Blood
3) See from His head, His hands, His feet
Sorrow and love flowed mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet?
Or thorns composed so rich a crown?
4) His dying crimson like a robe
Spread over His body on the tree
Then am I dead to all the globe
And all the globe is dead to me
5) Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life , my all —
This is the best song in the English language – so profound and so deep in its depths! Even Charles Wesley said that he was willing to give up all his hymns if he could only write just only this one called, “WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS”.
And Charles Wesley wrote 6,000 hymns in his life time – 10 times more than Isaac Watts’ 600″s.
Just like Mt Faber in Singapore, Penang Hill on Penang Island and Gasing Ridge in KL I have found a place in Iskandar, Johor called Flora Heights
Here I have spent hundreds of times praying and in meditation over the years. During meditation 3 hymns moved me to tears as the Holy Spirit brought Jesus’s suffering before my vision –
- Alas and did My Saviour Bleed
- When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
- There is a Fountain Filled with Blood
May the Holy Spirit of God makes Christ real again as we explore this hymn
When I survey
To survey means to ” look at, look over, take a look at, observe, view, contemplate, regard, see, gaze at, stare at”
It is like focusing all our attention on an object to get all the details we can find.
” the Wondrous Cross” There are 7 Wonders in the World which men have gone to see and among them are the Great Wall of China and the Taj Hahal of India.
To wonder means, ”
a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar”
Here before us is the WONDER OF ALL WONDERS – “THE WONDROUS CROSS”
The Cross as the world sees it – is an instrument of torture invented during the Roman times. Untold suffering is inflicted to men in a slow, shameful death.
Yet God chose to give Mankind a demonstration of Love, Obedience, Forgiveness, Power and Ultimate Deliverance
IT IS A WONDROUS CROSS ON WHICH THE PRINCE OF GLORY DIED
Jesus Christ is with God the Father in Glory from Eternity to Eternity. At this point in time He came down to earth and died a death for all of us.
Beholding this sight Isaac Watts wrote, “My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride” It is a revulsion of the highest degree against the sinful self in us… the pride, the sin, the ingrained unbelief.
Focusing our eyes only and solely on Jesus there is nothing to boast then except in The Death of Christ My God. All the vain things of earth that charm and ensnare now look dim as we in love sacrifice them to His Blood.
His Blood?
Yes His Very Blood – The Very Life of Life
See the Blood flowed from His head, his hands, his feet
His head for what He thinks of me, “For the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost” Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
His hands..”He made this world. He healed the sick, raised the dead & feed thousands with 5 loves & 2 fishes”
His feet…”He always walked in obedience and finally he walked to Calvary
SEE FROM HIS HEAD, HIS HANDS, HIS FEET
They were wounded & pierced by thorns & nails and Blood gushed out and flowed down
SORROW AND LOVE FLOWED MINGLED DOWN
The Blood that Flowed from His Right Hand is the Blood of Love. And From His Left Hand Flowed the Blood of Sorrow. He loved therefore He died for us. He sorrowed because all the billion sins were laid on Him. And God The Father forsook him.
As the Blood Flowed Mingled down there merged as a puddle at The Foot of the Cross. This turned into A Fountain of Blood
The wonder now is a question, “Did ever such love and sorrow meet?”
No. There is no such love like this. God – the Very God. Became man – the very man. And to die for the creature man that He created?
For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life
Because this Love entails the greatest pain and SORROW to the Trinity. At this point in time the Trinity splits
“MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME” Cried Jesus to His Father. The answer: “BUT THOU ART HOLY”
And so the Father turned from His only begotten Son in Sorrow.
“Did ever such love and sorrow meet?”
Yes it Did. “ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY!”
To be continued….