Wednesday, June 3, 2009

At the Cross

My mind keeps returning to the Isaac Watts' classic, "At the Cross." Every time I hear the song I think about John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. When Christian sees the cross the burden upon his back falls off and rolls down the hill into an empty tomb and is seen no more. It is a similar experience for everyone who comes to the cross for salvation. Their sin is removed by the marvelous work of Christ. Watts captures the essence of a cross centered life with these words:

Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sov'reing die?
Would he devote that sacred head, For such a worm as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done, He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree!

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day!

Well might the sun in darkness hide, And shut his glories in,
When Christ the mighty Maker died, For man, the creature's sin.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away, 'Tis all that I can do.

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day!

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