And Can It Be?

And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me? Who caused His pain! For me? Who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left his Father’s throne above (so free, so infinite His grace!),
Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’ eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Charles Wesley was the author of this particular hymn.  The hymn title is probably not as well known as the last line of the first verse “Amazing Love.  How can it be!”  I get the sense from the first line of this song that the author is almost dumbfounded by the fact that his God would die for him.   If you truly pause and think about this, what an unbelievable concept!  Can it truly be that the Creator of the Universe – someone without sin – would die for all of us who are full of sin?  Or on a more personal level, would die for me?  Is it really true that I now share in His glory and have eternal life when I don’t deserve it?  If we ponder on that for awhile, I think we will also find ourselves dumbfounded. 

There are a couple of phrases in this hymn that I think are worth spending some time thinking about:

• “To death pursued?” – When I think about the word “pursued,” I get a mental picture of a high speed police chase.  The police have one focus and are pursuing a car with an intense purpose at an intense speed.  When I think about Passion week, I don’t always view it in that light.  I, erroneously, get a feeling that the events of that week are inevitable, and that they happen at a “normal” pace.  Jesus knows He will enter Jerusalem to the cries of Hosanna.  He knows that He will be betrayed, beaten and eventually crucified.  But I rarely think about His “pursuing” His own death on the Cross.  I am reminded of a couple of things, however.  The story of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemene was one display of the intensity of His mission and His purpose.  “Sweat drops of blood.”  How much more intense can you get than that?  Secondly, the Bible tells us that Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain from the foundation of the world.  This event didn’t happen by chance, but was the result of God’s perfect plan, and Jesus “pursued” that plan with everything in Him.
• “Emptied Himself of all but love” – I really like this phrase.  Christ emptying Himself of His glory and majesty and giving up everything, except for the greatest thing – Love.  In Phillipians 2, the Bible says Christ “…made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”  What a powerful reminder of His great love.
• Picture of imprisonment – Can you envision a prison cell from 2,000 years ago?  A dungeon – dirty, dark, and hopeless.  Surrounded by the worst of all criminals.  Maybe the type of prison Paul and Silas experienced in Acts Chapter 16.  All of a sudden God enters the prison and it fills with His light and glory.  He looks at you, and your chains and shackles fall off, and you are free.  What would be your reaction?  I would hope that it is like the author’s “I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”  All of us have been prisoners to sin with a death sentence on our lives (For the wages of sin is death).  However, we have been set free, and now it is our responsibility, duty and obligation to follow Him.

This past week, Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for committing a multi-Billion dollar fraud for the last 30 years.  If you aren’t familiar with this case, Mr. Madoff defrauded investors, lied about the financial performance of his funds, stole family fortunes and non-profit investment portfolios, and ultimately ruined the financial security of many people.  Although the vast majority of the blame lies with Mr. Madoff, many people ignored the “warning signs” when investing with Mr. Madoff because they all wanted “something for nothing.”  They wanted a great return on their investment without taking a great risk.  This hymn has several financial words in it – Gain, Interest, Free, and Own, and reminded me of an important spiritual truth found using some some basic financial concepts.  We all have gained a tremendous amount with no investment of our own.  Christ invested His life.  We reap the reward.  Christ left Heaven’s glory and became nothing.  We get to go to Heaven at no cost to us.  We don’t just get “something for nothing,” we get “everything for nothing.”  That truth should humble us, but also should convict us to share this great truth with others, and to return back to God a small portion on the investment He has made for us and in us.