Without the Cross there would be No Easter

Without the Cross there would be No Easter

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.

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.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,

Spreads o'er His body on the tree:

Then am I dead to all the globe,

And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

By Isaac Watts

            In 1707 Isaac Watts penned the Hymn that we now know as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross it was titled "Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ."  It finds Scriptural basis in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” and Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

            Watts wrote this during a period of history when it was most popular to sing Psalm settings.  It is filled with personal references like: Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood,  then am I dead to all the globe, were the whole realm of nature mine, and demands my soul, my life, my all. These statements do not keep this poem from being considered a hymn, but rather they make it lyric poetry of the highest order.

            Without the cross there would have been no resurrection and no Easter morning.  Therefore, Christian worship leading up to Easter Sunday resurrection  morning is remiss unless it majors on Christ’s  suffering and death.  However, unless these musical remembrances  of Christ’s suffering and death are not brought into focus with what He did for each of us, our musicing is also remiss.  So, as we worship during this Easter season, let every Christian musician’s musicing reflect what he has done personally for each of us.