Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Hebrews 9:22
It is Passion week in the Roman Catholic liturgy. During this week we remember the last days and hours of Christ’s ministry and the ending result, our salvation. although with almost 99% certainty the crucifixion did not occur on the day we call “Good Friday,” it is nonetheless the day that we remember the death of Christ and to what some Theologians have postulated, his decent into Hades.
It is during this time that a specialized set of songs and hymns are brought out and I would like to share a few of the more touching ones.
Concerning his Suffering:
“There is a Green Hill Far Away”
lyrics (5th stanza is Refrain under George C. Stebbins’s musical composition)
Cecil F. Alexander wrote this hymn as she sat with her sick daughter. The hymn is a great reminder of how we are to love God as he had died for us. It also tells of that incomprehensible suffering that Christ had to endure to ensure us our chance at salvation.
“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
Written by Isaac Watts, this hymn has lasted through the ages until the present day. The words of this hymn cannot help but make any respectable follower of the Christian faith remember the cross. The first two stanzas show how little we think of the Cross and the errors in the ways in which we [usually] continually live out lives. The third stanza which says
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.
These beautiful sounding words arranged in a simple AbAb rhyme scheme carry so much meaning. Christ was filled with sorrow at seeing our depraved state of sin. It is this sorrow combined with the purest love to be found in the whole universe that is contained in the shedding of blood which has provided for the remission of our sin through the propitiation that was Christ Jesus. In this time in which we directly think of Christ’s death do not these simple and yet beautiful words bring a sense of sorrow and realization as we realize all that Christ has endured that we may be where we are today?
Concerning the Redemption Found in His Blood
The “Old Rugged Cross,” written and put to music by George Bernard, is a hymn regularly played around Easter. It speaks of the characteristics of that saving cross. It bore our shame, it carried God incarnate, it is hated by the world at large, and it caused the releasing of that saving blood. The cross is a beautiful and yet solemn thing. It was the tool of death for the most shamed of criminals, and yet it bore that which would save the world. This ugly instrument of death has a strange sense of beauty that is unrivaled by anything save the triune God himself. So “cherish that old rugged cross.” until the day of death for it is truly beautiful and the symbol of our salvation and faith.
“Nothing but the Blood [of Jesus]”
This simple song is a staple of Sunday schools. I have heard it sung to the wordless book. How fitting this is, the tool of evangelism used with a song that shows how the blood changes a life. “What can wash away our sins?” The answer is and always will be “The blood of Jesus.” The answer to all the questions listed in each stanza will always be “The Blood of Jesus.” However simple these words are, how often do we practice it. How often do we use the given grace to make it though any of those questions? Some of them always, perhaps one or two, never. No matter how simple this song is, no matter how repeated it is, may we always learn from it, may we always grow as we sing it and think on the words.
lyrics (The vid is a fun one . . . you have to love this southern music)
This is a truly fun song to sing (and if you ever watch a gospel choir do this its quite amazing to see how they all move to the music). The song sings of what POWER there is in the blood, power that is found nowhere else. It saves out souls, it gives is victory, it cleanses us and it brings us into communion with God. The song tells of the work of the blood, a reminder of how the work of Christ will never be done until the day of our death, for it is only on our deathbed that we stop growing, and even then only when we gasp our last breath. Let the blood always work in you through the Word. Stay within “The precious blood of the Lamb.”
Concerning the Resurrection Without Which our Salvation Is Incomplete
A favorite of many people, this is another hymn that has been popular throughout the ages. For thee days Christ remained in the ground. He waited for that day, the fulfillment of prophesy, the beginning of the Church Age. This is the first verse. The tune of the hymn corresponds to this attitude. It starts out slow and thoughtful. The somber tone sets for the change in the refrain. “Up from the grave he arose!” Christ lives, he has been resurrected. The hymn moves on to a joyful, fast movement. We are to similarly be joyful that Christ did indeed arise from the dead. “He arose! Hallelujah Christ arose!” Let us always remember this simple and joyful message.
This relatively new hymn (copyright 1971 by William J. Gaither) is a beautiful and simple tune of how through the resurrection of Christ we have obtained salvation; of how through the knowledge of Christ we need not be condemned to a life of moral or existential nihilism. The bible says “we can do all things through Christ.” This song is a reminder of that promise, of how no matter what the problem or struggle is we may gain power and strength through Christ to face these “uncertain days.”
These are all but a few hymns which many have composed to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the salvation we have received thereof. Others include”O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” “Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed?”, “Rock of Ages,” “Are You Washed in the Blood?”, “There is a Fountain Filled With Blood,” “Dwelling in Beulah Land,” “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” and many others. If one has the time, I recommend looking at some of these hymns through the use of Google. Many are spiritually deep and the words alone with usher in a period of quiet contemplation of the subject the poetry of the hymn is on. These hymns provide a great challenge to a life and a reminder of the reason for this season (no pun intended). Always let music bring you closer to an understanding of God.
