Since we’re supposed to be teaching one another with hymns, I’ve been chosing hymns that teach us something about a particular Christian doctrine. This week’s featured doctrine taught in a hymn is the doctrine of propitiation.
Christ’s death was a propitiatory sacrifice. That means that his death turned the wrath of God that was due to us away from us, so if a hymn is going to teach propitiation, then it should probably mention God’s wrath, right? If you do a search in The Cyber Hymnal for the word wrath, you’ll find that almost all of them speak of God’s wrath only in the context of the final judgment, and the few that speak of God’s wrath in relation to Christ’s work are probably not going to be found in your church hymnal.
However, I can think of two recent hymns that teach about the propitiatory nature of Christ’s work, so I’ve chosen to feature one of those, just to prove that we don’t have to confine ourselves to 200-year-old hymns in order to teach one another in the songs we sing. This song lays propitiation right out for you: Christ became sin for us, bore the wrath due to us as penalty for our sin, and in that way propitiated God’s wrath and we are forgiven.
Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.
CHORUS
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.
Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.
Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.
FINAL CHORUS
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend, Copyright © 2005, Thankyou Music
You’ve got to love a song with so many colons, semi-colons and dashes.
Here are a couple previous posts dealing with propitiation:
Any guesses about the other recent hymn that teaches propitiation?
Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today: