Good Friday: Mark 15:16-34

Author: 
Alan Marsden
Date: 
Friday, 2 April, 2021 - 10:30

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?

 

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

 

Isaac Watts

 

Extended on a cursèd tree,

Besmear’d with dust, and sweat, and blood,

See there, the King of Glory see!

Sinks and expires the Son of God.

 

Who, who, my Saviour, this hath done?

Who could Thy sacred body wound?

No guilt Thy spotless heart hath known,

No guile hath in Thy lips been found.

 

I, I alone, have done the deed!

‘Tis I Thy sacred flesh have torn;

My sins have caused Thee, Lord, to bleed,

Pointed the nail, and fixed the thorn.

 

The burden, for me to sustain

Too great, on Thee, my Lord, was laid;

To heal me, Thou hast borne my pain;

To bless me, Thou a curse wast made.

 

My Saviour, how shall I proclaim?

How pay the mighty debt I owe?

Let all I have and all I am,

Ceaseless to all Thy glory show.

 

Too much to Thee I cannot give;

Too much I cannot do for Thee;

Let all Thy love, and all Thy grief,

Grav’n on my heart for ever be!

 

Paulus Gerhardt, tr. John Wesley

 

Oh Love divine! What Thou hast done?

Th’immortal God hath died for me!

The Father’s co-eternal Son

Bore all my sins upon the tree;

Th’immortal God for me hath died;

My Lord, my Love is crucified.

 

Behold Him, all ye that pass by,

The bleeding Prince of life and peace!

Come, sinners, see your Maker die,

And say, was ever grief like His?

Come, feel with me His blood applied:

My Lord, my Love is crucified:

 

Is crucified for me and you,

To bring us rebels back to God:

Believe, believe the record true,

Ye all are bought with Jesus’ blood,

Pardon for all flows from His side;

My Lord, my Love is crucified.

 

Then let us sit beneath His Cross,

And gladly catch the healing stream,

All things for Him account but loss

And give up all our hearts to Him;

Of nothing think or speak beside:

My Lord, my Love is crucified.

 

Charles Wesley

 

‘Tis finished, the Messiah dies;

Cut off for sins, but not His own;

Accomplished is the sacrifice,

The great redeeming work is done.

 

‘Tis finished! All the debt is paid,

Justice divine is satisfied;

The grand and full atonement made;

God for a guilty world hath died.

 

The veil is rent in Christ alone;

The living way to heaven is seen;

The middle wall is broken down,

And all mankind may enter in.

 

The types and figures are fulfilled,

Exacted is the legal pain;

The precious promises are sealed;

The spotless Lamb of God is slain.

 

The reign of sin and death is o’er

And all may live from sin set free;

Satan hath lost his mortal power;

‘Tis swallowed up in victory.

 

Saved from the legal curse I am,

My Saviour hangs on yonder tree:

See there the meek, expiring Lamb!

‘Tis finished! He expires for me.

 

Accepted in the Well-beloved,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

I see the bar to heaven removed;

And all Thy merits, Lord, are mine.

 

Death, hell, and sin are now subdued;

All grace is now to sinners given;

And lo, I plead th’atoning blood,

And in Thy right I claim Thy heaven.

 

Charles Wesley