New, Cross-Centered Stanza of "Holy, Holy, Holy"

"Holy, Holy, Holy" is one of the all-time classic and beloved hymns of English hymnody. And for good reason. It's God-centered and Trinitarian in its theology (it was originally written for Trinity Sunday), and it's majestic musically.

But for some time now, I've felt as if there's been something missing from this classic hymn. There's no stanza that's explicitly Christ-centered and cross-centered. While the cross certainly displays the love and grace and mercy of God, it also displays the holiness of God. And this is a truth that is often overlooked. So why not highlight this truth in a hymn about the holiness of God? We need to be reminded that sin has cost God greatly. At Calvary, God not only unleashed His mercy; He also upheld His holiness - all at the cost of His beloved Son.

So I've written a new stanza to sing with "Holy, Holy, Holy" to try and communicate these truths. I'm sure other hymnwriters could offer a better additional stanza than this one, but here is my attempt to provide a Christ-centered and cross-centered stanza to a classic hymn (we're going to sing it at our church between the original third and fourth stanzas).  

Holy, holy, holy! raise our eyes to Calv'ry,
That we might behold Thy Son condemned upon the tree.
Oh, how sin has cost Thee; oh, Thy grace and mercy!
Christ, fully punished; sinners, fully free!

The Cradle and the Cross

"The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context."

--J.I. Packer, Knowing God

HT: Of First Importance

Christ Crucified

A poetic reminder from B.B. Warfield that it's not merely Christ that we proclaim, but Christ our Redeemer, Christ our Savior, and thus Christ crucified:

A Christless cross no refuge for me;
A Crossless Christ my Savior not be;
But, O Christ crucified! I rest in Thee!

--B.B. Warfield

Oh, To See My Name Written in the Wounds

The Power of the Cross
Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

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.

Christ, Our Substitute

Alistair Begg on the necessity of seeing Christ's death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice:

Without substitution the death of Jesus is unintelligible.  Unless what we have [in the cross] is what is being described in 2 Corinthians 5:21, that he was made sin for us - not that he was a sinner for us - but made sin for us, then how else do you explain it? What possible justification could God have for crucifying the innocent unless in substitution he became all that we are in our sin and rebellion in order that, in the mastery and mystery of his grace, in him we might become the very righteousness of God?

No Arrogance Beside the Cross

As an illustration of cross-centered humility in one of his exegetical works, Don Carson tells of the opportunity he had to interview Dr. Carl Henry and Dr. Kenneth Kantzer, two of the most influential evangelical theologians in America in the last century.  Near the end of the interview, he asked them:

You two men have been extraordinarily influential for almost half a century.  Without wanting to indulge in cheap flattery, I must say that what is attractive about your ministries is that you have retained integrity.  Both of you are strong, yet neither of you is egotistical.  You have not succumbed to eccentricity in doctrine, nor to individualistic empire-building. In God's good grace, what has been instrumental in preserving you in these areas?

Carson then reports the following:

Both sputtered in deep embarrassment.  And then one of them ventured, with a kind of gentle outrage, "How on earth can anyone be arrogant when standing beside the cross?" 

Three Words at the Heart of the Gospel

"The utter uniqueness of the Christian message — the heart of the gospel — is found in the three words of Christ from the cross, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). The message of every other religious system, without exception, is predicated on some variation of another three words, which stand starkly opposed to the gospel’s three words. Religion’s three words are: ‘Get to work.’ And this is the heart of the bad news behind every approach to spirituality, enlightenment, or salvation that is not Christian."

--Jared Wilson, Gospel Wakefulness

HT: Of First Importance 

The First (and Last) Time Jesus Spoke and Nothing Happened

Here's the way The Jesus Storybook Bible captures the cry of Jesus from the cross and the forsaking silence of the Father:

"Papa?" Jesus cried, frantically searching the sky. "Papa? Where are you? Don't leave me!"

And for the first time - and the last - when he spoke, nothing happened. Just a horrible, endless silence. God didn't answer.

--Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible

Never Moving Beyond the Cross

"We never move on from the cross of Christ - only into a more profound understanding of the cross."

--David Prior, The Message of 1 Corinthians

Download Bloodlines for Free

Desiring God Ministries has generously made John Piper's recent book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, available as a free download. Click here for the details.

Whether or not you affirm Piper's theological convictions regarding Calvinism (which are defined and defended in the middle section of the book), the chapters on the front end and back end are well worth the read...especially when it's free.

The Sanctifying and Comforting Effect of the Cross

"Let the cross of Christ be often before our minds. Rightly understood, no object in all Christianity is so likely to have a sanctifying as well as a comforting effect on our souls."

--J.C. Ryle

Cling to the Cross

"Cling to the cross, sinner. If the earth sink beneath thee, cling on; if storms should rage, and all the floods be out, and even God himself seem to be against thee, cling to the cross. There is thy hope. Thou canst not perish there."

--Charles Spurgeon

Surveying the Wondrous Cross

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

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 I am 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.

The Stain of Guilt, the Weight of Sin

"Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?'"

--J.C. Ryle

The Sparks of the Blazing Fire

"The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us."

--John Stott

The Lessons of the Cross

"The lessons of the cross are ones we never outgrow, for the further we go the deeper we get."

--Rebecca Pippert

HT: Of First Importance

Visiting a Place Called Calvary

"Every time we look a the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size."

--John Stott, The Message of Galatians

HT: Of First Importance

The Cradle and the Cross

"The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context."

--J.I. Packer, Knowing God

HT: Of First Importance

No Greater Mystery

"At the cross the creation itself took hold of the Creator; the creation entombed the Creator. At the cross the loftiest heights came down to the deepest depths; at the cross the hands of men pierced the hands that made humankind. There could be no greater mystery."

--Mark Noll

The Perpetual Monotony of the Cross

Let us never tire of preaching (or hearing) the perpetual monotony of the cross:

Saintly ones find here, in the perpetual monotony of the cross, a greater variety than in all other doctrines put together. Preach you Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and nothing else but Christ, and opened ears shall find in your ministry a wondrous harmony of linked sweetnesses, a charming perfectness of all manner of delicious voices. All good things lie within the compass of the cross; its outstretched arms overshadow the whole world of thought; from the east even unto the west it sheds a hallowed influence; meanwhile, its foot is planted deep in the eternal mysteries, and its top pierces all earth-born clouds, and rises to the throne of the Most High. Christ is lifted up upon the cross, that he may draw all men unto him; and if we desire to draw them, this must be our magnet.

--Charles Spurgeon, Majesty in Misery (Volume 1)