The cross of Christ is central to the message of Christianity. All four Gospel accounts give us an abbreviated summary of the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, but devote great detail to the final week, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. Jesus repeatedly told His followers that it was necessary that He “must” suffer and die on the cross.
The hymnals in our pews reflect the biblical message by having a large number of hymns about the cross … Beneath the Cross of Jesus, Lift High the Cross, Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross, In the Cross of Christ I Glory, The Old Rugged Cross. Certainly the greatest of these is When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
The author of this beloved hymn, Isaac Watts, was born in England in 1674, nine years before the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. On the continent, Lutheran churches were singing chorales (“hymns of human composure”). But in England and Scotland, Reformed churches were committed to singing exclusively from the Psalms, believing that God’s people should be singing God’s words, and that the Psalms were given for this very purpose.
Young Isaac demonstrated extraordinary poetic gifts. At the age of seven he composed this acrostic based on his name, reflecting the solid Calvinistic theology he learned from his pastor father and the Nonconformist church in which he was raised and in which he would later be ordained to pastoral ministry.
“I” – I am a vile, polluted lump of earth
“S” – So I’ve continued ever since my birth
“A” – Although Jehovah, grace doth daily give me
“A” – As sure this monster, Satan, will deceive me
“C” – Come therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws relieve me.
“W” – Wash me in Thy blood, O Christ
“A” – And grace divine impart
“T” – Then search and try the corners of my heart
“T” – That I in all things may be fit to do
“S” – Service to Thee, and Thy praise too.
Watts’ abilities in language went far beyond everyday rhymes, however. He learned Latin at four, Greek at nine, French at ten, and Hebrew at thirteen. By 1702 he had become pastor of the Mark Lane Independent Chapel, where he remained until his death in 1749.
Frustrated with the occasionally passion-less Psalm singing of his time, young Watts sometimes criticized the singing at his church, noting that while the Psalms all ultimately pointed to Jesus, on Sundays they never sang the name of Jesus or the details of the New Testament gospels and epistles. His father challenged him to write something better.
This launched his hymn writing, which ultimately led to nearly 600 compositions, many of them paraphrases of Psalms in which Watts made it clear that they spoke of Jesus. Thus Psalm 98 became Joy to the World, Psalm 72 became Jesus Shall Reign, and Psalm 90 became Our God, Our Help in Ages Past. He published these and others in a hymnal titled Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament.
Watts also wrote hymns that departed from the Psalms and included more personal expressions of a doctrinal and devotional nature. His Hymns and Spiritual Songs, a collection of 210 of his hymns, included these: Alas, and Did my Savior Bleed, Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, Join All the Glorious Names, and I Sing the Mighty Power of God. Though churches were slow to move beyond Psalm singing, others began to follow Watt’s example. This led to Watts being known as “The Father of English Hymnody.”
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross is a magnificent statement of saving faith in the Lord Jesus, drawing the heart to both the person (who He is) and the work (what He did) of the Lord Jesus. The stanzas combine to form a magnificent literary composition, moving from awe-filled amazement (“I survey”), almost as if one were standing there at Calvary, to the realization that it makes everything else trivial (“vain things that charm me most”), to the love displayed in his wounds (“head, hands, feet, crown”), and finally to the climax of whole-hearted commitment (“demands my soul, my life, my all”).
In stanza 1, we stand and gaze in amazement at the sight of the exalted Prince of Glory humbled as He hangs on the cross which the Old Testament tells us was a sign of the curse of God. And He was indeed cursed in our place, suffering the wrath of God we deserved. That leads us to measure all that we have (our richest gain) and are (our pride) as of no value (loss), and instead pour contempt on whatever turns our attention away from a cross at which we wonder because of who went there for us
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.
In stanza 2, we turn from the cross to speak to the Lord Himself. We sadly acknowledge that we are tempted to boast in things in our life other than the cross … the charms of things we have accomplished, reputations we have built, positions we have attained. But as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, God forbid that I should glory in anything other than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything else that competes for that place of pre-eminence we offer up as a sacrifice to the one who shed His blood to purchase us.
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.
In stanza 3, we sing very quietly of the sight of Jesus’ head (the crown of thorns), Jesus’ hands (nailed to the cross), and Jesus’ feet (impaled on that tree). But what most impresses us is not the blood flowing down from above us, but of the sorrow and love mingled together from His tortured body. This is the greatest love the world has ever witnessed and the greatest crown the world has ever seen.
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.
In stanza 4, we come to a grand conclusion and the music swells to a majestic climax. What should we offer in gratitude to this suffering servant? If we possessed all the riches and treasures of the entire “realm of nature,” that would be “far too small” to express our thankfulness. The hymn ends with a masterful literary phrase that such love “demands” (not merely deserves) “my soul, my life, my all.” And that’s what we will offer Him as we stand in the courts of heaven gazing on this Savior, whose wounds will be the sole imperfection there, eternally reminding us of the cost of our redemption.
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 tune which we most often use was written by Lowell Mason. Before building a major music career in Boston, he served the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia. The melody is based on a plainsong chant. The hymn is found in virtually every hymnal in the English-speaking world. Gilbert Martin, a student at Westminster Choir College, was required to compose an anthem during his senior year as a graduation requirement. His arrangement (published in 1970) has become a staple in almost all church choral libraries.