Songs of Faith: How deep the Father’s love for us

How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –
His wounds have paid my ransom.

Stuart Townend.
Copyright © 1995 Thankyou Music

Isn’t this an awesome song? It is full of truth and graphically illustrates the biblical narrative of the the crucifixion. The first two verses pose this question:

How great is the love of God?

We meet this question several times in scripture…in 1 John 3:1 John speaks of the God’s love revealed in relationship with Him.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

The love of God is truly indescribable, wholly sacrificial and wonderfully life-giving.  It is revealed fully in the cross where the sin of the world…your sin…my sin…was laid upon the shoulders of a man who was God, a king who was humbled to the point of a criminal’s death on a cross.

Verse three led me to this question:

Do you ‘boast’ in the victory of the cross?

I wonder have you ever been in debt to someone? I have noticed recently a huge rise in the TV ad campaigns about how to be free from debts…consolidating your loans or whatever. The world is blind to their debt of sin….the debt that cannot be consolidated by man but by God. In Colossians 2:13-15 Paul describes our lives without Christ as dead…because of sin and our sinful nature we are without life. Yet if we believe in Him God has made us alive with Christ. We have the fullness of life with God, life with a hope and life with a higher purpose…a life for the glory of God. Verse 14 says ‘having cancelled the written code’ or as the ESV says ‘the record of debt’…this record has been nailed to the cross were Jesus paid the debt. At that time a notice was fastened to a cross by the Roman authorities declaring the crime for which the criminal was being executed. Our record was nailed to the cross were Jesus paid the debt instead of us…the sinless one who became sin for us. The great courtroom image of God the father looking at us through the cross and we are declared ‘Not guilty!!’ because of Him and through Him we live.