And Can It Be?
A classic Charles Wesley hymn which he wrote on the occasion of his conversion. Methodists and other Christians have long found this to be a moving and powerful hymn to sing, because we can all relate to Wesley's awe in the amazing love of Christ who died for us sinners.
I want to show you this banner that a friend gave me—it's a Charles Wesley thing. As you can see, it's got some verses from his most famous hymns, and this is just such a lovely thing that a friend gave me. I'm still trying to figure out where to put it. One of the hymns on there is "And Can It Be?", which is one of Wesley's great songs.
I don't know it, as I say quite often on this channel. This is a hymn that I never grew up singing at all, even though I was in a Methodist Church. I've come to know it now and just see the power in these words. Although it sounds a little old-fashioned in the melody, I was playing it for my dad as we were driving the other day in my car. I said, "Listen to this—this is the Friday Classic I'm going to do next." He started singing it straight away. He said, "Oh, we used to sing this a lot when I was growing up. Great song." It really is a classic.
I wonder if it's meant anything to you over the years. Do you know this song? Have you sung it in church before, or do you remember any particular memories associated with "And Can It Be?" Please share it in the comments below. I'd love to know how the song has impacted your life and what words today made an impact on you as you watch the video. By the way, if you haven't subscribed to the channel, I'd love for you to do that. It's free and it'll just notify you when there are new videos so that you can enjoy this type of content more often.
Let me tell you the story behind this famous hymn.
The Story Behind "And Can It Be?"
I've covered Charles Wesley's story before. I've done a few of his hymns already on my channel—you can go and check them out. Just to give you a recap: he was an Anglican minister along with his brother John Wesley, and the two of them were the geniuses behind the Methodist movement. When they started organising Methodist meetings and groups around England, it sparked this great revival in that country, which some say has been the greatest revival since the early church.
Even though they were Anglican ministers, both of these men weren't really born again until later in their lives. They both went off to do some mission work in America in the 1730s and didn't really do very well—came back pretty dejected. Then, within the space of three days, both of them were born again. They came to know God's grace as a free gift rather than something they had to earn, and they both were changed by this amazing understanding of the Gospel.
It is believed that Charles Wesley wrote this within hours of his conversion. It was probably one of his earliest hymns ever. Many people also believe that when John Wesley was converted a few days later, he sang this song. It's such a wonderful song proclaiming God's saving grace.
I think it just goes to show that people who are in church—Christians who may even believe the doctrines of the church quite well—can sometimes forget or miss the real truth of the Gospel, which is that grace is a gift from God and not earned. In fact, Wesley titled this song "Free Grace" (although now it's known as "And Can It Be?" because that's the first line). He entitled it "Free Grace" because that's what he came to know: all of his efforts to do good couldn't save him.
This is something people miss today still. They think, "If I'm just a good enough person, I'll be saved. God will see my good and it will hopefully outweigh my bad, and I'll get into heaven on that basis." Wesley himself finally came to realise: no, no matter how much good I do, I need grace to wash away my sins. That's why he wrote this song.
It's become one of the real classic Methodist hymns—one of the great Methodist hymns. Not only Methodist, of course, but many people in many churches have found this hymn and sung it and just loved singing these words of grace, recognising that He loved me and that He saved me.
Let's take a look at Wesley's words and see why it's so popular.
What Do the Lyrics of "And Can It Be?" Mean?
Wesley wrote six verses, although we usually only sing four or five, I think, in our hymnals. Let's look at all six.
Verse 1: "And can it be that I should gain..."
The famous first verse:
And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Saviour's blood?
This throws me, I have to say—to start a song on the word "and." How can you do that? Because the word "and" must follow something, shouldn't it? I guess you could say, well, having learnt that he was loved, he wrote, "And can it be?" Now that I know this, the word "and" follows on. It seems grammatically strange to me, but nonetheless, what he's saying is more important than the grammar.
He's saying: can it be that I should gain from Jesus' blood, that I should gain an interest in my Saviour's blood, or that I should be saved by His blood? How can it be? These questions fill this verse.
Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued?
Again, that old grammar: did He die for me? He's looking at his sinful life and saying, "But my life offends God. My life has been one of sin which causes God pain and, in a sense, drove Jesus to the cross. How can it be that He would die for me?" But then he makes this beautiful statement:
Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
But this is the good news: that He loves us even though we are sinful. How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me? Amazing love.
This is a beautiful thing to sing, and I hope that you don't miss this. I hope that you don't miss that God's love is amazing—that it is incredible, that it is off the charts, that it is the most ridiculously powerful thing in the world. Do you know God's love is amazing, or does it just wash off of you and not really mean much?
When you realise that though you are sinful and though your sin has offended the holy God, He still loves you—in fact, loves you so much that He would go all the way to the cross to die in your place—died He for me? Wesley said, "How could it be that He died for me?" But He did, and He died for you as well.
Do you know this? Have you come to understand that Jesus died in your place, that your sins are forgiven if you place your faith in Him, because He died for you? Amazing, amazing love.
Verse 2: "'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies..."
Verse two goes like this:
'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies.
That's very powerful. It's a mystery that one who is immortal actually died—because, of course, He became fully human and so died a human death on the cross.
Who can explore His strange design?
Who can understand the depths of this mystery? It's strange, but God designed it. He planned it this way.
In vain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine.
That last little phrase, by the way—"love divine"—is another title of one of Wesley's hymns, which I have planned to do on Friday Classics too. But see what he says: "In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine." Angels themselves, or heavenly beings, try to give expression to the depth of His love, and they can't. We too, in vain, try to write songs that express how deep His love is, and even a beautiful song like this doesn't come close to giving voice to the full beauty of God's love.
Then he goes on to say:
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, Let angel minds inquire no more.
It's all just God's mercy. Let's just adore this mercy. We don't have to try to understand it because we never will. Let's just adore Him because of what He's done.
Verse 3: "He left His Father's throne above..."
Verse three goes like this:
He left His Father's throne above So free, so infinite His grace— Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race.
It's a picture of Jesus coming down to earth in human form. Even though He was there at the Father's throne from the beginning—He was always there with God—He left that glory and came down to the dark earth and gave of Himself, emptied Himself of everything except love. He was a human being completely and utterly filled with love and bled out on the cross for Adam's helpless race. Human beings were helpless to save themselves because of Adam's sin, but He came and gave grace for free—not because we'd earnt it, but because He loved us.
Then he again says:
'Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me!
That same line from verse two: His mercy all, it's all just His love, immense and free. "For oh my God, it found out me." That's an act of worship: "Oh Lord, Your grace has found me." Again, there's that personal element. It's not just a generic thing—it's for me.
This is typical of Wesley's hymns. He loved to express how personal this was for him, as it should be for all of us. This should be personal and real for us.
Verse 4: "Long my imprisoned spirit lay..."
Verse four says:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
He's picturing himself in chains because of his sin.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
Through the darkness, he's saying, a ray of light (Jesus being the light of the world) was seen.
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
It's like he pictured Jesus in front of him in this prison. As he was lying there, imprisoned by his sin, Jesus came and shed light into his life. Then this is a famous line here:
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
This is a wonderful picture of salvation, and this is why people love singing this line: "My chains fell off." This calls to mind the story in Acts 12, where Peter was in prison but an angel of the Lord appeared and his chains fell off. For Wesley, this is a picture of salvation—how Jesus comes and, though we are in prison because of our sin, He comes and takes those chains off so that we can be freed from sin, freed from sin's guilt, freed from sin's power, and able to, as he says, rise up and follow Jesus with a life of holiness and love because of God's grace.
Wonderful. Do you know this? Have your chains been released, been cut off, have they fallen off, and are you walking in the freedom of God's grace? I hope so.
Verse 5: "Still the small inward voice I hear..."
He goes on in verse five to say:
Still the small inward voice I hear, That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Do you know this? Do you know the still small voice of God saying, "Because you've placed your faith in Me, your sins are forgiven. You are set free"?
Then he says:
Still the atoning blood is near, That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
Yes, still in my life right now, the atoning blood of Christ is effective to forgive me and to quench God's wrath. In other words, He's not going to punish me because the blood of Christ is still on me and covering me and saving me from His punishment.
I feel the life His wounds impart; I feel the Saviour in my heart.
I love this line: the Saviour's in my heart. I can feel it, and I can feel the life that has been given to my heart. Do you know the life that Jesus gives? Is He close in your heart?
The wounds that were in His hands and feet were for you so that you don't have to be wounded for your sins, so you can be free and get new life—not only here on earth but for eternity. What good news.
Verse 6: "No condemnation now I dread..."
The last verse says:
No condemnation now I dread;
Which, of course, sounds like Romans 8:1, which says there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
There's that personal touch again. He's mine. He's my Saviour.
Alive in Him, my living Head,
Not dead in sin anymore, but alive in Him—my living head. So the head of my life and of the church and of the world.
And clothed in righteousness divine,
This is a great biblical picture of, again, the old versus the new. When Jesus saves us, He takes away our old sin-stained clothing and clothes us in the righteousness of Himself. We are clothed in holiness. We can know that we stand before God cleansed and clean, beautiful, because our sins are washed away.
He says:
Bold I approach th'eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
I can come to God boldly. This calls to mind a verse in Hebrews that says that we can come boldly before the throne of grace. We don't need to be afraid of God and of His punishment, but we can come boldly by the blood of Christ. We can say, "Lord, I'm not worthy"—so we're still humble—"but I have the blood of Christ covering me, and so I can come into God's presence and receive the crown of life that He gives those who stay faithful to Him."
This is an incredible song. These words are so deep and so powerful. I wonder which words have touched you today. Did one line perhaps jump out at you? Would you write that in the comments below? Which line touched your heart as you listen today?
Conclusion
Let's sing the song. We're going to use the famous tune which was written by Thomas Campbell in the 1800s—beautiful tune. It's very hymn-like: it goes up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. So it's a little bit challenging to sing, but it's a beautiful, soaring melody, and it really brings these words to life.
Sing it. More than that, let these words be true for you. Claim these words as your own, like Wesley, who wrote this after he knew the love of God was given to him freely by grace. Would you look at these words as we sing and proclaim them as your own?
By the way, if you are looking for some resources for your faith, please head over to my website. I've got my daily devotions, Bible in two years reading plan, lots of music. I hope you'll go check it out and be blessed there.
Come, let's sing.
References
Kenneth W. Osbeck. 101 Hymn Stories. 1985. Kregal Publications: Grand Rapids
