The Old Rugged Cross

George Bennard's hymn has been called 'the most popular hymn of the 20th century'. Is it your favourite? Deep words about the meaning of the cross give this hymn an enduring quality.

It's time for another Friday Classic Hymn, and today we're looking at what some have called the most popular hymn of the 20th century. I'd love to hear your memories around this hymn—where you learnt it, if you have any special memories attached to it. Please write those in the comments because this is a great one, and I'm sure that you love this one as much as I do. This is The Old Rugged Cross.

The Story Behind "The Old Rugged Cross"

It was 1913 when George Bennard wrote the song—the words and the music. As a young man living in the town of Lucas, Iowa, Bennard gave his life to Christ. Soon after, his father died and he joined the Salvation Army. He and his first wife actually served as officers in the Salvation Army for many years. However, he ended up becoming ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church and did great work there. He conducted many revival meetings and was well known for his work for the Lord.

Now it was at a revival meeting that things actually went a bit wrong for Bennard. He was heckled by some youth in the meeting, and they made such fun of him that he ended up getting very down and depressed, feeling really at a loss. He left the meeting so dejected that he actually felt as if he was carrying a cross, much like Jesus did on the crucifixion. He decided to do an in-depth study of the cross and what it meant. What he found in his study was that the cross was so much more than just a religious symbol—it took on all sorts of new meaning for him, as it does for us when we look at the lyrics of the song.

The song, once published, became an instant hit. People loved it, and it became very popular, especially in the United States in the country music scene, as people found it to be very deep, very meaningful, and such a great summary of what the cross is all about.

One of the most famous singers who sang it was George Beverly Shea, and he wrote this about this song:

I was just a small boy in Winchester, Ontario, and one day two fine singers from the USA came to our home and asked my mother to play for them whilst they sang a song they said was new: The Old Rugged Cross. I stood transfixed and watched their faces as they described in this tender song the suffering of the Lord. At a later time, I came to know the wonder of God's forgiveness.

Bennard wrote some other hymns, but none came close to the popularity of this great song. He died in 1958 and exchanged the cross for a crown, as his words said. Near the home where he died is a 12-foot cross, and on it says: "The Old Rugged Cross, Home of George Bennard, composer of this beloved hymn." As with all the great hymns, it endures not only because of a great singable melody, but because of the words which are meaningful. So let's look at these lyrics in depth.

What Do the Lyrics of "The Old Rugged Cross" Mean?

Verse 1

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross—isn't that just a sight? I love that thought of looking at the cross far away.

The emblem of suffering and shame—of course that is what the cross was about. It was a symbol of suffering, which is why when Jesus said to His disciples that they must take up their cross (this is before He was crucified), they would have known: is He saying we must follow Him to death and shame? Of course, turns out He was.

It's an odd thing for us to take so much joy in the cross because it was a symbol of the worst type of corporal punishment that the world has ever seen. Yet of course it means so much more than that, as we shall see.

And I love that old cross—the hymnist says.

Where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.

One of the controversies about this hymn is that it glorifies the cross instead of the one who died on the cross. But here he's quite clear at the beginning that it's the dearest and best of all people who died on the cross. That's why we are glorying in the cross—it's because Jesus died there.

Is Jesus the dearest one in your life? In other words, the most precious in your life? And the best? I love that word: the dearest and best means He's not only precious, but He is the greatest, the best of all time. No other human being can come close. Is Jesus the best, the greatest in your eyes?

Well, the dearest and best was slain—slain on the cross. That's quite a violent word. We talk about Jesus's death, but to say that He was slain or slaughtered on the cross brings us back to how violent it was and how brutal His death on this cross really was. But He did it for the world of lost sinners. He did it because that was the way that God would reconcile sinners back to Him, and His blood is enough for all the world to be saved.

Then comes the chorus: So I'll cherish the old rugged cross.

Do you cherish the cross? Is the cross a wonder to you and something so precious and meaningful that your whole life is really based around it?

I'll cherish the old rugged cross, he says, till my trophies at last I lay down.

I remember as a child reading that, being a bit confused by it, because I had a couple of sports trophies up on my wall on a little shelf—for cricket and for athletics and stuff that I'd done—these little trophies. I thought, "Okay, am I going to lay those down?" But of course the text is talking about all sorts of trophies, not only little ones that we might gain like that, but all sorts of treasures and accomplishments in life—our successes and our achievements.

Are they paramount in our lives? Well, even if they are, the truth is one day we will lay them down at the foot of Jesus. One day we will see that His glory so vastly outshines them that they are nothing, and so we will lay them down. All the accomplishments we think we've made in this life, when we meet Jesus on the other side, we're going to just lay them down.

Then he says, I will cling to the old rugged cross.

Is your life a picture of clinging to the old rugged cross? A picture of holding tightly to the God who gave everything for you? Bennard says he will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it one day for a crown.

Now that's an incredible picture of exchanging the cross for a crown. In other words, when he gets there, it's not his trophies and his accomplishments that he thinks are going to get him in, no matter how good they are, no matter how godly they are. He says it's only the cross. If I trade the cross in and say, "Well, I'm a person of the cross. I cling to the cross, and what Jesus did on the cross is my qualification for getting here," then He'll be able to hand it over and receive his crown for being a faithful follower of Jesus.

The only way that you and I are going to make it into the next life is if we are clinging to the old rugged cross as our qualification, placing our faith in what Jesus did on the cross. This is why this hymn has endured as it has, because it just sums up these gospel truths in an amazing way.

Verse 2

Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me.

You see, the world doesn't get the cross. In fact, Paul talks a lot about this in his writing—that to the world, the cross is foolishness. It makes no sense whatsoever for the Saviour of the world to die on a cross. It just doesn't resonate. But for us, there's a wondrous attraction when we know the truth—a wondrous attraction that Jesus, the Lamb of God…as the next line says:

For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.

He walked with it all the way up to that hill to be killed there and to die there for us. For us. This is not just a martyr's death—it's the Lamb of God giving Himself up.

Remember in the Old Testament, the sacrificial system was that pure and undefiled lambs would be offered to God, and our sins would be transferred unto them. They would be killed, and then we would be set free. That was the system. But Jesus was the Lamb of God—once and for all He made a sacrifice by bearing the cross, taking it up to Calvary, and dying on it for our salvation.

Oh, I'll cherish the old rugged cross, he says, because that is where it all happened. Do you cherish what Jesus did on the cross today?

Verse 3

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see.

Again, the author is saying, "I delight in the cross and what it's all about," because there Jesus shed His blood. The cross is stained by His blood. We believe it is the blood of Christ that cleanses us, that washes us. It was when His blood was shed that He bought salvation for us.

When we see the bleeding cross, of course it horrifies us in a sense because He was killed so brutally. But then we remember what it represented—it represented Him taking our place, and His blood washing us clean. So yes, the blood-stained cross is something we cherish greatly. It's a wondrous beauty.

For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me.

Beautiful words. The death of Jesus on the cross pardons us and forgives us for our sin. He took our place, and so we can go free. He gave Himself up as a ransom for us, and so we are forgiven and cleansed, and our sins were put on Him.

Have you experienced this forgiveness yet? Do you know that Christ died in your place, so that if you place your faith in Him, God will see someone cleansed from their sins and forgiven?

But then he also says to sanctify me—typically Methodist Wesleyan thinking here. Being from that theological camp, Bennard says the cross of Christ sanctifies me, makes me practically holy. Not just that God sees me as holy because of something that Jesus did, but the power of the blood makes me a holy person. I now live a life of godliness. I now live a holy life, a sanctified life, because of the cross. The cross not only pardons and forgives us, but it sanctifies us and makes us new, and makes us cleansed and holy in our lives.

Do you know the sanctifying grace of God? It all happened at that old rugged cross.

Verse 4

Verse 4 is just a beautiful promise: To that old rugged cross I will ever be true.

Let's ask ourselves, are we true to the cross today? Are we followers of the cross? Do we take up our crosses and walk behind Jesus and live for Him in everything we do?

I'll ever be true to the cross, he said, its shame and reproach gladly bear.

Now remember, he wrote this when he felt very dejected because a bunch of people had made fun of him. He said, "You know what? I will bear the shame and reproach of being a follower of Jesus." Of course, Jesus spoke so much about His followers bearing all sorts of shame and persecution because they're His followers. Bennard says, "I'll bear it, because look at what Jesus did."

Then look at these final two lines, which are so powerful:

Then He'll call me some day to my home far away, where His glory for ever I'll share.

Looking forward to the day when Jesus came and called him home, which He did, of course, in 1958. Being a man of God and a man of the cross, Bennard surely is now in the glory of Jesus in his new home far away.

What about you? Are you somebody clinging to the old rugged cross so that one day when Jesus comes, He will find you faithful and true?

Conclusion

Let these words inspire you every time you hear them, every time you sing them. Let's be people of the cross, marvelling of course more in Jesus, the one on the cross, but never forgetting that it was what He did on that cross that pardons us, sanctifies us, gives us new life, and one day will give us eternal life.

I hope you enjoyed this look at one of the most beloved hymns of all time. If you'd like to support this ministry, please consider joining my Patreon or giving via PayPal. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel for more hymn studies and biblical content. You might also enjoy my daily devotions and Canaan Melodies.