My Lord My Love is Crucified (O Love Divine What Hast Thou Done)

Charles Wesley wrote these beautiful words about the crucifixion, published in the 1742 "Hymns and Sacred Poems". I wrote a new tune for it. What a wonderful song for Easter Friday.

This is episode 3 of Wesley's Hidden Gems - a series where I take old Wesley hymns that I think are beautiful, that have no music set to them and have largely been forgotten, but which I think are worth singing today. I'm writing my own music to them and taking you through the words, sharing why I think they're so beautiful.

As I record this, Easter is around the corner. I found this beautiful crucifixion hymn that Wesley wrote from the 1742 Hymns and Sacred Poems hymnal that the Wesleys published - four verses, and they are stunning!

What Do the Lyrics of "My Lord, My Love Is Crucified" Mean?

Verse 1

O love divine, what hast thou done?
The immortal God hath died for me,

Wesley is astonished that this has happened - that Christ has died. He is immortal, and yet He has died. This is one of the great themes of the song: the immortal dies. It is a great mystery to all of us that the immortal God took on flesh and died - and not just arbitrarily, but He died for me. There is a striking contrast between the words "immortal" and "died." I love it.

The Father's co-eternal Son
Bore all my sins upon the tree.

Co-eternal - He is equal to the Father, eternal with the Father from the beginning. We don't believe the Father created Jesus, but that the Son was always with the Father - eternal. But He bore all my sins upon the tree - the cross. His death was Him taking my sins upon Himself on the cross.

The immortal God for me hath died,
My Lord, my love is crucified.

This is what drew me to the song - that line, My Lord, my love is crucified. Wesley says it in every verse, and that became for me the title of the song. "Lord" has a certain respect to it. You're seeing Him for who He is - grand and mighty and wonderful, immortal. He is my Lord; He is the One I serve. But He is also my love - the One I am so drawn to, who affects my desires. I am taken with Him completely. My heart is bowled over by Him! What a beautiful first verse.

Verse 2

Behold Him, all ye that pass by,
The bleeding Prince of life and peace.

The Prince of life and peace is bleeding on the cross. Of course, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." I said in a sermon the other day that if John hadn't been killed, I think he would have been at the cross saying, "Behold the Lamb of God!" to all who were there. So Wesley is saying, "Behold Him, all ye that pass by" - if you're walking past the cross, look and see what's going on here. The One who brought life into existence and who brings peace to the world is bleeding on a cross.

Come, see, worms, your Maker die

This is such an 18th century thing! A lot of the hymn writers would often refer to people as worms - worms in God's eyes, perhaps because of original sin. Remember in Psalm 22, which Jesus quotes as He hangs on the cross, He says, "I am a worm and not a man, despised by all." But Wesley is applying it not to Christ, but to the people passing by - we are the worms who need salvation. Of course, God loves us and wants to save us. We don't need to walk around beating ourselves up as worms, but we need to know that we are in need of His love and His redemption.

And say, "Was ever grief like His?"

The grief that this God in the flesh must have been feeling is unparalleled. What He suffered on the cross is unlike anything else. It makes me all the more amazed at what He did. There is no grief like His. Have you ever thought of it like that? There was never any grief like His.

Come, feel with me His blood applied,
My Lord, my love is crucified.

Now Wesley is making it personal. Instead of just standing and watching, he's saying: put your faith in Him, because then His blood will be applied to your life and you will be cleansed. When you believe in Christ as your substitute - as the One who took your place on the cross - His blood is applied to your soul and you are cleansed. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. The question today, and every day, is: has the blood been applied to your heart? Or do you just pass by, see the Prince of Life on the cross, and keep on going?

Verse 3

Is crucified for me and you,

This is a continuation from the last verse. My Lord, my love is crucified - is crucified for me and you. See how Wesley is widening it: it is for me, but it's for you as well.

To bring us rebels near to God.

A strong word - "rebels." We rebel against God. Our sinful nature causes us to rebel against God and do things that separate us from Him. That's what sin is: anything that separates you from God. But Jesus died and was crucified so that rebels like us can be brought near to God, and our sins can be washed away, so that the separation between us and God is gone.

Believe, believe the record true,
We all are bought with Jesus' blood.

I love that repetition - "believe, believe." It shows how urgent and earnest Wesley feels about this. Believe that the record is true. This comes from the old phrasing in 1 John 5, which talks about the record that God gave us of His Son. New translations may not use that word, but he's saying: believe the account of Jesus. Believe what is said about Him, because it's true. If you need redemption - if you need to be brought back near to God, though you're a rebel - believe that He is the One who can do it. With your faith in Him, His blood is applied and you are brought back to God.

Pardon for all flows from His side,
My Lord, my love is crucified.

Here we have an image of Jesus' blood and water flowing from His side - remember when they pierced Him with a spear? But Wesley is saying pardon for all flows from His side. The blood is our pardon; His blood is what forgives us. From His side flowed forgiveness for all.

This is typical Wesley, by the way. Unlike the Calvinist view, which holds that the atonement was limited - that Jesus only died for the elect - the Wesleyan believes that Christ died for all. The elect are those who do place their faith in Christ; He draws them close and draws them in, and they put their faith in Him. "Pardon for all" means everybody has the chance. Everybody! God wants to save everybody, but He is not going to force it. The Wesleyan view is very Arminian, and that's why I love this verse. Anybody can come and find forgiveness if they put their faith in Him.

Verse 4

Then let us sit beneath His cross,

Remember, at the beginning of the hymn we were passing by - but now let us sit. Let us take time to look, to see, and to understand what's going on.

And gladly catch the healing stream.

That flow from His side - we can catch it; it can be applied to us. But we need to stop. We need to live under the cross, so to speak. And note that word: gladly. It is a joyful and wonderful thing to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. The most joyful and wonderful thing you can experience.

All things for Him count but loss,

In Philippians 3, Paul says he counts everything as loss compared to the great wonder of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. Wesley is saying: here I am sitting at the cross, and everything else is like loss - it means nothing compared to the cross.

And give up all our hearts to Him.

Typical Wesley - total surrender. All of our hearts, not just a bit. Because He has done this for us, we are going to give our everything to Him.

Of nothing think or speak beside,
My Lord, my love is crucified.

This reminds me of Paul saying he was determined to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. Basically: have a singular focus in your life on Christ crucified. Let it be everything - in your thoughts and on your lips, all the time: My Lord, my love is crucified.

Conclusion

I read that poem in this hymnal and thought: what a brilliant poem! I wrote a tune to it, and I hope that you'll sing it with me. Maybe you'd like to use it at your church on Good Friday - go for it. I think we're going to do it at my church!

Check out the other Wesley's Hidden Gems episodes I've done - there are another two already, and by the time you watch this, there may well be more. I'm doing one every month. Do also check out the Friday Classic Hymns series, where I take Wesley's famous hymns, tell the story behind them, and run through the words just like this before singing them.

Those who support me on Patreon get all of this content to download. God bless you for listening and for joining me. I hope the song means something to you - it's blessed me so much, taking these words in and singing them. As you sing along with me, I hope that the Lord - my Lord, my love, crucified - will reveal Himself to you.