Bandits No More

Do you know Charles Wesley’s And Can It Be, a hymn written on the anniversary of his conversion? Some find the tune difficult the first few times, but consider the words. As with so many Wesley hymns, they are stuffed with good theology.

  And can it be that I should gain 

  an interest in the Savior’s blood! 

  Died he for me? who caused his pain! 

  For me? who him to death pursued? 

  Amazing love! How can it be 

  that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 

  Amazing love! How can it be 

  that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Wesley expressed amazement that the savior would die for him. Notice the high Christology here: “How can it be that [you], my God, should die for me?” Jesus is the savior who died for us. He wasn’t just some awesome guy that happened along. He was God in the flesh, come to live among us as one of us. He took upon himself all our sin and brokenness.

  ‘Tis mystery all: th’ Immortal dies! 

  Who can explore his strange design? 

  In vain the firstborn seraph tries 

  to sound the depths of love divine. 

  ‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; 

  let angel minds inquire no more. 

  ‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; 

  let angel minds inquire no more. 

Do you see the mystery here? Sure, the previous stanza gave us a mystery, that God would love us so much. But consider the language here. What does the word “Immortal” mean? It means “not liable to death.” Here is this Being, this Person, to whom death is a foreign experience. Yet this Immortal One takes on mortality and dies. This idea – the Immortal dying – is so strange that angels look into and can’t figure it out. The “firstborn seraph (a kind of angel)” makes an attempt. Here Wesley uses a metaphor drawn from navigation. Ships in those days would take soundings to see how deep the water was. They would make a sound at the surface and then wait and see how long it took for that sound to echo back from the bottom. A short time till the echo meant relatively shallow water; a long time till the echo means relatively deep water. In this case all soundings are in vain. The sound at the surface goes down and down and down. But there is no bottom to the ocean vastness of God’s love; thus the echo never comes. Sounding fails.

  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. 

  ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free, 

  for O my God, it found out me! 

  ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free, 

  for O my God, it found out me! 

Now we see Jesus, the Son of God, in action. Wesley draws this description from Philippians 2:5-11. There we see Jesus, who “being in very nature God, did not count that equality with God as something to be exploited (for his own gains), emptied himself and became one of us, fully human.” This Jesus, Paul tells us, became obedient, even to the point of submitting to death on the cross. 

Romans 5 informs the next bit, where we sing of Jesus doing this for “Adam’s helpless race,” or in other words, us humans. Wesley could have left this at a high level of abstraction – that Jesus died for “humans” or for “us sinners.” Instead, he gets personal. That deep, mysterious, life-giving love of Jesus “found out ME!”

In the fourth stanza Wesley gets even more personal, talking about his own experience.

  Long my imprisoned spirit lay, 

  fast bound in sin and nature’s night; 

  thine eye diffused a quickening ray; 

  I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; 

  my chains fell off, my heart was free, 

  I rose, went forth, and followed thee. 

  My chains fell off, my heart was free, 

  I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

Here Wesley tells his testimony, his story of how the grace of God tracked him down and set him free. For me, this is where the hymn grabs me and won’t let go. This metaphor of being rescued from a deep dark prison fits my own experience. I wasn’t some basically good person who just needed some divine advice or information. I was “fast bound” – utterly stuck – in “sin and nature’s night.” There was NOTHING I could do for myself. At just the right time God shown the light of Jesus on me, awakening me to my state (I didn’t even know my desperate condition!), and saving me from it. I wasn’t just set forth to go do whatever I wanted; I was set free to follow the Jesus who saved me.

Wesley’s language here follows the story of Peter in the Book of Acts. Peter had been arrested and was in jail. The Christians were back at the house praying fervently for him. Peter was awakened when an angel came to him, freeing him from his chains and leading him out of the jail. Wesley likens his own experience to what happened to Peter. The “quickening” – life-giving – ray of light from God touched Peter; it touched me.

So here we are – saved and delivered by this God who gave himself totally for us. The fifth and final stanza brings this to a climax. (If I haven’t told you yet, this is considered our Asbury Seminary “fight song.” Whenever we sang it in chapel it was loud the whole time – but them twice as loud on the final stanza. Consider the words and you’ll see why.

  No condemnation now I dread; 

  Jesus, and all in him, is mine; 

  alive in him, my living Head, 

  and clothed in righteousness divine, 

  bold I approach th’ eternal throne, 

  and claim the crown, through Christ my own. 

  Bold I approach th’ eternal throne, 

  and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Here’s Wesley working from Romans 8. “There is, therefore, NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That, for Wesley, is not just a detail or fact to be cataloged and believed. It is to be experienced. “No condemnation now I DREAD.” Yes, I know the depth of my sin. I know I don’t deserve anything Jesus has done for me. Yet I receive it with all my heart and let it become the determining reality of my life. No fear, no dread, Jesus died for me! More than that, I am now “alive in him.” I am “in Christ.” I am clothed – characterized – not by my own righteousness, but by God’s own righteousness. Now I boldly come to the throne of God – look at Ephesians if you want to see the scriptural origin of the idea – and claim the crown God offers me. Again, my boldness and the offered crown aren’t by-products of who I am or what I’ve done. All is of Jesus. He’s qualified me, and I live in him.