Monday, February 27, 2017

The Old Rugged Cross!

Yesterday in church, we sang this beautiful hymn!  This wonderful song always touches my heart deeply, and I am so thankful that Jesus was willing to humble Himself, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
I recently read an account by Wayne Stahl of circumstances that led to the writing of this beloved hymn by George Bennard.

      Bro. Bennard said he had been making a special study of the cross and the thought came to him--"Why doesn't someone write a song bringing out these mighty truths?"  Then, "the old rugged cross" came into his mind.  The words of the first stanza came immediately, but further stanzas would not come.  Something seemed to say to him, "Wait"!

      Later, he was holding revival services in the central West.  He encountered satanic opposition! Ridicule, hatred, and vituperation were his daily portion from the adversary.  It was a time of crucifixion.  And when those meetings were over (with a glorious harvest of souls), he wrote the remaining three stanzas of "The Old Rugged Cross."
He said:  "I had to learn the deeper meaning of the cross in my personal experience before I could complete that song."  Out of the black soil of the anguish of persecution bloomed the roses and lilies of an immortal hymn.
 (Perhaps that is a lesson we need to learn -- from the trials and heartaches of our lives--Jesus wants to teach us to bloom with the beauty and fragrance of roses and lilies.)

      Bro. Bennard said the melody for this wonderful hymn came to him in a moment of time before he had written the song.  The first time the song was sung, he was the singer.  His audience numbered two persons -- a preacher and his wife as he sat with them at their kitchen table.  When he had finished, the preacher said:  "Bro. Bennard, this is a song that will live.  Though I have little in the way of funds, I will contribute money to help publish what you have written."

      That minister's prophecy has been fulfilled.  The song has been translated into many languages.  In a nationwide poll as to what was the favorite hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross" received by far the greatest number of votes.

     "On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
      O the old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.

      In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me!
      To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear.
Then He'll call me someday to my home far away, where His glory forever I'll share!

      So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown!"

My friend, have you been to the Cross?  This Love---so Amazing -- so Divine -- demands our soul, our life, our all.    

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