In His Name Devotionals
JESUS KEEP ME NEAR THE CROSS
In His Name Devotionals
JESUS KEEP ME NEAR THE CROSS
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14 KJV)
Paul’s words in Galatians 6:14 have been the basis for a number of familiar hymns, but none more beloved than this simple yet profound setting by the phenomenal mind and rare sensitivity of a “sweet singer in the night,” the blind Fanny Crosby.
The 1st stanza speaks of “a healing stream” that flows “free to all” from “a precious fountain” on Calvary. The imagery in the hymn is a reference to the “water of life” mentioned in Revelation 22:17. Jesus employed similar terms when He spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14). Only Christ’s atoning work on the cross could have made possible the granting of life to sinners. The true living water therefore “flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.” The hymn traces the living stream back to its source, pleading with the Savior to keep us there, “near the cross,” close to the precious fountain.
The 2nd stanza is a verse of personal testimony. Symbolically, the foot of the cross is the ground on which all sinners are saved. First, they recognize their own sin and unworthiness. That name for Christ is borrowed from Revelation 22:16. The name echoes one of the earliest biblical prophecies of the Messiah, found in Numbers 24:17, where Moses promised the Israelites, “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel” (cf. Lk. 1:78; 2 Pet. 1:19).
Stanza 3 shows the relevance of the cross to the believer’s daily life. It reminds us that the Christian is supposed to “walk from day to day” in the footsteps of Christ – footsteps that lead each one to “deny himself and take up his cross and follow” (Matt. 16:24). Thus the Christian life is to be lived in the shadow of the cross, following the One who “’committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:22- 23). This is the true path of holiness as described in Scripture. The hymn-writer thus reminds us that not only our justification, but also our sanctification is grounded in the work of Christ on the cross.
The closing stanza looks forward to heavenly glory, when we “reach the golden stand just beyond the river.” “The river” symbolizes death, ushering us into the glory of heaven. In the meantime, we “watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever”—with our hearts fixed on the glory of the cross. The death, disgrace, and dishonor of the cross seems the antithesis of “glory”—a dramatic paradox! But when our “raptured soul[s] shall find rest beyond the river,” the cross will continue to be the one true token of our hope and glory.
