'Tis Finished! The Messiah Dies

’Tis finished! The Messiah dies,
Cut off for sins, but not His own:
Accomplished is the sacrifice,
The great redeeming work is done.
’Tis finished! all the debt is paid;
Justice divine is satisfied;
The grand and full atonement made;
God for a guilty world hath died!

The veil is rent in Christ alone;
The living way to heaven is seen;
The middle wall is broken down,
And all mankind may enter in.
The types and figures are fulfilled;
Exacted is the legal pain;
The precious promises are sealed;
The spotless Lamb of God is slain.

The reign of sin and death is o’er,
And all may live from sin set free;
Satan hath lost his mortal power;
’Tis swallowed up in victory.
Saved from the legal curse I am,
My Saviour hangs on yonder tree:
See there the meek, expiring Lamb!
’Tis finished! He expires for me.

Accepted in the Well-beloved,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
I see the bar to heaven removed;
And all Thy merits, Lord, are mine.
Death, hell, and sin are now subdued;
All grace is now to sinners given;
And lo, I plead the atoning blood,
And in Thy right I claim Thy heaven!
(Charles Wesley, 1707-1788)

New CU postholders went on a weekend away last weekend, and one of the seminar tracks was on the Cross. I came away from it with this hymn planted firmly in my mind. Wesley presents to us the Cross of Christ, but in a way which complements Watt's "When I survey the wondrous Cross".

Watts looks upon the Cross and, assuming that his readers (singers?) know the effects which accrue to them of the Messiah's death, simply points (which is excellent). Wesley presents to us the effects the of the Cross -- not all of them, for we only live so long, but we can see the major effects of the Cross.

"Cut off for sins, but not his own" -- the Lamb of God dies to bear the punishment of guilty sinners.
"Exacted is the legal pain" -- the Advocate dies in payment of the penalty required by the Law.
"The types and figures are fulfilled" -- the Messiah dies in proof of God's faithfulness to his promises.
"The reign of sin and death is o'er" -- the immortal God dies for mortal man that he might, too, be immortal.
"Accepted in the Well-beloved" -- the Great High Priest dies so that we might have a restored relationship with God.
"All grace is now to sinners given" -- the unbounded, infinite Son of God dies for helpless men and women; the grace given is too great to detail in full.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." Peace, grace and hope; all gained by our Lord on the Cross -- all are the gift of God to those who believe.