"And Can It Be?"

Hymn by Charles Wesley

Devotion by Sharlene Scott

(1) 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?

Refrain:

Amazing love! How can it be,

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

(2) 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!

(3) 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.

(4) 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 the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Charles Wesley grew up in a strict religious home. As an adult, he served as a religious leader in college, and even as a missionary after college. However, he believed in teaching how a person should live, but had never really understood the Gospel, until he was at a meeting in London. After that meeting, he wrote in his journal, “At midnight, I gave myself to Christ.”

Two days later, he wrote the words above, celebrating what it really meant to accept Jesus. He went on to write thousands of hymns.

This may or may not be a hymn you know, but it is powerful good news.

The title and Verse 1and the chorus are full of questions. “How can it be?”, “Died he for me?”, and “How can it be that thou my God would die for me?”

In the second verse, he is still celebrating God’s grace that is “so free (and) so infinite.” He celebrates the miracle that this grace was “mercy all, immense and free” and that it “found out me!”

It found him out, and it changed him completely. Verse three he states, “My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed thee.”

Verse four continues this wonderful celebration of “no condemnation”, “Jesus and all in Him is mine.” Now he knew he could, as the Scripture promises, boldly “approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown through Christ my own.”

Sharlene Scott

What Wesley had finally learned was that he did not have to earn favor with God. As a man who had tried to live right to earn that favor, he realized he had no peace with God. But now, he realized that our acceptance by God had already been done. Some of us still try to be “good enough” for God to accept us.

This good news is for all of us. We can all rejoice and can always boldly go to God, and we can share this wonderful good news that God’s love found us, and He is always ready to forgive us, and use us for His kingdom.