There Is a Fountain

Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die

Toni and I spent the Christmas holidays in Paducah, Kentucky with my Mom, whom everyone knows as Mimi. Our trip was extended through New Year’s weekend, so we had the opportunity to visit Heartland Church where Mimi and the rest of my family are members. I am always encouraged by Nathan Joyce’s teaching and the depth of the worship, led by Brad Vose, whenever we get a chance to be there.  

One of the songs sung that morning was the classic hymn There is a Fountain inspired by Zechariah 13:1 and written in the late 1700’s by William Cowper, a close friend and collaborator of John Newton. Here are the words we sang:

There is a Fountain

William Cowper

There is a fountain filled with blood
  Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
  Lose all their guilty stains:
  Lose all their guilty stains,
  Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
  Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
  That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
  Wash all my sins away:
  Wash all my sins away,
  Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
  Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
  Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed ones of God
  Be saved, to sin no more:
  Be saved, to sin no more,
  Be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed ones of God,
  Be saved to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
  Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
  And shall be till I die:
  And shall be till I die,
  And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
  And shall be till I die.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
  Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
  I’ll sing Thy power to save:
  I’ll sing Thy power to save,
  I’ll sing Thy power to save;
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
  I’ll sing Thy power to save.

I can’t remember how many times I have either sung this hymn or included it in a worship set I have led over the years. It is considered a classic for a reason and I have long loved the depth of the theology of the cross it conveys. Yet for some reason, on this particular Sunday, I found myself emotional as we sang the second verse. 

The dying thief rejoiced to see
  That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
  Wash all my sins away:
  Wash all my sins away,
  Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
  Wash all my sins away.

As I pondered the amazing truth that at my core I was just like the thief on the cross, vile and undeserving of the grace of God yet washed clean by the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit took me to a deeper place. He did so by simply changing the first-person pronoun my sins to the third-person pronoun their sins. 

“Wash all THEIR sins away”

What moved me that day was the reminder that the fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins is true for everyone, not just me and you. “Lose all THEIR guilty stains.” Could it be that if we, as the redeemed, celebrated the power of the Gospel to cleanse sin in other people’s lives as much as we do our own,  the world would change?

“Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die” just took on a much deeper level for me. May it be that one of the primary themes of our lives will be that the same Redeeming Love that flowed to us will now flow through us to everyone we encounter, including our enemies. 

The blood of Jesus covers all sin, including the ones that wound us!