Stuart Townend has two or three amazing lines when it comes to the cross of Christ…
It was my sin that held him there / Until it was accomplished.
That is a line worth dwelling on. That is it!
And then ‘In Christ Alone’…
And on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
Such a brutal line. And it’s amazing that ‘In Christ Alone’ has become such a popular song, even sung by country music artists and largely secular classical crossover singers. And it has this cosmically significant line about the wrath of God.
I know that there was an attempt in the past to take that line out because it’s such a painful line to sing, such a painful line to hear. But that is what the cross is: on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. He was abandoned by his Father. ‘The father turns his face away’ is another great line that Townend has written.
