There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood by Sovereign Grace
Lyrics
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’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 have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its pow’r
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more
Till all the ransomed church 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
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save
Credits:
Words by William Cowper (1771), music nineteenth-century camp meeting tune
Public Domain.
Analysis
This hymn follows the old patterns of the great hymns: Christ’s cross, exultation in forgiveness, worship of God, and triumphant glory. But truly, those old patterns describe a Christian’s life. We are hidden in Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and glory. This is truth as old as gospel. Romans 6 says:
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
With this truth the rest of the Scriptures agree.
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:30)
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. (1 John 4:9)
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
So Christian, dead to sin, alive to God, let us live in the shadow of the cross, in exultant hope of the glory to come!