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ND a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (Isaiah 32:2)
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OW there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (John 19:25-27)
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UT God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)
How can we abide the singing of this reverent hymn without arousing tears of gratitude and repentance in the deep of our hearts over all that our Lord has done in love for us! It carries us to an altogether higher plane of our spiritual understanding. Deep calleth unto Deep (Psalm 42:7) as the Psalmist proclaims, and the echo of God’s love reverberates through every echelon of our being.
This hymn was composed by Elizabeth Clephane of Edinburgh, daughter of the Sheriff of Fife, in 1868. Elizabeth was a quiet, compassionate girl known as “My Sunbeam” by the sick and suffering to whom she voluntarily ministered. She acknowledge her nickname by writing:
I take, O Cross, thy shadow for my abiding place,
I ask no other sunshine than the Sunshine of His Face.
She is also the author of one other hymn, The Ninety and Nine. The tune is St. Christopher by Frederick C. Maker (1881)
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock
within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
a rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
and the burden of the day.
O safe and happy shelter,
O refuge tried and sweet,
O trysting place where Heaven’s love
and Heaven’s justice meet!
As to the holy patriarch
that wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Savior’s cross to me,
a ladder up to heaven.
There lies beneath its shadow
but on the further side
The darkness of an awful grave
that gapes both deep and wide
And there between us stands the cross
two arms outstretched to save
A watchman set to guard the way
from that eternal grave.
Upon that cross of Jesus
mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears
two wonders I confess;
The wonders of redeeming love
and my unworthiness.
I take, O cross, thy shadow
for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by
to know no gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
my glory all the cross.
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land; A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, From the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day. .The title of this hymn itself speaks volumes. There will always be an abundance of room ‘beneath the cross of Jesus.’ Men do not swarm to that place of devotion, especially in our day. Our light and frivolous contemporary worship does no honor to the Lord who died for us. But the author of this hymn took her place willingly and with pleasure. On that fateful day of our Lord’s crucifixion, all had deserted Him – His closest friends, disciples, and, in His human feeling, even the Father. But let us not forget those who did brave the foot of the cross – the women to whom Christ had done and meant so much. And there was one other, John, the Apostle of Love, young and tender of heart who could not forbear His Lord’s dying alone. He was compelled there by an unquenchable love. The shadow made by that cross was a cooling balm to a dry and thirsty land where no water was. “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” (Psalm 63:1) Our pilgrimage in this world is “a dry and thirsty land,” yet the cross leads the Way as an Ensign on the battlefield thereof. Though we grow weary, we look to that Ensign and are renewed in strength. What price can we pay that compares to that which He paid for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only our Passover, but our Rest (Sabbath) as well.
O safe and happy shelter, O refuge tried and sweet, O trysting place where Heaven’s love and Heaven’s justice meet! As to the holy patriarch that wondrous dream was given, So seems my Savior’s cross to me, a ladder up to heaven. What a quiet and secure rest we enjoy beneath the Cross. It was a free purchase for us yet it cost God the Father His most beloved possession. The Cross proved the full measure of God’s love for us. Not only was the Father willing to pay that sacrifice, but the Son as well was full able and willing to make it. God is Love, but God is also Just. He can condone no sinner in His Heaven; and we are all sinners saved by grace. So the Cross was the meeting place whereby Justice and Mercy converge. Christ paid the wages of sin for us. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. (Psalm 85:10) As Jacob dreamed of that Ladder up to Heaven, his dream was of the Savior and that Cross. The vertical beam joins the believer to Christ; and the horizontal beam joins the believers to one another in LOVE.
There lies beneath its shadow but on the further side The darkness of an awful grave that gapes both deep and wide And there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save A watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave. The near side of the cross is mortality and death. The shadow of death is beyond its threatening beams. And yet, that shadow is merely perceived and not real. That grave of Jesus was not such an awful grave for it was only a grave borrowed for three days! Of course, it was DEEP. Its depth reached to the very gates of Hell. Of course, it was WIDE for its width was sufficient to include all who die to self and live for Christ. The cross of the unbeliever is very deep and has no exit. But the elect believer has a borrowed and open tomb from which he shall rise, as did his Lord, to heights unknown. The WAY from that eternal grave is the same Lord Jesus Christ in whom you trust.
Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me; And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess; The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness. That cross belonged to Christ alone – no other was qualified to bear it, or to endure the penalty for our sins upon it. Can you, in your own mind’s eye, see that sacrifice made for you on the cross? His heart was fixed, not on a multitude, but upon each of us in Christ from the foundation of the world – BY NAME! The Names of His faithful were CUT in the palms of His Hands! “15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. * 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49:15-16) The Love of Christ surpasses every measure of the human mind. Though our sins are great and egregious, His Love is greater by far.
Though Christ died on the cross, His love never dies! “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face; Content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss, My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross. Have we resolved to live in the shadow of the cross of our Lord? In all our daily walk and failures, do we look to that cross for succor as the children of the wilderness looked to the brazen serpent for healing (which only foreshadowed the greater assumption of our sins by Jesus on the Cross at Calvary)? The Sunshine of His Love must not be eclipsed by the desires and temptations of this world. “20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:” (Philippians 1:20-23)
The cross is a shameful instrument of torture, yet, it is the Fountainhead and Glory of the redeemed sinner. The false glimmers and swamp lights of the world confound us daily, yet in the midst of a chaotic world of lies and deceit, we can look to the cross to know absolute love and absolute truth. The sunbeams emanating therefrom light the path of the pilgrim in search of a better land – the Way, the Truth and the Life– in our Lord Jesus Christ.
