O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go (George Mattheson)

Today we will observe the theology of George Matheson in his hymn,

"O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go"

George Matheson

Firstly, the traditional lyrics:

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

And now what the song sounds like in everyday, modern English:

O Love that won't let me go,
I rest my tired soul in you;
I give you back the life I owe,
That in your ocean depths its flow
May be richer and fuller.

O Light that follows all my way,
I surrender my flickering torch to you;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in your sunshine’s blaze its day
May be brighter and fairer.

O Joy that finds me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to you;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not pointless,
That morning shall be without tears.

O Cross that lifts up my head,
I dare not ask to escape from you;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall be endless.

Analysis:
The four subjects of Love, Light, Joy and the Cross are found in this song.
Poetically, this is epic. I just have to say this.
No, seriously, I'm not going into the beauty of the choice of words here since we're going to focus on the theology of the lyrics, but ah, the words just flow with as much art and truth in equal measure.

Right. Let's begin with stanza 1:
M. starts with the concept of divine, tenacious love.
We are bombarded with contemp. songs that just glorify our love for God,
but over here, there is no pretense in the statement that
if there is any love that is immovably faithful,
its the love of Christ.
And by that love that holds on, we can rest our souls in Him.
In the Gospels, Christ calls to all who are tired and burdened to find their rest in Him.
M. also recognizes that our lives are not our own to dictate,
but rather being purchased by the blood of Christ we belong to Him.
And the life that is surrendered to the fullness of Christ may thrive,
for He is the vine, and we are the branches

In stanza 2:
M. now speaks about Jesus personified as Light that follows all our way.
In the Scriptures, we find our Lord's claim as the Light of the world, who saves us from the darkness.
And in contrast, our efforts without Him are inferior, flickering torches- at which point we fare better by just relying on the brighter Light, the Christ; His Righteousness that outshines our feeble torches.
Again, the theme of reliance on Christ is explored by the imagery of our hearts rekindling their light from Jesus the source, the sun.

Then in stanza 3:
M. continues on the the theme of Jesus, our Joy that finds us in our worst moments
Again, the theme of God making the effort to reach out to the undeserving sinner is present.
Then M. goes on to say he cannot close his heart to Joy- Does it literally mean Divine Joy or Jesus personified? This blogger opines that to answer this without ample research will open the door to advocating the theological concept of irresistible grace that the Calvinists adhere to.
Therefore, we shall move on to the sudden appearance of the mention of the rainbow.
The Genesis account of the global flood ends with the promise
to never destroy mankind completely by flood and the rainbow is the reminder of that promise.

Finally in stanza 4:
M. moves on to the Cross. There is a richness in the meaning of the first line. Does it mean that it physically lifts up the head of the beholder as we look upwards to Christ the Crucified, the Son of Man lifted up for all to see; or does it mean that by His finished work on the cross, we may yet again be restored to glory and lift our heads, unburdened by the weight of sin and sharing in the glory of God as coheirs though Christ?
Yet again, the theme of reliance on God is stressed and there is futility to escape the cross.
All we can do in light of such love is to lay our lives, our flickering torches at the foot of the cross, where His blood pools up, covering our lives in its crimson, and there, covered with the blood that He shed for us, we find immortality through salvation.
Clearly we observe the saving work of Jesus on the cross, a key point in the divine plan of salvation.

And they said hymns were old school.
Do stay tuned for the next hymn theology review.