Were You There? by John Woodward

March, 2010

One of the hymns that depicts Christ's passion and resurrection is the traditional song,Were You There? The hymn's author is unknown, but the words are based on the New Testament narratives of Matthew 27:31-56; 28;1-15 and parallels. The first stanza asks:

"Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. 
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"

This African American spiritual was written prior to 1865. Those who were oppressed by slavery would sing together for encouragement. Believers would reflect on Christ's sufferings and the consolation of the gospel.

Imagine the heart-felt singing of this hymn before the civil war. The All Music Guide recalls, "The song opens in the traditional 'lining out' style of American country congregations in which the preacher or choir leader sings the first line and the choir or congregation responds. Thus, the (usually) solo voice sings 'Were you there when they crucified my Lord?'... Then the chorus responds in full harmony echoing the same words..."

The memory of Calvary's events follow in each stanza:


(2) Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?


(3) Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?


(4) Were you there when the sun refused to shine?


(5) Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?


(6) Were you there when they rolled the stone away?


(7) Did you know He is risen from the dead? (repeat)


Oh! Sometimes I want to shout, 'Glory, Glory, Glory!.'

These lines pose the rhetorical question, Were you there? The assumed answer was "no," but the song takes the singer back by envisioning those redemptive events by faith.

I still remember a Bible teaching workshop years ago when the speaker quoted this hymn. Then he made this startling announcement: "You were there!"

"What was that? How could I have been there some 2000 years ago?"

Before we answer that, consider another mystery: Everyone was in Adam at the dawn of history! Although our personal life began in the recent past, we were all in Adam positionally and spiritually.

Study Romans 5:12: "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." The historical narrative of Genesis 3:1-24 is crucial to understanding the bad news of the Fall of mankind. Adam was constituted by God to represent all of the human race (which came from his loins).

Romans 5:15-19 brings this pivotal doctrine out repeatedly: "... by the one man's offense [Adam's] many died... For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation ... by the one man's offense death reigned through the one... through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation... by one man's disobedience many were made sinners..." Since God had placed the world under Man's dominion, the breaking of this original covenant brought a divine curse on the earth as well.

The Fall also explains why all are born spiritually separated from God and in need of re-birth: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1).

How blessed I was to learn of the heavenly contrast: Adam was "a type of Him who was to come"--Jesus! (Rom 5:14b). "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). Therefore, Christ is the positional and spiritual head of all the redeemed!

As a born again believer, the Bible teaches that you were there at the Cross positionally and spiritually (just as you were in Adam prior to salvation). As the apostle Paul declared, "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death... For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him...." (Rom. 6:4-6). "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above... For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Col. 3:1-3). "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, andmade us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-7). Amen!

When you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior by faith, you become identified with Him in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. This is the open secret of victorious living! Reckon this "gospel for the believer" to be true of you personally!

As God brings this New Covenant revelation from your head to your heart, you'll be able to reinterpret that old spiritual. The lines will still take you back to Christ's suffering and resurrection, but you can now take it a step further.

"Where you there when they crucified my Lord?" Your answer can be ... "Yes. Yes, I was there in Him! Hallelujah!"

….YOUR DESIRE SHALL BE FOR YOUR HUSBAND…. II.

January, 2010

Last month we meditated on the Scripture of Gen.3:16 where part of the woman’s curse reads that her desire shall be for her husband.
And we surmised that what she was looking for in her husband was the Life of God, the Life of the Spirit, that eternal Life that was lost by the disobedience of taking and eating of the forbidden fruit.
We saw also that the Life she desired, what she was looking for in her husband, was no longer present in him. Sin had done its devastating work of death in him as well.

In this meditation we hope to explore the truth that even though sin caused man to be separated from the Life of God, that the Lord God who cannot be but merciful and gracious and faithful had already made provision for the redemption of sinners.

The covenant of grace which went into effect immediately provided for a future Mediator who would bruise the serpent’s head, Gen.3:15.
There will come a day, God promised when I shall be your God and you shall be my people, a people whom I will jealously guard from all evil, Jer. 31:33.
I will forgive your iniquity and I will remember your sins no more.
The Lord God promises that he will cleanse his people from all their filthiness and idols.
He promised: And I will put my Spirit within you and he will cause you to keep my commandments, Ez.36:27.

And prophesy continued even up to shortly before the Messiah’s birth: “….., to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. To give Light unto them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death……”, Luke 1:79.
The Gospel of John, chapter 1:4 tells us: In him (the Word, Jesus) was Life, and the Life was the light of men. (5) And the Light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. (9) He (Jesus ) is the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world; (10) He was in the world, the world was made by Him and the world knew (recognized) Him not. (11) He came to His own (people) and His own received Him not.
(12)But as many as received Him, gave He the privilege to become the sons (children) of God, to as many who believe on His name.
Life, eternal Life had returned to the world, just as God had promised on the fateful day long ago when Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, Praise the Lord!
Life, the desire of the nations, the desire of so many prophets and visionaries for so many centuries had become a reality in visible, touchable form.
Light, Life, Grace and Truth had returned to this sin-darkened world in the person of God’s own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But what do Scriptures tell us?
That the world did not and still does not recognize him.
Even his own people the Jews, rejected him as an imposter.
Their leaders concluded that even though he did many miracles, he could not be the Messiah, because the Messiah would not transgress the law by healing people on the Sabbath.

And what about us? Would we be different? From the Scriptures we know that we would not act differently in similar circumstances.
In John 1:5 we learn that Light ( the Lord Jesus) shined in the darkness (you and me) and the darkness comprehended not the significance of that light.
In John 3: 19 we see that Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light ……
If it was a matter of human salesmanship, the whole offer of salvation would be a lost effort. You cannot sell anything for which people see no need.
In Eph. 2:4 we read that God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead (in sin), has raised us up together with Jesus, calling us out of darkness, into his marvelous light.
He opened our spiritual eyes to allow us to see Jesus and accept him as our personal Savior, Lord and Life.
In John 14:6 he says : “I am the (only) way to the Father, I am the Truth and I am the Life of God”. I am come so that you may again enjoy that Life that is with the Father and that you may enjoy that Life in abundance.

And again, God allows us to choose, now that he has revealed himself to us, will we choose to live this new, heavenly life in dependence upon Jesus, who is our Life, or will we choose to continue to live out of our own resources?
Trusting our own understanding in deciding what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong? The choice is ours, for each one of us.
Prov. 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
Abundant Life, Life in everyday dependence on God’s limitless resources is available to every believer who chooses to say : yes Lord, not my will, but yours only.
This Life is available only in Jesus Christ and is not to be found anywhere or in anyone else, not in spouses, or reputation, or achievements, or possessions, only in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.

“ ….. Your desire shall be for your husband …..”. To Eve it was part of the curse, she would look to her husband for something he could not give her.
Our blessing consists in that we may look to Jesus for Life, he has it in abundance,
It is all there just for the asking.
That Life is not just a promise for the future, it is a present reality, eternal Life begins for every one at the moment of repentance and submission to Jesus who is eternal Life.
Who also delights in fulfilling our desire for that Life that is in him to the utmost.
In him we have complete love, acceptance, value, security, in him we have hope, in him we have a future.


St.Thomas, Jan.’10 Simon VanderKooy.