O CHRIST THE HOLY GOD
O Christ, the Holy God,
Made lowly man for me:
He put on flesh and blood,
And chose mortality.
He knows our need:
He wears our frame
And bore our shame as God decreed.
O Christ, the Royal One,
Took servant form for me:
He left His heav’nly throne
To live in poverty.
He healed the blind,
The sick, the lame;
And so He came to serve our kind.
O Christ, the Sinless Soul,
Made fully sin for me:
He bore our burdens whole
That we might holy be.
He was denied;
He was condemned
By wicked men, then crucified.
O Christ, the Living Lord,
Has suffered death for me:
His life and breath outpoured
Upon the blood-stained tree.
Our pardon sealed,
Our guilt removed,
And by His wounds we have been healed.
O Christ, the Risen King,
Has conquered death for me!
Now saints and angels sing
The song of victory.
For endless days
He reigns on high,
And all will cry His matchless praise.
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REFLECTION
It can be said that this hymn traces the life of Christ. That life was one of humility and self-denial: the divine becomes human. The first two lines of the first four verses show the paradoxes of that life: The “Holy God” becomes “lowly man;” the “Royal One” takes on the form of a servant; the sinless is made sin; the “Living Lord” suffers death. And why? “For me!” It is a deeply personal hymn, just as salvation is deeply personal. The work of the redemption was planned and executed, not with some anonymous mass of humanity in mind, but with the names and faces of every one of God’s dear children. And because Christ perfectly fulfilled this plan of redemption, God was pleased to exalt Him after His completed work, to surround Him with the grateful songs of angels and glorified saints—the songs that even today I can join when I sing, "O, Christ, the Risen King, has conquered death for me!"
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