1. O Astonishing Grace,
That the Reprobate Race
Should be so reconcil'd!
What a Wonder of Wonders that GOD is a Child?!
2. The Creator of all,
To repair our sad Fall,
From his Heav'n stoops down,
Lays hold of our Nature, and joins to his own.
3. Our Immanuel came,
The whole World to redeem,
And Incarnated shew'd
That Man may again be united to GOD!
4. And shall we not hope,
After GOD to wake up,
His Nature to know?
His Nature is sinless Perfection below.
5. To this Heavenly Prize,
By Faith let us rise
To his Image ascend,
Apprehended of GOD let us GOD apprehend.
This is how God brings reconciliation with a fallen humanity: by becoming a child. I can think of no more fitting term to describe this grace other than "Astonishing!"
As we've seen in other hymns before this one the first portion of this hymn communicates how the Incarnation is a redeeming event and the latter portion is about our future hope in the resurrection. There are so many good 'R' words when it comes to describing the saving significance of the Christ event: redeem, rectify, restore, resuscitate, renew, reconcile, revitalize, revive, ransom, raise, resurrect, regenerate, recapitulate, release, rescue, reveal, (is there a way to turn 'make righteous' into a single word?). Charles employs a great word in stanza 2 in 'repair.' It's the fixing of something broken: imagine a broken vessel. God takes the time to piece it back together and does so through the Incarnation! I once saw a preacher use a communion cup that had cracks in it, but the cup had been repaired. He used that as an illustration of God's reparation of our lives and how that enables our 'communion' with God & one another: reparation of broken relationships.
Regarding this reparation and reunification of God & man, hear what St. Irenaeus said regarding the purpose of the Incarnation: "The Word of God, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was revealed by the prophets according to the character of their prophecy and according to the nature of the economies of the Father, by whom all things were made, and who, in the last times, to recapitulate all things, became a man amongst men, visible and palpable, in order to abolish death, to demonstrate life, and to effect communion between God and man!"
Do you see, then, the connection between the Incarnation and the resurrection? Communion between God and humanity means the abolition of death and the application of life (eternal)! That's how we can transition from stanza 3 to stanza 4 without changing the subject. That's how Advent is a season not only of remembrance but of anticipation!
Regarding stanza 4 and the notion of "sinless perfection." As you may know, the Wesleys walked a delicate line in how they understood the relationship between sin and perfection. We can see in this hymn that "sinless perfection" (which is of the highest sort) is what we shall experience in the glorified life after the resurrection. That does not take away from the commandment to "be perfect" in this life, but the Wesleys are clear that the perfection in this life is about perfection in love and that the effects of sin are not completely obliterated until bodily death. That description does not completely suffice in explaining their concept of 'perfection,' but I'll leave that issue for another time where more space allows.
Finally, the last line is beautiful! God has apprehended us! Let us, then, apprehend God! Now in the society I live in, 'apprehend' often has the connotation of being taken into custody by the police. I'm not sure that provides the richest meaning to approximate Wesley's intention here. I think it's more about the Divine embrace. God's arms have opened in our direction! We won't know God until we open ours and welcome his embrace.
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