{ Love Beyond Compare }

One of the things I really appreciate about our church is their observance of Good Friday. Until we started attending Mars Hill I had never been to a Good Friday Service. But over the years it has become a memorable and transforming time for me. To honor the day that Christ so willingly suffered beyond imagination, to free us from the horror of sin and death. To be in that darkened room, lit only by a few little candles, full of hundreds of other people, to hear the volumes their reverent silence speaks, and listen to the story of Jesus death read from the Bible, to sing praise to Jesus for the perfect substitution He become for us. It's intense. It's painful. It's awesome. You are swept away in the most profound sense, by the magnitude of His forgiveness. It's also beautiful and makes the joy of Easter morning that much better in the light of His ultimate demonstration of, as the song says, " such wondrous love... " on the day that He did, " bear the dreadful curse for my soul. "

Between heaven and hell
A teardrop fell In the deep crimson dew
The tree of life grew

And the blood gave life To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood
Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From the tree streamed a light That started the fight
'Round the tree grew a vine
On whose fruit I could dine
My old friend Lucifer came
Fought to keep me in chains
But I saw through the tricks
Of six-sixty-six

And the blood gave life To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From his hands it came down
From his side it came down
From his feet it came down
And ran to the ground
And a small inner voice Said "You do have a choice."
The vine engrafted me And I clung to the tree.


This song was written and sung by Johnny Cash. You can see for yourself, here.