Come Thou Fount - Verse 3

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

There's no doubt that this hymn was written by a person who understood that salvation is a work of God in the heart of man.


Jesus sought me when a stranger,

The Christian life is often depicted as a journey; we are sojourners, strangers in the land. As strangers here, we hold the things of this world loosely, because we look forward to our real home in heaven.

Psalm 39:12 “Hear my prayer, O LORD,
And give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

Matthew Henry comments,

Afflictions are sent to stir up prayer. If they have that effect, we may hope that God will hear our prayer. The believer expects weariness and ill treatment on his way to heaven; but he shall not stay here long : walking with God by faith, he goes forward on his journey, not diverted from his course, nor cast down by the difficulties he meets. How blessed it is to sit loose from things here below, that while going home to our Father's house, we may use the world as not abusing it! May we always look for that city, whose Builder and Maker is God.

Wandering from the fold of God

We're like sheep who have gone astray. Yet Jesus, the good Shepherd, goes after His sheep, those strangers who would prefer to go their own way. He seeks them until He finds them, then He rejoices.

Isaiah 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

John 10:11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Matthew 18:12
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;

It is a rescue! We are heading in the wrong direction, bent on destroying ourselves through selfish pursuits and idolatry, and Jesus swoops in and rescues us. That's what He did when He came to earth - it was a rescue mission! That's why He is called the Saviour - He saved us from our sin and its wages, death.

He did it by becoming the Lamb without spot or blemish. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. God required that an atonement be made, and Jesus willingly did it. That means I don't have to pay the price I owe for my sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

Jesus is the Hound of Heaven who pursues relentlessly. Go here to read a story of a soldier, pursued by God.

Yet my mortal tongue cannot explain the glories of His grace well. That's why the hymn-writer asked in the first verse that God would tune his heart to sing His praise. I am clothed in flesh, and as such I am limited.

Romans 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Thanks be to God, indeed. Thanks be to Jesus, who sought me when I was a stranger, who rescued me from certain danger, who pursued me even though I purposely tried to hide from Him, and who has showed me kindness, even though I never deserved it.

Thanks be to God, indeed.