"Thy nature, and thy name is Love"

Nearly three years ago, I was part of a large group of United Methodists, clergy and lay, who made a pilgrimage to England with Discipleship Ministries to spend some time together in some of early Methodism's holiest hot-spots. We listened and we learned; we prayed and we worshiped; we talked and of course, we sang.  In the course of those nine days, I became friends with a number of the other pilgrims, and one of them told me of his great love for Charles Wesley's hymn "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown."  He told me that it is actually his favorite hymn,  and we spoke at length about the poetry and power of those lyrics penned by Charles Wesley. 

We are hardly the only people to admire this beautiful hymn, originally known as "Wrestling Jacob," in all its fourteen-stanza glory.  No less a hymn-writer than Isaac Watts considered it sublime, declaring "that single poem, Wrestling Jacob, was worth all the verses he himself had written."  That is high praise indeed from one who was himself no slouch at creating hymns!

It appears as #386 in the United Methodist Hymnal with four stanzas set to the tune called Candler, and on the following page, all fourteen verses are printed, very slightly modified.  One has to admit that the change of the word "bowels" to "mercies" in the following stanza makes a world of difference to the modern listener or singer --

Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me,
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee:
Pure, universal Love Thou art;
To me, to all Thy mercies move;
Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

Wesley takes his inspiration from Genesis 32: 22-31, the account of Jacob's midnight wrestling match with God on the banks of the Jabbok, and opens the hymn by speaking as Jacob to the mysterious opponent before reading himself into the situation as the man struggling against God in the dark:

Come, O Thou Traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold but cannot see;
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My sin and misery declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

As it continues, Wesley as wrestler continues to press to learn the identity of his unknown adversary. When he at last recognizes that it is Jesus himself with whom he contends, he joyfully exclaims:

’Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me,
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee:
Pure, universal Love Thou art;
To me, to all Thy mercies move;
Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

Six times, the line "Thy nature and Thy name is Love" resounds, as the singer who is now not just Jacob or Charles Wesley but has instead become you and me delights in the wonder of being in the presence of the One whose very essence and identity is Love.  Repetition emphasizes the sheer awe and amazement felt as the intensity of the struggle gives way to adoration and praise.

Little wonder it had such an impact on Isaac Watts, and little wonder it brought John Wesley to tears during a preaching service shortly after Charles' death.  It is said that when he got to "my company before is gone, and I am left alone with Thee," he broke down and wept, completely unable to continue because of the grief that welled up and spilled over.

What does it mean for you to know that the One with whom you contend and wrestle is the One who knows you inside and out and loves you with such fierceness that you are forever marked by it, just as Jacob limped for the rest of his life as a result of his encounter at the Jabbok?   Does it matter that Christ's nature and name is Love?  How does that affect the way you live your life, especially with respect to other people?  Are you seeking to grow in grace so that your nature and name may be Love, too?