It Is Well With My Soul the Shocking True StorySample

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

'It Is Well With My Soul" written by Horatio Spafford 

Psalm 130 was written by a man truly in despair. Helpless. Perhaps, like Horatio the author of the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul," the author of Psalm 130 had lost everything and was at the end of his rope? Moreover, in these verses from the hymn, and also Psalm 130, we see broken people who know they have failed God. Romans 3:23 says,  "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". 

But then comes the difference between the Psalmist's words and Horatio's hymn. The Psalms were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. 

Verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 13: 

If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared.

Before Jesus was born, believers in God paid the price for their sins by sacrificing animals, in accordance with strict rituals set by God. 

In Hebrews 10:4-5 we read:

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me."

God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus Christ, to take the place of animals on the ultimate altar of sacrifice, the cross, and nail our sins to the cross with his hands, as we sing in "It Is Well With My Soul"



My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! 

Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (but that does not mean the whole world is saved, each person needs to accept forgiveness) and Jesus' blood shed at that point in history was for believers who lived before he was born, for it says in Revelation 13:8 that Jesus was "the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world".

So before God set the first man, Adam, on earth, there was a plan to save men and women who believed the truth. To end all their suffering and bring them to live with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in heaven, for eternity. This plan is called Salvation History.

Believers in God born before Jesus died had to wait until they got to heaven to find out the real redeeming power of their salvation, but you can know and live in this truth today. Just accept the forgiveness of God and believe!

Maybe it's been a while since you have thought about your salvation, and what it cost Jesus, the Son of the Living God? I urge you to think over the words of this great hymn and meditate on the goodness of God. 

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

(Refrain:) It is well (it is well),

with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And Lord haste the day, when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.