I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)
Charles H. Gabriel, 1905
What This Song Teaches Us About God
The hymn begins, “I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean.” The amazement is not that Jesus is impressive. It is that the holy Christ would love a person who deserves judgment. The singer does not come as a helper or an equal. He comes as a condemned sinner, and the wonder is that Christ still loves a sinner such as himself.
That love is not a feeling left in heaven. “He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own; He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone.” Christ does not merely pity sinners from a distance. He takes their guilt, carries it to the cross, and dies in their place. The refrain then names what that work is: “How marvelous! How wonderful is my Savior’s love for me.” Marvel is the right response when the guilty are loved at the cost of Christ’s own blood.
Scripture Connections
- Romans 5:6–8 — Christ died for the ungodly while we were still sinners. The hymn’s wonder, “how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean,” is the same surprise Paul names: God demonstrates His love at the cross, not after we have cleaned ourselves up.
- Isaiah 53:4–6 — The Servant bears our griefs and is pierced for our transgressions. “He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own” is Isaiah’s substitution put into congregational speech.
- Luke 22:41–44 — In Gethsemane Jesus prays, “not my will, but yours, be done,” and His sweat becomes like drops of blood. The hymn remembers that night so the congregation will not treat the cross as an easy kindness. The Savior’s love includes real agony borne for His people.
Clarifying the Language
“Jesus the Nazarene” — Jesus of Nazareth. The hymn insists that the One who loves sinners is the real, incarnate Christ, not an abstract force called love.
“Condemned, unclean” — Legally guilty before God, and morally stained. The hymn is not using strong words for drama. It is describing the sinner’s true condition apart from Christ.
“Calvary” — The Latin name for Golgotha, the place of crucifixion. The hymn locates Christ’s love at the cross, where He suffered and died in the sinner’s place.