GOSPEL >> Baptism
SDAH 332
Oh now I see the crimson wave,
The fountain deep and wide;
Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
Points to His wounded side.
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For Worship Leaders
Make each hymn more meaningful with these helpful tools: Short, ready-to-use hymn introductions for church bulletins, multiple ways to introduce a hymn based on your worship theme and in-depth history and insights to enrich your song service.
Hymn Spotlight: The Cleansing Wave
Phoebe Palmer penned this hymn as a testimony to the transforming power of Jesus’ blood, echoing 1 John 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” A leader in the Methodist holiness movement and an early Advent believer, she boldly connected the spiritual cleansing of salvation with the public symbol of baptism. The tune was composed by her musically gifted daughter, Phoebe Palmer Knapp, who later collaborated with Fanny Crosby on many gospel songs. This hymn overflows with the joy of new life in Christ, made possible through surrender and faith in His redeeming love.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
How much God love us? He love us that He is willing to die for us. But why? He choose to suffer and die in order to reach the unreachable and cleanse us from sin. God’s sacrifice gave us the opportunity to live and experience His love. (Lesson 10, 1st Quarter 2021 -Wednesday, The Unreachable is Us, 3/3/2021)
All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. Our righteousness have become as filthy rugs in the presence of God. Praise God because the blood Jesus that was poured on the cross for our salvation is a cleansing stream that cleanse us so that we may stand blameless in the presence of God. (Lesson 1, 2nd Quarter 2021 – Breaking The Relationship, Thursday, 4/1/2021)
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Son, purifies us from all sin..” – 1 John 1:7. (Lesson 10, 2nd Quarter 2021 – Tuesday, Old and New Covenants, 6/01/2021)
This hymn poem, written by Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874), relates the cleansing of sin by Jesus’ blood to the act of being baptized by water and the beginning of a new life in Christ. She bases the words of the refrain on 1 john 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, of Boston, Massachusetts, and later of New York, was a Methodist who was converted to the Millerite doctrine of the Second Advent by Charles Fitch prior to 1844. The latter was particularly afraid that he would lose the friendship of Mrs. Palmer and her evangelist husband, Dr. Walter C. Palmer, because of the unpopular doctrine he was preaching. Mrs. Palmer survived the disappointment of 1844 and later wrote SDAH 598, “Watch, Ye Saints.”
The tune, sometimes called CLEANSING WAVE, was composed by her daughter and namesake, Phoebe Palmer, who was born March 9, 1839, in New York City and showed great musical talent at an early age. At 16 she married Joseph F. Knapp, a Christian businessman who later founded the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York. They became active members of the John Street Methodist Church, where she was a singer and organist. Mrs. Knapp collaborated in song writing with Fanny Crosby, who was also a member there. Knapp died in 1891, leaving his wife an annual income of $50,000, a good portion of which she gave to charitable causes. In her beautiful apartment in New York’s Hotel Savoy, she had installed the largest pipe organ to be in a private home up to that time. Her son, Joseph, turn out to be a famous as the head of Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. She composed more than 500 gospel songs, including the favorite solo “Open the Gates of the Temple,” the words of which were written by her good friend, Fanny Crosby. Together they also wrote SDAH 462. “Blessed Assurance.” Phoebe Palmer-Knapp died at Poland Springs, Maine, on July 10, 1908.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
Oh now I see the crimson wave,
The fountain deep and wide;
Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
Points to His wounded side.
Refrain
The cleansing stream I see, I see,
I plunge, and O, it cleanseth me!
O praise the Lord! it cleanseth me,
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me.
2
I see the new creation rise,
I hear the speaking blood;
It speaks polluted nature dies,
Sinks ‘neath the cleansing flood.
3
I rise to walk in heaven’s own light,
Above the world and sin;
With heart made pure and garments white,
And Christ enthroned within.
4
Amazing grace! ’tis heaven below
To feel the blood applied,
And Jesus, only Jesus, know,
My Jesus crucified.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Zech 13:1; Isa 63:1; John 19:34 (b) Rom 6:6 (c) Rom 6:4; Eph 3:17 (r) 1 John 1:7
Author
Mrs. Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874)
Metrical Number
C.M. Ref
Composer
Mrs. Joseph F. Knapp (1839-1908)
