Look, the Lamb of God!
—John 1:36
William Cowper was haunted by the guilt of sin: “My sin! My sin! Oh, for some fountain open for my cleansing!” he cried.
One morning he picked up his Bible, randomly opened it and read: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood . . .” (Rom 3:24–25).
In those words, Cowper found his long-sought fountain. He reached for his pen and wrote . . .
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
Be the “whoever” of John 3:16.