Were You There?

This is perhaps the most universally used spiritual in all the hymnals of Christendom. It first appeared in print in Old Plantation Hymns compiled by William E. Burton in 1899.

The primary poetic analogy is that all of us were there at Calvary by virtue of the fact that Romans 3:23 [NIV] says "23For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

The other verses ask: Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree? / Were you there when they pierced Him in the side? / Were you there when the sun refused to shine? / Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

Sometimes another stanza is added, Were you there when He rose up from the grave?

To which all those in Christ can say "Yes!" because Romans 6:5 [NIV] says, "5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."