Krishna Pal meets Jesus Christ

Krishna Pal lived near Calcutta in India around the beginning of the 1800's. He was a carpenter and, at the age of 35, a Hindu guru teaching others. Yet he had no peace because he knew that his sins were not forgiven. Where would he find the solution?

One day Krishna met up with John Thomas, one of the Christian missionaries in the area, who told him of Jesus Christ; Krishna wanted to know more, and soon his opportunity came. After injuring his shoulder while bathing one morning, he sent for help from the missionaries. John Thomas, Joshua Marshman and William Carey went to his aid and set his shoulder against a tree. The next day Krishna was still in pain, so Carey took him to the Mission. Before long Krishna was going there daily, but now it was for spiritual instruction. He was taught a devotional chant in rhythmic Bengali that showed how to find peace with God:

Sin confessing, sin forsaking,

Christ’s righteousness embracing,

The soul is free.

After some weeks Krishna came to a clear understanding that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, had suffered the punishment of sin in the place of sinners, and that God would forgive and accept those who joined themselves to Christ by faith. Krishna put his trust in Jesus, and broke caste by eating with the missionaries, thus giving evidence of his faith. A week later Krishna was baptized as a Christian, and was followed very soon by members of his family. From that time he remained true to Christ despite rejection from his neighbours and eviction by his Brahmin landlord. Krishna would often say,

I followed the Hindu worship. I bathed in the Ganges, I worshipped dumb idols ... I visited holy places ... But it brought me little relief from my sin. Then I heard of Jesus Christ, that He became flesh and dwelt among us, and was as one who that served and gave His life to buy our freedom. What love, I thought, is this? And here I made my rest.

People were amazed when Krishna broke caste, but were even more astonished when Kyasts and Brahmins, much higher castes, were also converted and ate at the Mission and at Krishna’s house. Krishna’s love for Christ and for his own countrymen led him to spend many years in the work of the gospel, telling them about the Lord Jesus. He died of cholera in 1822 at what seemed to be the height of his usefulness. As he lay dying he was asked if he still loved Christ. “Yes,” he replied, “but not as much as He loves me.”

That is the wonder of the Christian message: it tells us of Christ who is God, absolutely perfect, holy and righteous, and yet who became man and died to save all who will entrust themselves to Him. God does not command us to make ourselves good enough for Himself, but to recognize our unworthiness and rest in Christ, whom He will accept in our place, and who alone can make us what God wants us to be. Have you found rest in Christ as Krishna Pal did?

Krishna wrote many hymns, all breathing the love of Christ. Here are some of his most famous lines, as translated by Joshua Marshman:

O Thou, my soul, forget no more
The Friend who all thy misery bore;
Let every idol be forgot,
But, O my soul, forget Him not.

Jesus for thee a body takes,

Thy guilt assumes, thy fetters breaks,

Discharging all the dreadful debt:

And canst thou e’er such love forget?

Renounce thy works and ways with grief,

And fly to this most sure relief;

Nor Him forget who left His throne,

And for thy life gave up His own.

Infinite truth and mercy shine
In Him, and He Himself is thine:
And canst thou, then, with sin beset,
Such charms, such matchless charms forget?

Ah! no; till life itself depart,
His name shall cheer and warm my heart;
And lisping this, from earth I’ll rise,
And join the chorus of the skies.

Ah! no; when all things else expire,
And perish in the general fire,
This name all others shall survive,
And through eternity shall live.