Psalm
119:5-10, John 3:31, Ephesians 4:3-6—The Hymn Lord keep Us Steadfast in Your Word goes
nicely for this coming week. (655 LSB). Because we live in a fallen world,
because we face danger on every side, because there is only one source the
Christian has for strength and sustenance, we go to the only place for personal
protection – the Words and promises of our Lord. Thus, our prayer must be as
found in the opening lines of our hymn, “Lord,
Keep us steadfast in Your Word!”
I know that “A Mighty Fortress” (LSB 656, 657) is
considered the “Battle Hymn” of the Reformation by many, but I suspect that in
the hearts of most Lutherans across the centuries, Luther’s much simpler and
shorter hymn, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” (LSB 655), simply wins the
day, hands down.
The hymn was certainly
popular in the church orders of the 16th and 17th centuries, which often
prescribed it as the hymn sung after the sermon every week.
According to Lutheran
Service Book: Companion to the Hymns, no one knows the exact date or occasion
for which Luther wrote it. The earliest reference appears in 1543 and calls it
“a children’s hymn.” That fits with the simple words and the sturdy, memorable
melody.
To say that Luther had the
gift of bluntness would be an understatement. The man would never have made it
in an environment concerned with political correctness, especially not by the
time he reached that testy last decade of his life. This little hymn embarrassed
later Lutherans because of its first stanza as Luther penned it (and as the
LCMS sang it until the publication of The Lutheran Hymnal in 1941). He dared to
name those whom he firmly believed Christendom needed protection against.
Here’s how it is translated in Luther’s Works:
Lord, keep us steadfast in thy Word
And curb the Turks’ and papists’ sword
Who Jesus Christ, thine only Son,
Fain would tumble from off thy throne.
(LW 53:305)
In Luther’s
day, the papacy still had the inquisition running full steam, torturing and
killing those regarded as heretics ad maiorem Dei gloriam (that is, to the
greater glory of God). Meanwhile, only a couple years prior, the Turks had
taken Budapest and looked poised to sweep straight through Christian Europe and
forcibly convert it to Islam. In such a dire moment, prayer against the sword
of the enemies of God’s Word was surely called for. And Luther found a way to
put it in words that the children could sing and that adults would never
outgrow.
While Rome has long since
repented of persecuting fellow baptized Christians — indeed, now they are
regarded as “separated brethren” —
the resurgence of militant Islam in our own day may help us grasp the fiery
ardor that rings through this little battle hymn. You can detect it, even in
the milder form that we sing now:
Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word;
Curb those who by deceit or sword
Would wrest the kingdom from Your Son
And bring to naught all He has done.
(LSB 655:1)
This first
stanza of the battle hymn is a prayer to God the Father, and the opposition of
Word and sword is not to be missed. There are worldly weapons that threaten,
but the church conquers with weapons of a different sort of warfare, as St.
Paul taught: “For the weapons of our
warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We
destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,
and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4–5). And of course,
“the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17)
is the preeminent weapon of all Christian warfare taken in hand with prayer.
The weight of the prayer of the first stanza is: “Father, by Your Spirit’s sword protect and keep us in the Kingdom of
Your Son.”
Lord Jesus Christ, Your pow’r make known,
For You are Lord of lords alone;
Defend Your holy Church that we
May sing Your praise eternally.
(LSB 655:2)
The hymn moves
from the person of the Father to the person of the Son. He is the founder of
the church. He promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against her
(Matt. 16:18). He sits on the throne of the universe and no matter if things
appear to be “going to hell in a hand-basket” (as the saying has it), He still
possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. We confess that He is the Lord
of lords alone, the Pantocrator, the Ruler of all. And so we ask that He would
defend His work, His church, His Christendom, and that He would do so in such a
way that our song in His honor, to His praise, may begin now and redound
through eternity. The weight of the prayer of the second stanza is: “Lord Jesus, show Your power and defend us,
keeping us faithful in our worship of You forever.”
O Comforter of priceless worth,
Send peace and unity on earth;
Support us in our final strife
And lead us out of death to life.
(LSB 655:3)
Now, the hymn
moves from the person of the Son to the person of the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another [Comforter] to be with you forever,” Jesus said (John 14:16).
Jesus is also a comforter (counselor, advocate), but we rightly apply the name
chiefly to Him who brings us the comfort of Christ by granting us the gift of
faith; that is, the Holy Spirit. St. Paul told the Corinthians: “Now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things
freely given us by God” (1 Cor. 2:12). Hermann Sasse observed once that the
work of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed is always eschatological; it’s
never finished in this age. The Spirit’s work reaches into eternity as He is
always gathering a church to Christ until the revelation of the Son on the Last
Day. And so we beg the Comforter, while giving us here in this world the gift
of peace with God and unity through Jesus with one another, to fortify us for “the final strife.” The last enemy to be
faced down is death. We pray that He will not only support us as our breath
fails in this age and we breathe our last, but that by His own omnipotent
power, He would lead us out of death and into life.
We can be thankful that the
inter-Christian persecutions have largely come to an end. The threat of false
teaching (deceit) and persecution by Christ’s enemies still remains. Jesus
didn’t lie: “In the world you will have
tribulation.” But He also didn’t lie when He added: “But take heart; I have
overcome the world” (John 16:33). In the confidence of those blessed words, we
join our voices in this little battle hymn of the Reformation, begging the
blessed Trinity to keep our faith steadfast and strong by the protection and
comfort of His holy Word as long as He wills our earthly pilgrimage to last.
A
morning prayer—Faithful God, whose mercies are new to us every
morning, we humbly pray that You would look upon us in mercy and renew us by
Your Holy Spirit. Keep safe our going out and our coming in, and let Your
blessings remain with us throughout this day. Preserve us in Your righteousness
and grant us a portion in that eternal life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -
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