Salvation Unto Us Has Come

Salvation unto Us Has Come is simply an outstanding hymn. I cannot stop loving it. Its tune is strong and assertive, but sweet and joyous at the same time. Its rich words run through Romans and into my soul to make me sing until I can't anymore because my heart is to happy to utter anything further and my eyes must take up the task of praising God with my tears. I mean the original German when I say this. The English is ridiculously good, to be sure, but Paul Speratus had the Spirit burning in him when he wrote his hymn for the German people. I'll post a new translation of it some day when I have more time.

The following was inspired by Speratus' hymn, but also by a conversation I had with several companions.

Tune: Es ist das Heil

Lord God, our Maker, hear us now,
We fall in need before You;
By nature we do not know how
To worship or adore You.
Reveal to us Your Spirit's Word,
That we may boldly call Him Lord
Who reigns with You in Heaven.

Your house is where You want to speak,
And we are here to hear You
Where else can we Your praises seek
Then where the poor draw near You?
Then speak! Your servants listen, Lord,
Expound Your Holy Scripture's Word
Into our darkened conscience.

What prophets and apostles wrote
Was by Your Spirit spoken;
No single letter will I doubt,
Since Scripture can't be broken;
Upon this sure foundation's rock,
Your holy Church withstands each shock
And wins in every battle.

And I will conquer too in faith,
Though doubts rise from my nature;
Your Word will scatter sin and death,
And form a new-born creature;
For Christ has spoken well and plain,
Your holy Words will still remain
When earth and heaven vanish.

Come, falsehood's father, hear my God!
He sent His Son to save me,
Who washed me in His precious blood
And faith and freedom gave me;
No more, though still my sin I see,
Will I serve Satan's tyranny;
God's Spirit reigns within me.

And here I have His water's Word,
Which still renews my spirit;
And here the body of my Lord
Bestows the God-man's merit;
And here I hear, as clear as day,
That all my sins are washed away,
And here the devil crumbles.

Then come, each poor and sorrowed heart,
Who stumbles still from sinning;
Come here where God will still impart
Faith's end with its beginning;
Behold the Bible's strong decree,
You heavy-burdened, come to Me,
And you shall rest forever.

And hope will wait until that hour
When God will show compassion;
We mock the tempter's wordly pow'r,
All things are our possession;
We love as we are loved by Him,
Who loved enough to bear our sin,
And bring us to the Father.

We cannot cease to sing your praise,
God, Maker and our Father;
All glory we forever raise
To Christ, God's Son, our brother;
To God the Holy Spirit be
All glory for His majesty
Now and through endless ages.

For Franzmann

Franzmann translated the hymn "With High Delight Let Us Unite," (LSB 483), an excellent hymn by Georg Vetter. The tune is Mit Freuden Zart and can be found here. I dedicate this hymn to Franzmann's memory. May God grant us tongues to sing His glory, which is our peace, the forgiveness of sins through the merit of His Son.

Come, sinners all,
Now hear the call,
“Come unto Me, all you weary.”
Leave with your God
Your guilty load,
Leave Folly’s ways, dark and dreary,
Wisdom now cries,
New life supplies;
And teaches still
And comforts well
The lonely and solitary.

Christ is for us
Our righteousness,
Cursed on the tree Jesus suffered,
The wrath of God
Quenched in His blood
His life for ours has been offered.
Come, sinful earth,
Here see your worth:
Your God has died,
The Crucified,
Your sin and guilt has been covered.


To those who gasp
In Satan’s grasp
See Christ, the stronger Man, running;
He plunders death,
He wipes out wrath,
All wickedness overcoming;
To broken hearts
His blood imparts
The Spirit’s peace
And full release
from Satan’s lies and his cunning.

Come, Satan, now
Beneath us bow!
Our Maker is our true Father.
Come, sin and death,
Look at our faith
Clinging to Jesus, our Brother!
Leave, doubt and strife,
The Spirit’s life,
Has freed our soul
From sin’s control.
This is our God and none other.

John Mark and Anastasia Katherine

Tune: The Death of Jesus Christ our Lord


Maker of heaven and the earth,
Giver of life and guard of birth,
Guide of all skills that help us live,
Accept the praises that we give!

A mystery is this indeed,
Fearful and wondrous we are made,
Formed in a woman’s dust and blood,
Made in the image of our God.

How we are made is past all thought,
By God’s own mind our souls are wrought;
Sacred the union God ordained
By which our race is here sustained.

Thanks be to Him, who by His will
Has made our flesh His plan fulfill,
Let Satan weep in fear and wrath.
I shed my tears in joyous faith.

For when the devil held us bound,
And life itself with death was crowned,
God sent His Son to take our place,
Dying to save the human race.

Born of the Virgin, chosen pure,
Conceived our sinful births to cure,
He sanctified by His own birth,
The birth of every child on earth.

Now when I see my sinful child,
I think upon the Virgin mild,
Who gazed upon her sinless Son,
By whom the Father’s will was done.

Lord God, our Father, I commend,
My children to Your Spirit’s hand;
Wash them with Your most gracious bath,
Save them from sin through saving faith.

How can I cease to sing your praise?
You never cease through all my days
To call me back with soothing voice
And bid my sorrowed heart rejoice.

Come near, my children, hear this grace
That shows your real, true Father’s face,
Christ Jesus is the Son of God,
Who has redeemed you with His blood.

Glory to Him who gave His Son,
Adore the Christ, the sinless One.
To God the Spirit lift our praise,
Now and through everlasting days.

Happy Ascension Day!!!

What a wonderful holiday!! Jesus rules! Nobody else does. Only He rules. He reigns. And He doesn't rule like the world does. He doesn't flaunt His power with the Law and with Rules and by showing how obedient His subjects are, He rules us by give us everything we need. He comes and attacks the devil who rules over our consciences with sin and the fear of death and He wrapped them all up, spoiled them of their armor, tossed their vanity aside, bled them of their accusations against us, and impaled their lying heads upon His cross. Look and see if you can find the unrighteous man, the devil. Look hard, I cannot find him. He is crushed beneath my Savior's feet and I am hiding safely in His wounds. Let the hosts of hell scream in despair because that is where Jesus threw my own despair and He replaced it with a hope unmovable, grounded in His certain promise: My sins are forgiven, God is reconciled to me, Jesus ascended into Heaven, fills all things, sits at God's right hand and rules over everything for me. Surely He is with me always, even through death, even to the end of the age when He will come again in glory to end even the appearance of death. I cannot express it. As Bach sings in his cantatas, my mouth be silent and listen to Jesus reign. Listen to His kingdom coming.

The hymn below is a meager attempt to express the joy of this day. Hallelujah, come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

Tune Altered Hail the Day so Rich in Cheer

Our Lord to Heaven now ascends,
Captivity is captured!
From Heaven’s gates to all earth’s ends
Believers’ hearts are raptured
For hope has seized them from despair
As Christ their Lord rules everywhere
And Hell and Satan cower.
Then who would not be glad today,
When Christ, who washed our sins away,
Claims all His royal power?

All things that hurt your heart and mind,
Your sins, the world, the devil;
See Jesus now in shackles bind;
He casts down all that’s evil.
Beneath His feet our foes now fall,
But we who here have heard His call,
Are bowing in contrition,
And ask in humble confidence
That He would plead our souls' defense
And save us from perdition.

Arise and hear the Conqueror’s word,
“I rule because I love you,
I am your Brother and your Lord,
Nor am I far above you,
But where you are but two or three,
With My own flesh and blood I’ll be,
And feed you with My merit;
Receive these gifts from Me, your Lord,
The sacraments and living Word,
And thus your home inherit.

What Satan builds, I’ll tear it down,
What I build stands unshaken;
The pride that unbelievers own
Will soon all be forsaken.
For every knee to Me shall bow,
No other god will I allow,
Than Me, the only Savior;
Come unto Me, you poor and meek,
Here in my wounds forgiveness seek
And live with Me forever.

Psalm 42

Tune: In Jesus I Find Rest and Peace


My soul, why are you so cast down?
What sorrows here attack you?
What hope is there on earth to own,
Which will not soon forsake you?
Your Savior’s grace
Which turns your face
To see Him dying in your place,
To Heaven soon will take you.

The world denies that Jesus Christ
Is Lord and still is reigning.
But you cling to His sacrifice,
By faith the truth obtaining;
I feel I can’t
as my complaint
is poured out from my spirit faint;
My strength is quickly waning.

Yet God on High will soon command
His love to dawn upon me;
By grace the fallen soul shall stand,
And sin no longer own me.
And night shall be
The day to me:
I sing the Gospel’s melody,
And angels’ voices join me.

Then let the devil’s angels mock,
He soon will hear my laughter
As faith shall draw my eyes to look
And see my Lord hereafter,
When He shall come
To take me home,
When sin is dead and death is done
And sorrow’s sighs are over.

Where Should Helpless Sinners Go?

The tune is Gethsemane


Where should helpless sinners go,
Who can only see their guilt?
To the cross where mercies flow,
Where that precious blood was spilt,
Which once turned God’s wrath aside,
When His Son, our Savior died.

Here we see the evidence
Of the sins the world denies;
Here God’s Son gives no defense,
Hear His sad and dying cries.
Why has God forsaken Him?
See the wages of our sin.

For three hours the darkness came,
As God hid His face from Christ.
Many pains and so much shame -
One eternal sacrifice.
All our sins on Him were laid;
It is done, our debt is paid.

When the Law makes its demands,
And your love falls far too short;
Hide within His wounded hands,
Which will hold your broken heart;
And will wash you in His blood,
And present you pure to God.

When your conscience cries again
For your crimes of age and youth;
Look to Him who bore your sin;
There is Spirit, there is truth;
There God’s verdict speaks release,
There is your eternal peace.

Who can ever dare condemn
Those for whom our God has died?
Who can put on us the blame?
We our truly justified!
Let them argue with our Lord,
Who has called us by His Word.

Glory to the Father sing,
Who spared not His only Son.
Songs to Christ, our Savior, bring;
By His death our life was won.
To the Spirit lift our praise,
Now and through eternal days.

Easter Hymn

There will never be a "perfect" hymnal. The perfect can be the enemy of the good as well. We must then determine what is the good. I think the guidelines are laid out for us by Paul in Col. 3:16, Let the Word of Christ dwell among you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts toward God.

First, hymnody ought to be didactic, i.e. it ought to teach and admonish.
Second, it ought to do so with Christ's Word dwelling richly, i.e. not dumbed down doctrine or flighty songs which celebrate our emotions, but songs which serve as the path for Christ's Word to come to us.

And that we have Paul call it Christ's Word, specifically the Word of the Messiah, what else is this than an allusion to a principle which C.F.W. Walther says pertains to homiletics, but which we certainly would agree must also pertain to hymnody, namely that the Gospel must predominate? Luther understood this. Even when he was admonishing us with the Ten Commandments in his great hymn on them, he ends every verse with a plea for mercy and ends the hymn with the Gospel; another example might be his hymn "O Lord, Look Down," which is a paraphrase of Psalm 12, which ends in a rather somber note, but Luther, having the New Testament, cannot end so somberly. He adds a reminder to God that we are His people, which is translated even more boldly in the English, "But Thou art our salvation."

With these principles in mind, I would like to submit to you a product of what some might call my "passion," but what I would rather call a gift from God, that He has taught me those things which He would have me believe and do through the rich hymnody of the Church. Whatever shortfalls the following hymn has because of my own weakness and inability to express God's truth I know God will look over, not only because I sing with grace in my heart to God, which grace cleanses me from all sin, but also because I know that what I have written is true. I say amen to it because I did not come up with the doctrine which I wish to teach through this hymn. The Holy Spirit taught it to me.

Tune: Possibly "Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior Thee," or "Old 124th"

1) Isaiah told how David’s Lord would come,
The holy offspring of the Virgin’s womb,
And Moses wrote what God most truly said,
The woman’s seed would crush the serpent’s head.

2) Come here, my soul, consider this today,
With Adam we like sheep have gone astray
And you, my heart, how wicked you have been!
But who can know the depth of all his sin?

3) From depths of woe the prophet David prayed,
“O Lord, do not forsake what You have made!”
God turned his heart the coming Christ to see,
“My God, why, God, have You forsaken Me?”

4) The Angel spoke, the Virgin’s heart believed;
So David’s blessed daughter then conceived.
In Bethlehem her child was born for us,
The Son of God, the Lord our righteousness.

5) Saint Paul has taught that we were dead in sin
Until the Lord of glory entered in
And shunned the joys for which our flesh has yearned
And drank the cup of death our souls have earned.

6) King David sang and Mary saw the day
When Jesus’ body did not see decay,
But left His grave and death has lost his sting
As Jesus’ wounds our peace and pardon bring.

7) Who has believed the prophets’ pure report?
Come near, each sinner, lift your broken heart.
God made His sinless Son to be our sin
That we might be God’s righteousness in Him.

8) To give the faith in Christ that justifies
Our God His Word and Sacraments supplies,
Through which His Holy Spirit breathes new life,
Forgives our sins and helps us in the strife.

9) Then rise and let us daily bear our cross;
For Christ we gladly suffer every loss
So that we may be found in Him that day
When He will come to judge our foes away.

10) Apostles saw what prophets longed to see.
Through faith in what they wrote so too shall we
Sing glory to the Father and the Son
And to the Holy Spirit, Three in One.