Redeemer Lutheran Church

Dear Friends in Christ,

A candle flickered in the dark room as a man sat hunched over a desk. He was a man, some 40 years old, clearly an academic. He was dressed in the long black Drs. robe. His brow was furrowed as someone deep it thought.

“Lord, How can I put it into words, how can I express what I am feeling, how can I make people understand...” He thought as he sat in the silence of the dark night.

He wrote one word down on the parchment: “Rejoice” -- and he stopped again looking off into the air as if the words he was searching for were there.

“No that’s not the right starting point. I certainly did not start out rejoicing. I was terrified of God. I feared His anger and punishment,” He said.

He turned to a large book that was worn with use. Turning open to the page he was hunting, he ran his finger down the page until it stopped at the spot. He began to read out loud.

“No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Romans 3:20).

“That’s it exactly - Nothing I did could bring me peace. I knew only a righteous God who demanded that I be righteous. An almighty, just God, who was angered at even one sin I committed. I was terrified of Him. I knew I would not be righteous enough to even hope of heaven. I was angry with a God that made such impossible demands of me. But the more I tried to be righteous, the more I realized that I could never fully be God-pleasing in everything I did. I could not free myself from Satan’s chains. Death brooded over me. Yes that’s it, that’s what it was like.”

He wrote some words out under the word “rejoice.” After some time of writing, crossing out and adding words these were the words he wrote:

HYMN 556
2. Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay,
Death brooded darkly o’er me,
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
But daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.

“Yes, that’s how it was in the beginning - he thought. At first, I had hopes that I could find peace with God by what I did. There was a time when I looked up to the monks as being more righteous than anyone. I thought if only I could be a monk, surely God would be pleased with me. But then I became a monk. Soon I realized that there were levels of monks - some were easy going, some were more strict. I set out to be the monk of all monks. Surely then God would be pleased with me, I thought. I fasted for days on end. I kept all-night prayer vigils and at night I would throw off my blanket and almost freeze to death. All to show God how righteous, how devout I was. But then I would think “Have I fasted enough? Have I prayed enough?”

I turned to confession, but that didn’t give me peace either. The more sins I confessed the more I became aware of my sinfulness. Once I even confessed my sins to my father confessor for 6 hours, afraid that I would forget even one of them. I didn’t receive much peace from confession because I had been taught that confession was all about what I had to do to earn God’s forgiveness. I was taught that sins to be forgiven must be confessed. To be confessed they must be recognized and remembered. But I realized that if they are not recognized and remembered, they could not be confessed. If they are not confessed, they cannot be forgiven.

It was like I was a prisoner to my sin. Just when I started feeling righteous, Satan would bring up some unconfessed sin and the terrors of death and hell would spring into my heart again. My life had become a living hell without any hope of salvation.”

Now his quill pen began moving across the paper, pouring out onto the page what he had been thinking about:

3. My own good works all came to naught,
No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God’s judgement fought,
Dead to all good remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left only death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered.

“It was the pangs of hell I suffered - I became more and more aware of just how separated from God sinful mankind is because of their sin. I knew that I could never be righteous enough to save myself. I was helpless in my sin.

But then - then came that glorious day when God revealed to me through His Word that He is not a God of anger but a God of love. I was teaching the book of Romans at the University of Wittenburg. I was struggling to understand the “justice of God.” How could I love the justice of God when a just God must punish me and all the unjust sinners? Night and day I pondered until one passage showed me the truth: “The just shall live by faith.” Then I understood that we do live through our faith in Jesus. Through our faith in Jesus, God declares us not guilty for our sins because Jesus paid for them all. We are just and righteous because Jesus who took all our sins to the cross and paid for them, wiping them away.

That reminds me” He thought as he again turned to His Bible opening to the Third Chapter of Romans. He read aloud: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

“What love, What mercy” he thought “that God freely without our deserving it sent His Son to redeem us from sin and death and the devil. When I understood the great heart of our Father “I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.”

Picking up the quill again this time the words came more quickly and it wasn’t long until these words appeared on the page:

4. But God had seen my wretched state
Before the world’s foundation,
And mindful of his mercies great,
He planned for my salvation.
He turned to me a father’s heart;
He did not choose the easy part
But gave his dearest treasure.

“I had been looking for a way to save myself and found no peace. But this is the Gospel, the good news - that God did everything for our salvation. This is the very heart of God’s Word - God’s plan to save us through His dearest treasure, His beloved Son Jesus Christ. While my own works accomplished nothing, God worked our salvation through His Son. Now lets sing God’s wonderful plan to rescue us!” He worked furiously for some time until he labored to write these verses:

5. God said to his beloved. Son:
"It's time to have compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of my crown,
And bring to all salvation;
From sin and sorrow set them free;
Slay bitter death for them that they
May live with you forever."

6. The Son obeyed his Father's will,
Was born of virgin mother;
And God's good pleasure to fulfill,
He came to be my brother.
His royal pow'r disguised he bore,
A servant's form, like mine, he wore
To lead the devil captive.

7. To me he said: "Stay close to me,
I am your rock and castle.
Your ransom I myself will be;
For you I strive and wrestle;
For I am yours, and you are mine,
And where I am you may remain;
The foe shall not divide us.

8. "Though he will shed my precious blood,
Of life me thus bereaving,
All this I suffer for your good;
Be steadfast and believing.
Life will from death the vict'ry win;
My innocence shall bear your sin;
And you are blest forever.

9. "Now to my Father I depart,
From earth to heav'n ascending,
And, heav'nly wisdom to impart,
The Holy Spirit sending;
In trouble he will comfort you
And teach you always to be true
And into truth shall guide you.

10. "What I on earth have done and taught
Guide all your life and teaching;
So shall the kingdom's work be wrought
And honored in your preaching.
But watch lest foes with base alloy
The heav'nly treasure should destroy;
This final word I leave you.

“Yes! This is the good news worth dying for! Though my life be threatened, though I be excommunicated by the pope, though the devil would rage against me I will not deny the Gospel. This is what gives us hope and life and salvation. The love of God for us in Christ is the very thing that enables us to rejoice and sing and proclaim His wonders! I have begun this hymn with despair and sorrow and hopelessness because of my sin. But this song is really a song about rejoicing and praising God for His great love and mercy. I want Christians everywhere to sing with one voice the praises of our God who has saved us. I want them to know why we can sing and rejoice and praise our God instead of fearing His wrath. I pray that through this song others will hear anew how God has redeemed them!”

Again there was a flurry of pen strokes until at last he sat back satisfied with what he had written. Next to the verse he wrote the number 1 and signed the bottom: by Martin Luther. Let’s join our hearts and voices to sing verse one.

1. Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice,
With exultation springing,
And with united heart and voice
And holy rapture singing,
Proclaim the wonders God has done,
How his right arm the vict’ry won.
What price our ransom cost him!