Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to Heavenly Harmonies.
Psalm 105, verses 1 and 2 says, O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, Talk ye of all his wondrous works. Since ancient times, God's people have employed sacred song in a variety of ways to enhance their spiritual experience.
Today, we consider more closely how hymns have come to be incorporated into many aspects of our lives since the reformation began in 1517. We do this by looking at one of the most famous hymns of that era, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Stay with me to discover how its heavenly harmonies can keep you near to the heart of God.
So in our story thus far, we have traced the everlasting gospel from its beginning in eternity past through dark centuries of persecution. And we've seen how during the Dark Ages, Satan worked through corrupt leaders to bring false teachings right into the midst of the Christian church. These teachings taught people to look away from God, who alone could save them, and to trust to their own works for salvation.
But through the Reformation, the Bible was restored to the people and the deceptions of Satan that had led many to a hopeless grave began to be unmasked. And so what we are going to look at today in with the hymn that we look at today, which is A Mighty Fortress, is Our God. And this hymn was written by probably the primary figure of the Reformation, Martin Luther.
And so, yeah, to think of the Reformation is really to think of Luther. Now, Luther did many things in the Reformation, and we're going to be talking more about some of these in future weeks, and we're certainly going to be talking about the new truths that the Reformers, like Luther and many others, discovered as they began to search the Scriptures. So Luther did many things and he's credited with officially starting the reformation by nailing 95 theses based on the Bible to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
He is. He had a strong belief in salvation through faith in Christ alone. He really pioneered that belief and really brought it to the front.
He also took a bold stand for conscience. He advocated faith that was based solely on the Bible because he saw that the writings of church leaders were often contradictory. And so he felt that, you know, one time they were saying this, another time they were saying that the writings, you know, contradicted themselves, the leaders contradicted each other.
And so he said, we need to test everything, not by the word of man, but by the word of God, the Bible. So with his emphasis on the Bible. He restored the Bible translated from its original languages to the German people in their mother tongue, in the language that they spoke.
So that was really important role that he played. And so rather than having the people look even to himself, that was not what Martin Luther was striving to do. Even though he's a very bold, uncompromising figure, very, you know, striking personality, but by translating the Scriptures, he taught people to look to God directly to God and His Word, and to get there to understand their salvation personally for themselves from the Bible.
So that was very, very important. And his transl of the Bible into German inspired those of other countries also to want to have the Bible in their own languages. And so we can see strong influence.
For instance, William Tyndale would probably never have been able to do his English translation. You know what he was able to do of it, had it not been for the influence of Martin Luther working in Germany. That was the only place where Tyndale could actually get his Bible published.
And, yeah, so, but Luther inspired those of, of other countries as well to want to have the Bible in their own languages. And he also advocated for a heart religion, not just one of outward compliance and formal ceremonies. So these were all really, really important things.
And as I say, we will be looking at these more in future programmes, but today we are going to look at something else and it relates particularly to the theme of this programme. So I wanted to put it in here before we get on to looking at these doctrine truths, we're going to look at the way in which these were spread. And of course, so as I said, Luther's translation of the Scriptures was very, very important in helping people to understand the truths of the Bible for themselves.
But he also did something else which is the focus of our programme today. And so one of the most important reforms of Lutheran related to music. And so let's have a look at this.
And so I do have to thank my husband for providing a lot of this research. And yes, so very thankful to Alan because I'm using a lot of his notes. So Luther was a musician from a young age.
He had a decent tenor voice and studied music theory. He taught himself to play the lute. And as a university student, he was known as a learned musician and philosopher.
So he was coming from a musical background. So amongst God's most precious gifts, Luther ranked music second only to theology. Analysing and debating the faith was mainly for theologians, while for laypeople, music was the most effective means of transmitting the gospel.
And so Luther said that next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. For whether he wished to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate, what more effective means than music could you find? And so Luther began to compose hymns, actually, when there were two young men that were martyred for their faith. So one day in 1523, Luther stopped teaching his class in Wittenberg for a moment to receive news from a messenger.
And at that time, he began to cry silently because the news concerned two young monks. So in 1523, on the 1st of July, Hendrik Vos and Jan van Vessen. I'm sure that I'm just absolutely murdering all these German words, so do apologise.
Yeah, Germany's not my best language. So these two martyrs, anyway, they were burned at the stake in Brussels for preaching the views of Martin Luther. And so, in their honour, Luther wrote his first hymn, which was a new song, Here Shall Be Begun.
And so Luther wrote more hymns. By the end of that year, Luther's hymns were being printed as broad sheets and circulated and sold by itinerant peddlers. And in Magdeburg, a weaver stood in front of the statue of the emperor Otto I.
He sang aloud two of Luther's hymns and he sold copies of these sheets to the crowd. But the burgomaster, or in other words, the mayor, heard it and he asked what was going on. He was told that an old man was singing and selling the hymns of the heretic L.
And so the mayor had him arrested for public nuisance. That is, the man that was singing hymns, not Luther, and so arrested for being a public nuisance and hawking without a licence. And he was thrown into prison, but 200 citizens demanded that he be released.
So there you go. That was a protest by the people. And so Luther wrote 27 more hymns before 1530, and he went on to write 36 hymns altogether.
And so his hymns are noted for their straightforward expression of faith and confidence in God. And when confined to the castle, to a castle one time he said, maybe to Melanchthon, come, let us defy the devil and praise God by singing the hymn out of the Depths I cry to Thee. So Melanchthon, Philip Melanchthon was Luther's associate in the Reformation.
And, yeah, the two of them really worked together. Salutha was the bold, uncompromising one who was kind of like, you know, the speaker. He was the one who wanted to move things forward.
Melanchthon was a much More cautious personality. But he was absolutely brilliant, I believe, at languages. And so he and Luther worked together on the translation of the Bible.
Although we do tend to refer to Luther sort of being the primary character having the more dominant personality, we tend to refer to it as his translation in his Bible. So Luther, yeah, had a great influence on German music, actually, not only on religious music, really. He was the one that introduced him singing by the congregation into the church.
And so that's very common today in Protestant churches. So, yeah, this, this practise was instituted by Luther. And so a historian thinks that the importance of hymns to the Reformation cannot be overstated.
And Luther was the father of the congregational song. And so in the Middle Ages, music was restricted almost entirely to the priest and the choir. But Luther believed in the priesthood of all believers and he let the people sing.
And the people did sing. Practises were set during the week for the entire congregation. And so many people learned Luther's hymns that his German hymns and psalms became so well known, they were sung by the people daily in all churches before the sermons commenced.
And people not only sang these hymns at church, they also sang them at home. And so, yeah, they, they learned the gospel truths in this way. And in this way, Lutheran thought pervaded all life.
And Luther wanted to rid the people themselves of bad worldly songs. He wanted them to learn in their stead something wholesome and so to apply themselves to what is good with pleasure. And Luther found music a really good way to instil his message in hearts and minds.
Now, to Luther, the most important thing in him singing was the meaning. And so he employed every device to bring out and to emphasise the meaning. And he was very insistent that the organ accompaniment should not obscure the words.
He said that only one note should be used for each syllable. And so not only did hymns help to transmit Luther's theology within the Lutheran Church, they were also a means to share his message with the outside world. And specifically, some places had prohibited access to Luther's writings, but they were unable to hinder the spread of hymns sung by travellers.
And, yes, this is such a great way to spread the gospel. And Luther's hymns, in fact, was so effective that a critic gave him a backhanded compliment by saying that the hymns of Luther killed more souls than his sermons. And now it's estimated that the number of hymns, song sheets and hymn related materials printed during the 16th century was 2 million copies.
So a tremendous amount of music that was printed, particularly for that time in history, you know, I mean, the Printing press had only just been invented, so huge amount of church music that was printed. And Sir Luther had such a huge influence on church music, but not only on church music. It has been said that Luther also most likely had a great influence actually on German music, full stop German art music, for centuries, and probably even that he ultimately influenced the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
And of course, Bach, if you are a musician, is considered to be one of the greatest composers. And his music influenced countless other composers, especially romantic composers like Felix Mendelssohn. And so Western art music today would probably not be what it is were it not for the influence of Martin Luther.
So that is really, really amazing. So coming to our hymn for today, which is, as we've said, a mighty fortress is our God. And it's really appropriate that we should be doing this hymn as we're talking about music, because this hymn is based on Psalm 46, or certainly, you know, the first verse in Psalm 46 which says, God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble.
And yes, so the psalm goes on about how God takes care of us during time of trouble. And this is so appropriate because Luther absolutely loved the Book of Psalms and he actually wrote a manual on the Book of Psalms. And in there Luther wrote, I believe, for my part, that there is no book under heaven either of histories or examples to be compared to the Book of Psalms.
You may truly call the Book of Psalms a little Bible, for in it all things that are contained in the whole Bible are given to us in the most wonderfully brief and sweet manner and condensed into a most beautiful manual. So Luther loved the Book of Psalms. He said, you know, the Psalms talk about Christ, they contain prophecies about Christ.
And so I think this is really significant that the Psalms express all the ideas of the Bible. And so, you know, the story of salvation, the story of God's forgiveness, the story of creation, Jesus sacrificed for us, the second coming. All of these things are found in the Psalms.
And the significance of this is particularly for this programme. And the topic that we're looking at is that Psalms was the hymn book of God's ancient people, the Israelites. And so I think that this illustrates that we need hymns on all aspects of the gospel.
And yeah, so just coming to our hymn for today. As we've said many times, we know what it is. Maybe I won't say it again.
We are going to listen to Fountain View sing this, this hymn a little bit later. But first I will say a few more things. So as we've said this hymn is based on Psalm 46.
And this was one of Luther's favourite psalms, I believe, out of his much loved book of psalms. And so when he was feeling discouraged, Luther would say to his associate, melanchthon, come Melanchthon, or come Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm. And so, yeah, I think that this hymn really shows Luther's affinity for the Psalms.
Now we do see other of Luther's key beliefs reflected in this hymn. So let's just go through the words of it. Probably many of you would be familiar with this hymn, but just as a reminder, so this hymn says, A mighty fortress is our God A bulwark never failing Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe his craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal did we in our own strength confide Our striving would be losing Were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Sabaoth, his name from age to age the same and he must win the battle. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear For God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim we tremble not for him his rage we can endure for lo, his doom is sure One little word shall fail him.
That word above all earthly powers no thanks to them abideth the spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth let goods and kindred go this mortal life Also the body they may kill. God's truth abideth still his kingdom is forever. So once again we have in this song the triumph of truth.
And Luther saw that the Word of God would triumph. He said, you know, let them come and kill my body. I don't care.
God's truth will triumph. The Word will triumph. And so Luther saw that the Word of God was a mighty weapon in the great controversy conflict.
That's the theme of this song. Let's now listen to Fountainview singing it. Our helper he amid the blood a mortal ills preparing for still a reach and fall the sea to one God's home is craft and borrow Grave adorned with cruel hand on earth is not his equal did we in our own strength and fine our striving would be losing Were not the right men on our side the man of God don't choose him.
Cause that's who that may be Christ Jesus it is here Lord save his name from H to H the same and he was with the and all this world with devil's filth should bread into unto us we will not be born on and will it's true to try on through us the Prince of darkness R we tremble on for him his great endure for love is to his door for little words of let the body may make him the truth of Psalm 91:2 says, I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress My God in him will I trust. Would you like to make God your rock and fortress? Let's commit ourselves to him now in prayer. Thank you so much, dear God, for the wonderful promises of your word.
And thank you so much that we can learn these wonderful promises through song. Thank you for the gift of music and please help us to treasure your word, to find in you our rock and our fortress and to do this through song I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
So thank you so much for joining me today on Heavenly Harmonies. Remember, you can find past episodes on our website 3abnaustralia.org.au just click the Listen button, select Heavenly Harmonies from the list of programmes and we would also love to hear from you.
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[email protected]. I would love for you to join me again next time when we continue our saga through historical foundations of present truth. But until then, may your soul be filled with heavenly harmonies that will hold you near to the heart of God.
