Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

LSB #575, 576 "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less"

"My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" appears with two different tunes in The Lutheran Service Book:  "Magdalen" (#575) and "The Solid Rock" (#576).  Aside from a repeated "All other ground is sinking sand" in the refrain of #576, the texts are the same.

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Acts 4:11-12; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 7:24, 16:24

Acts 4:11-12:  "'11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.  12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'"

Matthew 16:18:  "'And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'"

Matthew 7:24:  "'Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.'"

Matthew 16:24:  "Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"

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The text is public domain:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In ev'ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
His oath, His covenant and blood
Support me in the raging flood;
When ev'ry earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Redeemed to stand before His throne!
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
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The first three citations (Acts 4:11-12, Matthew 16:18, and Matthew 7:24) all mention a rock or stone, so any of these could be cited for the refrain.  Matthew 7:24 may be a bit more applicable, however, because the house built on that rock is later contrasted with a house built on sand (verses 26-27), just as in the hymn's refrain.

These three passages also appear in the first half of the first verse, where building is mentioned.  The second half of the first verse ("No merit of my own I claim / But wholly lean on Jesus' name") seems to come from Matthew 16:24, specifically "'let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"

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"He shall come with trumpet sound" in the last verse refers to 1 Thessalonians 4:16:  "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first."

"Clothed in His righteousness alone, / Redeemed to stand before His throne" in the same verse is taken from Revelation 7:9-17.