LSB #741 "Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Corinthians 15:34-58, 1 Peter 1:3-5, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, Job 19:25-27

1 Corinthians 15:34-58:  "34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.  For some have no knowledge of God.  I say this to your shame.

"35 But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised?  With what kind of body do they come?'  36 You foolish person!  What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.  37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.  38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.  39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.  40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.  41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

"42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead.  What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.  43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.  It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.  44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.  If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  45 Thus it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.  47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.  48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

"50 I tell you this, brothers:  flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  51 Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:  'Death is swallowed up in victory.'  55 'O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?'  56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

1 Peter 1:3-5:  "3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

1 Corinthians 15:20-23:  "20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  23 But each in his own order:  Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ."

Job 19:25-27:  "25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another."

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The text is public domain:

1 Jesus Christ, my sure defense

And my Savior, now is living!

Knowing this, my confidence

Rests upon the hope here given,

Though the night of death be fraught

Still with many an anxious thought.

2 Jesus, my Redeemer, lives;

Likewise I to life shall waken.

He will bring me where He is;

Shall my courage then be shaken?

Shall I fear, or could the Head

Rise and leave His members dead?

3 No, too closely I am bound

By my hope to Christ forever;

Faith's strong hand the Rock has found,

Grasped it, and will leave it never;

Even death now cannot part

From its Lord the trusting heart.

4 I am flesh and must return

To the dust, whence I am taken;

But by faith I now discern

That from death I shall awaken

With my Savior to abide

In His glory, at His side.

5 Glorified, I shall anew

With this flesh then be enshrouded;

In this body I shall view

God, my Lord, with eyes unclouded;

In this flesh I then shall see

Jesus Christ eternally.

6 Then take comfort and rejoice,

For His members Christ will cherish.

Fear not, they will hear His voice;

Dying, they will never perish;

For the very grave is stirred

When the trumpet's blast is heard.

7 Laugh to scorn the gloomy grave

And at death no longer tremble;

He, the Lord, who came to save

Will at last His own assemble.

They will go their Lord to meet,

Treading death beneath their feet.

8 O, then, draw away your hearts

From all pleasures base and hollow;

Strive to share what He imparts

While you here His footsteps follow.

As you now still wait to rise,

Fix your hearts beyond the skies!

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1 Corinthians 15:34-58 appears in the fourth through seventh verses, with the trumpet in verse 52 particularly evident at the end of the hymn's sixth verse:  "For the very grave is stirred / When the trumpet's blast is heard."  The text from Job 19 is also incorporated in the hymn's fifth verse:  "In this body I shall view / God, my Lord, with eyes unclouded; / In this flesh I then shall see / Jesus Christ eternally."  The fifth verse of Lutheran Worship version of the hymn (#266) hews much closer to the Job text:  "Then these eyes my Lord will know, / My redeemer and my brother; / In his love my soul will glow - / I myself and not another!"

1 Peter 1:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 seem to be referred to only generally in the hymn's first two verses:  "Jesus Christ, my sure defense / And my Savior, now is living!" in the first verse and "Jesus, my Redeemer, lives; / Likewise I to life shall waken" in the second verse, which also borrows language from Job 19:25.

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The line "He will bring me where He is" in the second line may refer to John 14:3:  "'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.'"  The lines "Shall I fear, or could the Head / Rise and leave his members dead?" later in the verse use imagery that's present in some of the epistles, such as Romans 12:4-5 and Ephesians 4:15-16.

The lines "I am flesh and must return / To the dust, whence I am taken" at the beginning of the fourth verse bear some similarity to Genesis 3:19:  "'By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'"

The lines "Even death now cannot part / From its Lord the trusting heart" at the end of the third verse may refer to Romans 8:38-39:  "38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."