Hymn Notes: Fight Songs of the Church

While we will not be singing the hymn "The Day Is Surely Drawing Near" this coming Sunday (October 24), one stanza certainly ties in nicely to the ideas from Isaiah 53:10-12.  Jesus is our guilt offering.  That is more than just a blood sacrifice, like a whole burnt offering.  With the guilt offering, there is also a form of restitution.  A debt was paid off in addition to the sin being atoned for.  What was stolen was returned in full and 20% if its value was included in its return.

While we will not sing this stanza this week, it is coming up on November 14.  It is a fantastic fight song against sin, death, and the devil, and it should be sung with derision toward our enemies who have been conquered by Jesus.

"The Day Is Surely Drawing Near" is hymn 207 in Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal (c) 1993, written by Bartholomaus Ringwaldt (1532-1599).  Here is stanza 5:

My Savior paid the debt I owe
    And for my life was smitten;
Within the Book of Life I know
   My name has now been written.
I will not doubt, for I am free,
   And Satan cannot threaten me;
There is no condemnation!