Come,
Thou Precious Ransom Come
Fourth
Week in Advent
Life
in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN
LSB 350 Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come
Only hope for
sinful mortals!
Come, O Savior
of the world!
Open are to
Thee all portals.
Come, Thy beauty
let us see;
Anxiously we wait
for Thee.
Glorious King and
Lord most holy.
Dwell in me and
ne’er depart,
Though I am but
poor and lowly.
Ah, what riches
will be mine
When Thou art my
guest divine!
Graciously
receive, I pray Thee;
Evermore, as best
I can,
Savior, I will
homage pay Thee,
And in faith I
will embrace, Lord,
Thy merit through
Thy grace.
Jesus, hear our
supplication!
Let Thy kingdom,
scepter, crown,
Bring us blessing
and salvation,
That forever we
may sing:
Hail! Hosanna to
our King.
Johann
Gottfried Olearius, 1635– 1711; tr. August Crull, 1845– 1923, alt.
Public domain MEINEN JESUM LASS’ ICH NICHT (DARMSTADT)
78 78 77
Matt. 20: 28; 21: 5; 1 Tim. 2: 6; Ps. 49: 7– 8; Rev.
5: 9
Concordia Publishing House. Lutheran Service Book:
Text Edition (Kindle Locations 15259-15275).\
Concordia Publishing House. Kindle Edition.
Grace and peace to
you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
This is our last
installment of the “Hymns of Advent” series.
Tonight, we are going to look at the Hymn Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come.
Come, Thou precious Ransom, come,
Only hope for sinful mortals!
Come, O Savior of the world!
Open are to Thee all portals.
Come, Thy beauty let us see;
Anxiously we wait for Thee.
It begins where
all good Advent hymns begin, with Jesus.
It is echoing Psalm 49, Matthew 20, and Rev 5. Calling Jesus, the “ransom”, “only hope for
sinful mortals”. Jesus is the ransom
paid for the sins of the world. The psalm specifies what the cost of ransoming
a person is.
Truly
no man can ransom an- | other,*
or give to God the price | of his
life,
for
the ransom of their life is | costly*
and can nev- | er suffice,
that
he should live on for- | ever*
and never | see the pit. (Psalm 49,
ESV)
Jesus is the
ransom for souls lost in sin. He exchanges his precious life for our sinful one.
It is the great exchange. The Psalm says no one can ransom another, the price
is more than we can pay, however Jesus isn’t just anyone, he is God himself in
human flesh. He is enough to ransom the all people, for all time. From Rev 5:
Worthy
are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by
your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people
and nation. (Rev 5:9, ESV)
Universal Grace,
is what the theologians call it. Grace upon grace, we sang at the Boralis
concert. God has forgiveness for all people. Sin is dealt with, done. The gift
of faith is all that is required. We anxiously await our Savior’s second
coming.
Enter now my waiting heart,
Glorious King and Lord most holy.
Dwell in me and ne’er depart,
Though I am but poor and lowly.
Ah, what riches will be mine
When Thou art my guest divine!
It is not often
that Lutherans talk about “Jesus in my heart.”
The hymn does here. The reason is because we are saved by the objective
work of Jesus on the cross, not by Jesus living in our heart. His death as the ransom paid for our sin,
offered without cost. It is objective not subjective. It is outside of me not
inside of me.
But, that doesn’t
negate the benefits of Jesus “in my heart.” He dwells there through the Holy
Spirit, who guides and directs my New Adam, the new life given in Holy Baptism
through faith. He convicts the Old Adam, my sinful nature, of my sin and my
need for forgiveness. “Though I am but poor and lowly,” the hymn says. He comes
and brings the gift of faith. Listen to Psalm 51.
Create in me a
clean heart, O God,
and
renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and
take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and
uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psa 51:10-12, ESV)
Some of the gifts
of the Spirit are listed in Galatians 5.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against
such things there is no law. And
those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires (Gal 5:22-24, ESV)
We live our
Christian lives, directed by the Holy Spirit, who constantly kills the Old
Adam, and give us that willing spirit.
We are Sinner and Saint at the same
time. This verse is a prayer to let the Saint
be dominate and to rejoice in that dominance.
My hosannas and my palms
Graciously receive, I pray Thee;
Evermore, as best I can,
Savior, I will homage pay Thee,
And in faith I will embrace, Lord,
Thy merit through Thy grace.
Our reaction,
prompted by the Holy Spirit, is worship. The dictionary defines Homage as “special honor or respect shown publicly.” We gather in public
worship, to pray, praise and give thanks, and through faith, receive the gifts
that God gives in Word and Sacrament. The Spirit also prompts us to see God
raining down gifts to us every day and give thanks.
This verse refers
to Palm Sunday; hosannas and palms. The people offered palm branches to cover
the ground and sang “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Hosanna
means “Save now, we pray!” Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to the cross. His
saving work, His merit, giving freely by grace.
The hymn echoes, “Thy merit
through Thy grace.”
Hail!
Hosanna, David’s Son!
Jesus,
hear our supplication!
Let
Thy kingdom, scepter, crown,
Bring
us blessing and salvation,
That
forever we may sing:
Hail!
Hosanna to our King.
This verse
emphasizes the Royal Reign of Jesus. It declares Jesus as King. His Kingdom
isn’t land, specifically, but all creation. He holds all creation together, but
His reign and rule are always for the good of the Church. The Hymn uses the
word supplication. That a prayer that
the hymn puts on our lips. “Let Thy
kingdom, scepter, crown, bring us blessing and salvation.”
Listen to
Colossians 1:17-20:
And he is before all things, and in him all things
hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in
him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile
to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood
of his cross. (Col 1:17-20, ESV)
That’s what it
means that Jesus is King. He holds all
things together. He rules over the world. History revolves around his saving
work on the cross. It is ours through faith. Blessing and salvation, the hymn says.
It finishes like
it began, where all good Advent hymns end. Looking forward to King Jesus
bringing to completion all that he has begun. Looking forward to our salvation
in Christ. Looking forward to the time when we will sing praises forever. Amen.
The peace of God
that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment