Reformation Hymn: “I Greet Thee Who My Sure Redeemer Art”

I GREET THEE WHO MY SURE REDEEMER ART – YouTube.

 

For our music meditation today we feature this song with roots in the Strasburg Psalter (1545) and sung to a tune from the Genevan Psalter (1551). Though this hymn is attributed to John Calvin, it is doubtful he is the author. Nevertheless, this song truly is a Reformation song, which songs we plan to focus on this month. Here are the lyrics and details on the song that accompanies the video:

 

1. I greet Thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Savior of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray Thee from our hearts all cares to take.

2. Thou art the King of mercy and of grace,
Reigning omnipotent in every place;
So come, O King, and our whole being sway;
Shine on us with the light of Thy pure day.

3. Thou art the life, by which alone we live,
And all our substance and our strength receive;
Oh comfort us in death’s approaching hour,
Strong-hearted then to face it by Thy power.

4. Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness,
No harshness hast Thou and no bitterness;
Make us to taste the sweet grace found in Thee
And ever stay in Thy sweet unity.

5. Our hope is in no other save in Thee;
Our faith is built upon Thy promise free;
Oh grant to us such stronger help and sure,
That we can boldly conquer and endure.

Facts:
Lyricist: Strasbourg Psalter,
attr: John Calvin
Lyrics Date: 1545
Translator: Elizabeth Smith
Translation Date: 1868
Theme: Jesus Christ; His Praise, God the Redeemer
Composer: Genevan Psalter

Music Date: 1551
Tune Title: TOULON
Key: F
Meter:10.10.10.10.
Scripture: Galatians 1:4

Little is known about the story of I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art.” This hymn has been attributed to John Calvin, from the Strasbourg Psalter of 1545. One of the primary reasons for not attributing it to Calvin is that the hymn is not found in any of the later psalters. Plus, the basis of the hymn does not come from any Psalm text. But, regardless of the hymnwriter, it is a solid hymn that has much to say to today’s culture. The words are sung to the tune TOULON, the tune for Psalm 124 in the Genevan Psalter.

J.Calvin on Psalm 50

As we meditate on Psalm 50 today, may we also find food for thought in these comments of John Calvin on Psalm 50:14:

 

Praise and prayer are here to be considered as representing the whole of the worship of God, according to the figure synecdoche. The Psalmist specifies only one part of divine worship, when he enjoins us to acknowledge God as the Author of all our mercies, and to ascribe to him the praise which is justly due unto his name: and adds, that we should betake ourselves to his goodness, cast all our cares into his bosom, and seek by prayer that deliverance which he alone can give, and thanks for which must afterwards be rendered to him. Faith, self-denial, a holy life, and patient endurance of the cross, are all sacrifices which please God. But as prayer is the offspring of faith, and uniformly accompanied with patience and mortification of sin, while praise, where it is genuine, indicates holiness of heart, we need not wonder that these two points of worship should here be employed to represent the whole. Praise and prayer are set in opposition to ceremonies and mere external observances of religion, to teach us, that the worship of God is spiritual. Praise is first mentioned, and this might seem an inversion of natural order. But in reality it may be ranked first without any violation of propriety. An ascription to God of the honor due unto his name lies at the foundation of all prayer, and application to him as the fountain of goodness is the most elementary exercise of faith. Testimonies of his goodness await us ere yet we are born into the world, and we may therefore be said to owe the debt of gratitude before we are called to the necessity of supplication. Could we suppose men to come into the world in the full exercise of reason and judgment, their first act of spiritual sacrifice should be that of thanksgiving.

Sunday Worship Preparation: Psalm 50

Today as we enter the Lord’s courts of praise, we turn to Psalm 50, a psalm of Asaph in which God speaks powerfully and majestically to His covenant people as well as to the wicked hypocrites in the visible church. It is a psalm most appropriate for our preparation for worship.

 

There are three distinct parts to this psalm. In the first part the Lord is set forth as the holy and righteous Judge of His people. In His awesome presence He comes to meet His covenant people in holy fellowship and calls them to appear before Him. This is the first thing we must remember about worship. Let us meditate on these words and prepare for worship according to them:

The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

³Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

⁴He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

⁵Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

 

In the second part of Psalm 50 God addresses His chosen people and reminds them of the sacrifices which delight Him when they assemble before Him in worship. Because He is the sovereign Creator and Owner of all things, it is not animals, or money, or any external gifts that please Him. What He wants and calls us to give is the sacrifice of thanksgiving and the prayer of true supplication for salvation. Let’s listen again and learn from these words before we come to God’s house:

⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

⁹I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

¹¹I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

 

And finally, in the third part of Psalm 50 God addresses the wicked hypocrites in His visible church who take His law and covenant in their mouth, but hate them in their hearts and cast them aside in their daily walk. These are “hard” words, but necessary for all of us to hear. For the righteous, these words will lead them to repent of their own sins of unfaithfulness and make them careful to be sincere before the Lord, clinging by faith to Christ crucified and risen for them. But for the wicked, they will lead to further hardening and greater rebellion against God. Let us weigh these words too as we prepare for worship:

¹⁶But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

¹⁷Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

²⁰Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

²¹These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

 

And so the psalmist closes with these final words of the holy, righteous, and sovereign Lord:

²²Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

²³Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

May these words lead us to pure worship today and godly living in this coming week. May the Lord show us unworthy sinners His abundant salvation in Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel. May God richly bless your Lord’s day of rest.