“A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is probably one of the greatest hymns written by one of God’s greatest champions in one of the greatest periods of church history. It has been called “The Battle Hymn of the Reformation.” It isn’t known for certain when Martin Luther wrote this hymn, but he did base it on Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who can always be found in times of trouble. That is why we will not fear when the earth dissolves and when the mountains tumble into the heart of the sea. Its waters roar and foam. The mountains quake when it rises. There is a river-its streams bring joy to the city of God, to the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in her. She will not fall. God will help her at daybreak. Nations are in turmoil. Kingdoms fall. God raises his voice. The earth melts. The Lord of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is a fortress for us” (Psalm 46:1-7).
This hymn was of great comfort to Luther and his followers because when he was discouraged, he would often invite his friends to sing it for courage and strength and he apparently sang it regularly while being sheltered at the Coburg castle in Germany during the Diet of Augsburg. This hymn was then sung at the Diet of Augsburg. Gustavus Adolphus caused it to be sung by his army before the battle of Leipzig in 1631.
Verse one: “A mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon; he helps us free from ev’ry need that has us now o’ertaken. The old evil foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight; on earth is not his equal.”
If “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is a Reformation song to be sung toward the end of the Christian church year, then why is it the Hymn of the Day for the first Sunday in Lent? The Gospel lesson for the first Sunday in Lent is always Jesus battling the devil in the wilderness. Martin Luther speaks throughout this hymn about doing battle against “the old evil foe.”
Verse one of this hymn, just like the first three verses of Psalm 46 share the theological truth of God’s faithfulness. It is a comfort to know that you can flee to God for refuge. You can trust him. He is a mighty fortress, a trusty shield and weapon that protects us from the attacks of the devil, the old evil foe.
Verse two: “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected; but for us fights the valiant one whom God himself elected. You ask, “Who is this?” Jesus Christ it is, the almighty Lord, and there’s no other God; he holds the field forever.”
Verse two is reminiscent of Philippians 3:3 where St. Paul writes, “put no confidence in the flesh.” Our flesh is weak, warped, and wicked and cannot be trusted. So whom can we trust? We trust in the valiant one who is Jesus Christ, the man of God’s own choosing. Revelation 13:8 declares that Jesus was “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” God did not have to search through heaven or come up with a secondary plan when Adam fell in the Garden. Calvary was in the mind of God when he created the heavens and the earth. When God took Adam up in his arms and breathed life into him, God had already determined that Jesus would die to redeem fallen man. God had elected Jesus from eternity to be our valiant one.
Verse three: “Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no ill; they shall not overpow’r us. This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”
Luther writes, “though devils all the world should fill.” When you read the Gospels, you see that the devil and his demons seemed to be working overtime during Jesus’ earthly ministry. You can be sure that wherever Christ is present in person, Word or Sacrament, the devil and his demons are hard at work. Whether it was the devil in the desert or the demon-possessed man in the synagogue or the papacy and its false doctrines in the Reformation or any of the myriad of false teachings in vogue today, the devil is still on the attack. There’s nothing the devil despises more than the preaching of Christ crucified for sinners. The devil and his demons love vague spiritualities, nebulous praise and cross-less, bloodless gospels that are really no gospel at all. You can preach social justice and morality until you’re blue in the face and the devil couldn’t care less. But preach Christ and all hell lets loose.
Luther assures us that the devil is judged and can harm us none. One little word can fell him. Though the devil is the prince of this world, Jesus Christ trumps him because he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The devil was judged and defeated when Jesus died on the cross, thereby rescuing all sinners from an eternity of torment with the devil and his demons.
There has been a lot of discussion over the years about what that “one little word” is that can fell the devil. The English language is much wordier than the Greek language. Perhaps some Greek words that might fit are: gegonan – “It is done” (Revelation 21:1) or tetelestai – “It is finished” (John 19:30) or phimotheti – “Shut up!” (Mark 1:25) or simply “Jesus.”
Verse four: “The Word they still shall let remain nor any thanks have for it; he’s by our side upon the plain with his good gifts and Spirit. And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, though all may be gone, our victory is won; the kingdom’s ours forever!”
Jesus is the Word made flesh that shall remain. Jesus is always by our side. He promises, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We have this confidence that Jesus can and does defeat the devil because he himself has promised, “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me” (John 14:30). If Jesus is with us in the dark valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23), then he is also with us in the plain of this world. The devil will not and cannot prevail. Christ has crushed the Ancient Serpent’s head once and for all. The victory is won. The kingdom’s ours forever.