Sing, My Tongue
Say So!
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” (Psalm 107.2). So says the psalmist. The good news possesses centrifugal force—from those who have believed the message, the power of the gospel radiates outward, refreshing, blessing, enlivening others.
So in our Hymn of the Month for April, “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle” (LSB 454), we enjoin our mouth to pipe up and make known what God has done. Give it a listen below with this wonderful rendition from the choir of Concordia Nebraska, and then read on for a meditation on the hymn.
Verse 1
What Christ has done is won: “Tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer, / as a victim won the day” (verse 1). This line captures the central paradox of Good Friday and Easter, that our Lord’s greatest victory comes by way of His greatest defeat. This is what St. Paul means when he writes in First Corinthians that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor 1.25). God’s backward, gracious ways accomplish the end of the fray.
Verse 2
Christ Jesus came into the world in “the fulness of time” (Galatians 4.4). It was, as the hymn says, the “appointed time” (verse 2)—the time when as the Author and Pioneer of our faith He might blaze the trail of true obedience.
Verse 3
Once more we’re struck by the seeming incongruence of His mission: on the one hand, Jesus is blazing trails like a Wild West cowboy; on the other hand, “like a lamb He humbly yielded” (verse 3). Such is the nature of that true obedience; Jesus submits perfectly to the will of God the Father.
Verse 4
In the Preface for Holy Week we pray that, just as Satan defeated us by the tree of the garden, so may he by the tree of the cross be overcome. This “symbol of the world’s redemption” (verse 4) continues to bear abundant fruit for God, with countless souls ransomed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 5
Finally, the glad good news of God’s victory in this “glorious battle” elicits endless praise—“while the timeless ages run” (verse 5). What we commemorate and celebrate this month is the eternal victory of our Savior, who by His dying and rising has claimed us as His own. As the redeemed of the Lord, let us loose our tongues and say so.
This post has been adapted from Pastor’s April Leaflet article.
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