When Reformation Sunday approaches, we naturally think about singing Martin Luther’s grand hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” But here’s another suggestion for that worship celebration, one that focuses even more specifically on the primary doctrine of the Reformation: justification. It is the well-known hymn by Edward Mote (1797-1874), “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness.”
It was the doctrine of justification that fueled the Reformation, justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone based on the Scripture alone for the glory of God alone the Five Solas). The Westminster Shorter Catechism number 33 provides this simple and clear definition of justification. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins1, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
One of the essential dimensions of this doctrine is the fact that it is an “act,” not a “process.” Theologians describe it as a “forensic decree,” since it conveys the imagery of God’s heavenly courtroom in which sinners stand in the presence of this righteous judge, having already been found guilty of innumerable crimes against His holy law, each of which carries the penalty of death, and now awaiting the sentencing to learn of their fate. But into the courtroom steps Jesus, the sinless Son of God, who announces that He has taken the guilt of His elect and borne it on the cross where their debt was paid in full (“it is finished,” as He said at Calvary), where the sentence they deserved was inflicted on Him as their substitute. And so the divine Judge pronounces those elect sinners not just forgiven, but better yet, “Not guilty.” Their record of offenses was expunged from the record, their sins having been cast into the deepest part of the sea (Micah 7:19), which was the basis for another great hymn, “Who Is a Pardoning God Like Thee?” (Its opening line is “Great God of Wonders.”)
This glorious doctrine of justification is seen vividly in the vision given to Zechariah, recorded in chapter 4 of that book. Joshua stands before the Lord clothed in filthy garments. As high priest, he represents the people in their sinful condition. Satan is there to accuse him. But the Angel of the Lord (Jesus) intervenes to command that Joshua’s filthy garments be removed and that clean robes be placed on him. Here is Jesus, our substitute, who knew no sin and yet became sin for us (1 Corinthians 5:21) taking away our sin and clothing us with His own righteousness. We also find it in Isaiah 53:5-6 where we have gone astray, and the Lord has laid our iniquity on Jesus. That is justification.
How wonderful to understand not only that we have been saved, but also how we have been saved. It is justification by “double imputation,” as the guilt of our filthy sins was transferred to Christ and as His spotless righteousness was transferred to us. And how wonderful to understand that this is an accomplished fact, a “once-for-all” declaration by God. At the time of the Reformation, this was a central issue because of the perversion of the doctrine of justification by the Roman Catholic Church. Justification had been changed from an instantaneous decree by God to a gradual process of divinely assisted self-improvement by the sinner. In a recent article published in Ligonier ministries’ “Tabletalk” magazine, Cornelius Venema expressed the difference this way.
Since the sixteenth-century Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church has taught that the “process of justification” includes several stages. Justification commences at baptism (“first” justification), and it is subsequently increased through the believer’s cooperation with God’s grace imparted through the sacraments (“second” justification). However, justification is only completed at the final judgment after a period of purification in purgatory (“final” justification). In the Roman Catholic view, believers are always liable to the loss of justification through the commission of mortal sin. For those whose justification is “shipwrecked” through mortal sin, the only remedy for restoration to a state of grace lies in the sacrament of penance. Only by way of exception do “saints,” who are perfected in holiness in this life, “merit” upon death the blessedness of being in God’s presence without further purification in purgatory. To support this teaching, frequent appeal is made to the Bible’s teaching regarding a future judgment according to works.
But we have already been judged, and on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, we stand “not guilty” before God, now and forever.
Edward Mote’s hymn, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness,” is a wonderful statement of this marvelous truth. He falls into the rare category of hymn writers who grew up without religious training. Born in Upper Thames Street, London, January 21, 1797, to parents were pub owners. He was apprenticed by his parents to a cabinetmaker as a youth, but found faith when he heard the preaching of John Hyatt at the Tottenham Court Road Chapel in London at the young age of 15. Living in Southwark near London, he established a successful cabinet-making enterprise at which he worked for 37 years before becoming a Baptist minister in 1852 at 55 years of age. He ministered for 26 years at Strict Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex, where he died on November 13, 1874.
Singing hymns was of great interest to him. The master cabinetmaker became a prolific hymn writer, composing more than 100 hymns. He published his hymns with selections by others in 1836 in “Hymns of Praise, A New Selection of Gospel Hymns.” Hymnologists note that this is the first time the now-common term “gospel hymn” appears. The hymn was probably written in 1834 and originally began, “Nor earth, nor hell, my soul can move.” The original title was “The Immutable Basis for a Sinner’s Hope.”
He has left us this description of its composition. “One morning it came into my mind as I went to labor, to write an hymn on the ‘Gracious Experience of a Christian.’ As I went up to Holborn I had the chorus.”
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Even a child should recognize the biblical basis for that image in the refrain. They would know it from learning the Bible in Sunday School. It was drawn from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-27, and Jesus’ comparison of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.
Here is more of Mote’s description of how he came to write these lyrics. “In the day I had four first verses complete, and wrote them off. On the Sabbath following I met brother King as I came out of Lisle Street Meeting . . . who informed me that his wife was very ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an early tea, and called afterwards. He said that it was his usual custom to sing a hymn, read a portion, and engage in prayer, before he went to meeting. He looked for his hymnbook but could find it nowhere. I said, ‘I have some verses in my pocket; if he liked, we would sing them.’ We did; and his wife enjoyed them so much, that after service he asked me, as a favour, to leave a copy of them for his wife. 1 went home, and by the fireside composed the last two verses, wrote the whole off, and took them to sister King . . . As these verses so met the dying woman’s case, my attention to them was the more arrested, and I had a thousand printed for distribution. I sent one to the Spiritual Magazine, without my initials, which appeared some time after this. Brother Rees, of Crown Street, Soho, brought out an edition of hymns [1836], and this hymn was in it. “
Twenty years later, as a Baptist minister, Mote was instrumental in securing a building for his congregation. As a show of thanks, the congregants offered to put the deed in his name, but Mote refused, saying, “I do not want the chapel. I only want the pulpit; and when I cease to preach Christ, then turn me out of that!” May that be found to be true of us in whatever way we have served Christ and His church throughout our life. Our sole desire is that people would see Him.
This hymn originally had six stanzas, but has been reorganized and reduced to the four stanzas commonly used today, and found in almost every hymnal in America. As is typical of 19th century gospel songs, each stanza concludes with a refrain. It is that refrain which is so closely based on Jesus’ description of the wise and foolish builder. And it provides a wondrous statement of our central hope in Reformation theology, that our only – and all-sufficient – hope is in Jesus Christ, “the solid rock.”
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
In stanza 1, we focus on Jesus and His “blood and righteousness” in which we trust for acceptance and justification. In contrast to those who would remove any reference to the shedding of blood when it comes to forgiveness, we stand firm on the Bible’s warning that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” We “dare not trust” anything other “than Jesus’ blood and righteousness” to deliver us from the just judgment of God. Like the foolish man who built his house on the sand, trusting in anything else, especially including all the morality and religion of our own achievements, will result in our be swept away in the flood of God’s righteous wrath.
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
In stanza 2, we focus on Jesus as the anchor that holds us amid the “high and stormy gale.” What is that gale? It’s not just the pressures and struggles common to all people in this life. No, it’s the “darkness” that “veils His lovely face,” when we stand before this God of love against whom we have committed cosmic treason. What a fearful thing it would be to fall into hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Apart from Christ, the darkness of that storm would be unsurvivable. But, praise God, if Jesus is our anchor, we will not only survive on that day, but will triumph.
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.
In stanza 3, we focus on Jesus’ oath, covenant, and blood that hold us securely when all else fails. And apart from Him, all other things will surely fail, even as the flood sweeps away the house built on sand. Once again, it’s the blood of Jesus that stands us the foundation on which we, as wise builders, have built our spiritual houses. Since “all have sinned” and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23 and 6:23), it was necessary that Jesus blood be offered in our place. And we have God’s covenantal oath that all who have put their faith in Him will be saved (Acts16:31). What a great profession of faith we sing, “He then is all my hope and stay.”
His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.
In stanza 4, we focus on Jesus’ righteousness which will be our dress on the day of judgment. What a wonderful image that is, drawn from Zechariah’s vision, that when we stand before God, we will no longer be clothed in our sinful garments, but as Jacob had a coat of many colors, we will wear the coat of Jesus’ spectacular righteousness. “When He shall come with trumpet sound,” is of course a reference to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, where Paul encourages us as we look forward to the day of His promised return. The second coming will be announced by the blast of the trumpet, as the Lord appears in glory to inaugurate the blessed eternal state for believers of life with Him forever in the new heavens and new earth. Wearing His righteousness, we will be accepted as completely faultless as we stand before His throne.
When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.
Here is a recording of this wonderful hymn about justification.