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University, Chicago. With Christ at the center,

1:00

we stand tall for the church. One

1:18

of our guests here on issues,

1:21

etc., years ago observed that a lot

1:23

of Easter hymns deliver very well

1:25

the what of Easter The

1:27

events of Easter, the

1:29

facts of Easter, Christ's

1:31

death and resurrection and

1:33

sometimes give short shrifts to the why

1:35

of Easter, the how of Easter. What

1:38

is happening here? What does

1:40

Jesus' death accomplish and what

1:42

is his resurrection really all about?

1:44

Well, there's an Easter hymn, the Stryphus or the

1:46

battle done that explains it all.

1:48

Greetings and welcome to Issues, et cetera, on

1:50

this Easter Monday, April the 21st. I'm

1:53

Todd Wilkin. Thanks for tuning us in. We're

1:55

to be studying the Easter hymn, The Strife is

1:57

Or, the Battle of Dumb, with Dr. Arthur Just,

1:59

then in our two, on Issues, et cetera, classic,

2:02

a historian's perspective on the resurrection of

2:04

Christ with the sainthood of Dr. Paul

2:06

Meyer. Dr. Arthur Just is professor

2:08

of New Testament at Concordia Theological Seminary,

2:10

Fort Wayne, Indiana. He sees an old pastor,

2:12

Grace Lutheran Church in Naples, Florida, and

2:15

author of the two volume Concordia Commentaria on

2:17

Luke and the book Heaven on Earth,

2:19

The Gifts of Christ and the Divine Service.

2:22

Dr. Jast, welcome back. Nice

2:24

to be with you today. What

2:26

do you make of this notion that

2:28

there are some hymns that really

2:30

deliver the facts, which are absolutely essential,

2:33

but sometimes don't always describe what

2:35

this hymn does so beautifully. Victory

2:38

over death. I

2:42

think you're right. I mean,

2:44

sometimes we see Easter as

2:46

a time of just kind

2:48

of simply praising God for

2:50

the resurrection, but we don't

2:53

delve into how the resurrection

2:55

affects us in our everyday

2:57

lives, what this actually means

2:59

for us as believers and

3:01

how the resurrection is, in

3:04

a sense, our new

3:06

identity. This is who we are. We

3:08

are resurrected people. I think

3:10

part of that, at least as Lutherans,

3:12

and I don't know how true this is

3:14

of other hymnals, but, you know, Lutherans

3:16

are theology of the cross people. I always

3:18

tell people this in class, you know,

3:21

when we're studying Luke, for example, you know,

3:23

he's got the great chapter in the

3:25

resurrection, which I've spent a lot of time

3:27

of my life with. But

3:30

oftentimes, you know, because

3:32

we're focused on the cross,

3:34

we forget about the resurrection

3:36

and its benefits, and it's

3:39

how it actually means something

3:41

for the way in which

3:43

we understand ourselves and the

3:45

way we live. This

3:47

hymn focuses on that

3:50

noun strife. What is

3:52

the strife described in

3:54

this hymn? Well,

3:56

it's a great word. It's

3:59

sort of an old -fashioned

4:01

word. We don't usually think

4:03

of strife as a common

4:05

part of our parlance, but

4:07

it's a battle. It's a

4:09

bitter violent conflict, and it's

4:11

a fight or a struggle

4:13

where we're contending for something. And

4:17

oftentimes it's a contention for

4:19

superiority. And of

4:21

course, in this context,

4:23

it describes the cosmic battle

4:25

between Jesus and Satan,

4:27

in which the world is

4:29

at stake, and

4:31

whether or not Jesus is

4:33

going to conquer death

4:35

with his death. And

4:38

you can see that

4:40

at the cross is Satan's

4:42

final attempt and his

4:44

delusion in his sense that

4:46

he can actually conquer

4:48

Jesus by killing him. Jesus

4:51

turns the tables on him

4:53

in this most violent moment in

4:55

the history of the world

4:57

and he shows that he is

4:59

the stronger man and he

5:01

is the one who has defeated

5:03

Satan once and for all

5:06

on the cross. And

5:08

the resurrection is the announcement

5:10

that that battle has been

5:12

won. It's over. And you

5:14

can see in his flesh

5:16

the fruits of his victory. What

5:20

do we know about

5:22

the authorship of this

5:25

particular hymn? Well,

5:27

the fact of the matter is

5:29

we know practically nothing. It's

5:31

anonymous. the

5:33

best way to put it. It's

5:35

got a little bit of an interesting

5:38

history. It comes

5:40

out of the Catholic tradition. It

5:42

was in a Jesuit book

5:44

of music that was sung in

5:46

Germany and first shows up

5:48

in a book in 1695. And

5:51

there have been some thoughts

5:53

about it being an earlier hymn,

5:55

one that maybe even come

5:57

from as early as the century.

6:01

But the fact of the matter is there's

6:03

really no evidence for that. And

6:05

it's just one of

6:07

those magnificent hymns to which

6:09

we cannot ascribe any

6:11

particular author. So it's

6:13

the church's hymn. It's

6:15

the hymn that has been handed

6:18

down because it's such a

6:20

magnificent hymn. I think its provenance

6:22

is Germany. But

6:24

what a wonderful

6:26

gift. somebody gave to

6:29

the church back in

6:31

the 1600s. Let's

6:33

talk about if there can be

6:35

a primary biblical text for the

6:37

Stryphus or the battle is done.

6:40

Well, there's, I mean, there's one

6:42

that just definitely stands out

6:44

and there are another two, but

6:46

this one in particular because

6:48

it's cited in the hymn. And

6:51

that is from the great chapter

6:53

on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians

6:55

15. Oh death, where is

6:57

your victory? Oh death, where

6:59

is your sting? The sting

7:01

of death is sin and the

7:04

power of sin is the law. But

7:06

thanks be to God who gives us

7:08

the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

7:11

And you can see that that is, I

7:13

would say on one

7:15

level is the overarching text

7:17

for this. But

7:19

in the last verse,

7:21

We're going to see

7:23

that he cites Isaiah

7:26

53 verse 5, but

7:28

he was wounded for our transgressions.

7:31

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon

7:34

him was the chastisement

7:36

that brought us peace. And

7:38

especially this line, and

7:40

with his stripes we

7:42

are healed. But

7:45

there are two other passages that

7:47

go to your first question, Todd,

7:49

about you know, what

7:51

this means to us today.

7:54

And here in 2 Timothy

7:56

1 -10, you can

7:58

hear Paul reflecting on

8:00

this. And I'll just read

8:02

the verse itself, and which

8:04

now has been manifested through the

8:06

appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

8:09

abolished death and brought

8:11

life and immortality to

8:14

light through the gospel.

8:17

I think when we're talking about what does

8:19

this mean to us today, it

8:21

is that life and immortality

8:23

that we see in those

8:26

who confess the gospel that

8:28

is so pertinent to how

8:30

we must understand our identity

8:32

today. The other

8:34

passage from Paul that I think is

8:36

in some ways even more poignant and

8:38

one that is familiar to us, but

8:42

it would be Ephesians 2

8:44

verse 1 and then verses 4

8:46

to 6. Paul says to

8:48

them, and you were dead in

8:50

the trespasses and sins in

8:52

which you once walked. But

8:55

God, being rich

8:57

in mercy, because of

8:59

the great love with which He

9:01

loved us, even when we

9:03

were dead in our trespassers, made

9:06

us alive together with

9:08

Christ by grace you

9:10

have been saved, and

9:12

raised us up with Him

9:15

and seated us with Him in

9:17

the heavenly places in Christ

9:19

Jesus. And there you

9:21

can see, made alive together with Christ, how

9:24

can you not help but

9:26

think of our baptism into

9:28

Christ? And when you see

9:30

what's happening in our baptism,

9:33

you see how the resurrection

9:35

is what happens to us

9:37

when we are joined together

9:39

and united with Christ through

9:41

His death. and his resurrection,

9:43

so that we are eternal

9:45

beings now. We are made

9:47

alive in Christ. We are

9:50

people who now live resurrected

9:52

lives. Obviously, Romans 6

9:54

could certainly be a passage

9:56

you might want to refer to,

9:58

but I don't think it

10:00

hits as directly to this hymn

10:02

as these four verses. The

10:06

first stanza of the Strive

10:08

Disorder the Battle done. The

10:10

strife is o 'er the battle

10:12

done. Now is the victor's

10:14

triumph won. Now be the songs

10:16

of praise begun. Alleluia. What

11:01

would you highlight in

11:03

that particular first stanza that

11:05

introduces us to the

11:07

thoughts of this hymn? Well,

11:10

I first want to just

11:12

comment on this is one of

11:14

those hymns that you begin

11:16

with a threefold alleluia and you

11:18

you conclude the hymn with

11:20

a threefold alleluia and the last

11:22

word of each verse is

11:24

alleluia and I mean this is

11:27

what characterizes it as one

11:29

of the great Easter

11:31

hymns. I mean, this triple

11:33

Alleluia is a triumphant start and

11:35

finish to what is so

11:37

characteristic of Easter hymnity. And you

11:39

know, one of the great,

11:41

I don't want to call it

11:43

an innovation, but it is

11:45

sort of new to our churches,

11:48

is that in the last

11:50

Sunday of Epiphany, the Feast

11:52

of the Transfiguration, the last

11:55

hymn we usually sing, is

11:57

kind of a farewell to

11:59

the Alleluia's. And so

12:01

we've been yearning and waiting

12:03

for those Alleluia's all -lenten

12:05

season, and this hymn

12:08

just bursts forth with this

12:10

great hymn of Alleluia

12:12

praise. But the

12:14

first verse, what really characterizes

12:16

it is the language of

12:18

warfare, strife, as

12:20

we talked about, battle,

12:23

victor, triumph, and

12:25

won. And what you can

12:28

see here is That's

12:30

spiritual warfare, not yet,

12:33

but this is the battle

12:35

against death that Jesus

12:37

fought on our behalf by

12:39

his obedient life and

12:41

his death in which he

12:44

bleeds out his life

12:46

for us and his blood

12:48

cleanses us of all

12:50

our sins. The

12:52

strife and the battle against death

12:54

are won over by Christ's

12:57

death. He defeated death by his

12:59

death. I love that phrase. You

13:02

know, the death is the means for

13:04

defeating death. And

13:06

his victory now means that

13:08

the victor's triumph has been

13:10

won. And so this is

13:13

the reason for our song

13:15

of praise. This is the

13:17

reason for our alleluia's. So

13:20

it sets us right

13:22

into the heart. of

13:25

not only what happened on

13:27

the cross and the resurrection, but

13:29

that it is this extraordinary

13:31

triumph over the greatest enemy that

13:34

we ever had, the greatest

13:36

bondage, and that is the bondage

13:38

of death. Dr.

13:40

Arthur Just is our guest. We're studying

13:42

the Easter hymn, The Strife is Oral,

13:45

the battle done. He is Professor of

13:47

New Testament at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort

13:49

Wayne, Indiana. On the other

13:51

side, we will go back to

13:53

another victory song, the song by the

13:55

sea after the Great Exodus. This

14:13

week on The Word of

14:15

the Lord Endors Forever, we continue

14:18

our study of Ecclesiastes with

14:20

Two ways, consider the

14:22

work of God overly righteous,

14:25

many schemes, and no

14:27

power over the day of

14:29

death. Join me, Pastor Will

14:31

Whedon, for the Word of

14:33

the Lord endures forever, your

14:35

daily 15 -minute verse -by -verse

14:37

Bible study on demand. Listen

14:39

at thewordendores .org or your favorite

14:41

podcast provider. Holy

14:43

Week is a time of intense meditation

14:45

and reflection on the Word of God

14:47

during the last week of Jesus' earthly

14:49

ministry. The Church has traditionally set aside

14:51

certain readings for these days. We encourage

14:53

you to pick up a copy of

14:55

the April issue of the Lutheran Witness

14:57

to be led on an Old Testament

14:59

walk through Holy Week. Visit cph .org slash

15:01

witness to subscribe or witness .lcms .org to

15:03

learn more. The Lutheran Witness

15:05

helping you learn to interpret the world

15:07

from a Lutheran perspective. The

15:10

faith, once for all, delivered

15:12

to the saints, you're listening

15:14

to issues, etc. This

15:18

is Pastor Matthew Harrison, president

15:20

of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.

15:22

The LCMS operates the second

15:24

largest Procule school system in the

15:26

United States. What can you

15:28

expect from a Lutheran Church, Missouri

15:30

Synod school? There's one race,

15:32

the human race. And Jesus died

15:34

for the sins of every man,

15:36

woman, and child from every land

15:38

and every nation. Life begins

15:40

a conception. All life

15:43

is precious from womb to tomb.

15:45

And every student, parent and teacher

15:47

is created in the very image

15:49

of God. There's right and wrong,

15:51

and we know which is which

15:53

from the Ten Commandments. There are

15:55

only two sexes, male and female,

15:58

he created them. Marriage

16:00

is the lifelong union of one

16:02

man and one woman. There's such a

16:04

thing as objective absolute truth, and

16:06

it's found in the person and work

16:08

of Jesus Christ and His Word. To

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find a Lutheran Church Missouri

16:13

Synod School near you, visit lcms

16:15

.org slash schools. Welcome

16:27

back to Issues, etc. We are

16:29

studying the Easter hymn, The Strive is

16:31

Oral, The Battle Done, with Dr.

16:33

Arthur Just, author of the two -volume

16:35

Concordia commentary on Luke and the book

16:37

Heaven on Earth, The Gifts of

16:39

Christ and the Divine Service. These books

16:41

are published by Concordia Publishing House,

16:43

their phone number 1 -800 -325 -3040, or

16:45

browse before you buy on the Talk

16:47

on Demand Archives page at issuesetc .org.

16:50

Can this Easter hymns, really so

16:53

many Easter hymns, be seen as

16:55

a New Testament version of those

16:57

two songs we find in Exodus

16:59

15, Moses' song by the sea

17:01

and Miriam's brief response. I

17:04

believe you're right. And I

17:06

think what you see there

17:08

is the continuity between the

17:10

old and new. And even

17:12

though there are many people

17:15

who don't see as much

17:17

as they should, the

17:19

resurrection in the Old

17:21

Testament, these songs certainly point

17:23

to the great songs

17:25

of praise that can only

17:28

be sung after the

17:30

Messiah who has been sent

17:32

by the Father to

17:34

accomplish the Trinitarian plan of

17:36

saving the world through

17:38

blood, shows that he has

17:41

in fact conquered

17:43

death by his death and

17:45

raising the Messiah from the

17:47

dead so that we might

17:49

sing these hymns of praise,

17:51

these great songs of alleluia. Why

17:54

is the natural response

17:56

of faith not simply to

17:58

speak but to sing

18:00

God's praises? Well,

18:02

one of the things for us

18:04

is that when we gather,

18:06

we gather in the presence of

18:09

God. And the person of

18:11

Jesus and his divine human nature

18:13

is present. We talk about his

18:15

real presence or even better, I

18:17

like to speak of his bodily

18:19

presence. And for Jews,

18:21

I mean, they always sang when they were

18:23

in the presence of God. They always sang

18:25

in the temple. They always

18:27

sang in the synagogue where the scriptures

18:29

were read. You sing because

18:31

the Lord is present. and God

18:33

Yahweh with His gifts is present. The

18:36

Word of God is here, and

18:38

where the Word of God is, there

18:40

is the presence of God. Christians

18:42

understood that from the beginning. In

18:44

fact, they understood that they had

18:46

even more of a presence than

18:49

they had in the time before

18:51

Jesus. That, yes, this is

18:53

the living Word of God. It's

18:55

the Word of Jesus Himself, the

18:57

Messiah, and that that

18:59

word prepares us to eat and

19:01

drink his very body and blood.

19:04

What greater thing to sing about.

19:06

And when Easter comes and we're

19:08

celebrating the fact that all of

19:10

this is possible because he has

19:12

risen from the dead. I

19:15

mean, singing is really

19:17

what we must do because

19:19

the Lord has risen.

19:21

He has risen indeed, alleluia.

19:25

Our second stanza.

19:28

The powers of death have done

19:30

their worst, but Christ, their

19:32

legions hath dispersed. Let

19:34

shouts of holy joy outburst

19:36

alleluia. Dr.

20:06

Just, we hear a

20:08

lot in Scripture about the power of

20:10

death, whereas Paul will put it, the power

20:12

of the fear of death. How is

20:14

it described? This

20:16

is a hymn verse that

20:18

I think we see a

20:20

bit of the continuation of

20:22

the battle imagery. But

20:24

I think when it talks

20:27

here about Jesus and the

20:29

powers of death, I

20:31

mean, the battle that Jesus fought

20:33

for us in dying for us

20:36

was not an easy one or

20:38

a quick one. And

20:40

they did their worst. I mean,

20:42

look at the body of Jesus.

20:44

Again, I'm just teaching Luke right

20:46

now, and we were talking about

20:49

this in class yesterday. Follow

20:51

the body of Jesus. Watch what

20:53

happens to his body. Watch

20:55

what they do to

20:57

this poor man. And,

21:00

I mean, they beat him.

21:02

They scourge him. They spit

21:04

upon him. They put nails in

21:06

his body. They lift him

21:08

up on a tree for the

21:10

most excruciating painful of deaths. And

21:13

this is the means by which

21:15

he conquered death. And it was a

21:17

fearful thing. Death is a fearful

21:19

thing. It's not the way God wanted

21:21

it to be. And so

21:23

in order for us to be

21:25

restored to what God wanted

21:27

us to be, in order for

21:29

Jesus to accomplish that, he

21:31

had to go right into the

21:34

teeth of death itself. And

21:36

the powers of hell that were

21:38

torturing him on the cross Years

21:41

ago, when Mel Gibson's movie came

21:43

out, I remember the Passion of

21:45

the Christ. There was a lot

21:47

of uproar that it was too

21:49

violent. And I'll never

21:51

forget what our president at that time,

21:53

Dean Wente, I think he might have said

21:55

this on issues. But he

21:57

was asked, you know, isn't

21:59

it too violent? And I remember what he

22:01

said. He said it

22:03

wasn't violent enough. This

22:05

was the most violent moment in

22:07

the history of the world. This

22:09

is when God's mishpot, His justice,

22:11

was brought down upon His Son. And

22:14

I think that very

22:17

simple line, the powers of

22:19

death have done their

22:21

worst, is as beautiful an

22:23

understatement of the horror

22:25

that Jesus went through on

22:27

the cross. Another

22:29

reference to class that I've just

22:32

had, we're doing Galatians right now,

22:34

and in Galatians 3, Paul

22:36

says very clearly, he

22:38

publicly portrayed Jesus as crucified.

22:41

And you know that he gave them

22:44

all the gory details. He showed

22:46

them the horror of this. And if

22:48

the Galatians are what I think

22:50

they are, they're soldiers, they're mercenaries from

22:52

Southeast Asia Minor. They

22:54

would have understood battle. They would

22:56

have understood what it meant to be

22:58

wounded in battle and the pain

23:01

and the violence and Paul lays that

23:03

out for him and his whole

23:05

epistle is based on that kind of

23:07

preaching and I think this verse

23:09

is in a sense pointing to that

23:11

very thing. I

23:14

think it's worth pointing out

23:16

because there have been many especially

23:18

in the 20 and 21st

23:20

century who want to downplay the

23:22

resurrection by,

23:25

well, basically saying he wasn't really raised

23:27

or he was raised symbolically or something

23:29

along those lines. But there's an

23:31

equal danger in downplaying the death in

23:33

saying that, well, this

23:35

was an inconsequential thing for Jesus

23:37

to die because after all, he's

23:39

God and God can't die. Take

23:41

that apart for us. Yeah.

23:43

I think they call it

23:45

a resuscitation or It's too big

23:48

a miracle for him. And

23:50

I mean, and that's just

23:52

part of what modernism was.

23:54

I mean, modernism just couldn't

23:56

believe in the miracles and

23:58

the supernatural and that God

24:01

could invade our world and

24:03

demonstrate through his presence that

24:05

he has the power over

24:07

creation, even death. But

24:09

I do think that there

24:11

has been a downplaying

24:13

among some of how horrific

24:16

the death was. I

24:18

just read in class a

24:20

wonderful piece by Peter Brunner

24:23

in which he just talks

24:25

about the cosmic consequences of

24:27

death, you know, the darkness, the

24:30

earthquakes, the

24:32

temple curtain coming torn

24:34

asunder. I mean, Jesus,

24:36

the Creator, as He is

24:38

recreating the world, the

24:40

world reacts and it

24:42

reacts violently. I

24:44

mean, it's Like I'd like

24:46

to say it's rocking and rolling because

24:48

it's being renewed and his death

24:50

had that power because this is the

24:52

creator who's being killed. And

24:55

what his

24:57

flesh touches has

24:59

a powerful

25:02

impact. You know, after

25:04

a miracle, the power was coming out

25:06

of him. Well, think

25:08

of the power of his

25:10

flesh as it is being

25:12

tortured and killed and doing

25:14

that so that he might

25:16

bring in a new creation. Any

25:19

kind of cleansing, any kind of healing,

25:22

there's pain and even some violence.

25:25

It's not easy. Through many tribulations,

25:27

we must enter the kingdom

25:29

of God. And in

25:32

Jesus, you see the tribulations

25:34

that only the Son of

25:36

God could possibly endure. And

25:38

you love that second

25:41

part of him, but

25:43

Christ, their legions hath

25:45

dispersed. I

25:47

mean, because of his

25:49

death, he has sent

25:51

Satan and death packing. Cyril

25:54

of Jerusalem has a wonderful statement

25:56

about this, and he talks about it

25:58

in terms of the fact that

26:00

Jesus was crucified naked on the cross.

26:02

And a lot of people don't

26:04

know that. And I mean,

26:06

that's why it was so shameful. I

26:08

mean, imagine the women and his

26:10

mother and his disciples seeing their Lord

26:12

hanging their naked. And Cyril

26:15

says this great, you

26:17

know, kind of thing about,

26:19

by his nakedness, he,

26:21

he despoiled the powers and

26:23

principalities of this world.

26:25

I mean, even in that,

26:27

the depths of his

26:29

humiliation and shame, he is

26:31

dispersing death's legions. So

26:34

this, we cannot preach

26:36

this enough. Both the

26:38

horror of his death

26:40

and the reality and

26:42

historical truth of his

26:44

resurrection. The

26:46

third stanza of

26:48

the Stryphosaur, the

26:51

three sad days have quickly sped.

26:53

He rises glorious from the dead,

26:55

all glory to our risen head.

26:57

Hallelujah. What

27:27

is this idea of our

27:29

risen head? I

27:31

think that's a beautiful

27:33

way in which, in

27:36

this final part of

27:38

the stanza, that

27:40

it testifies that because

27:42

the church has been joined

27:44

to Christ in baptism

27:46

and that with him he

27:48

is the head and

27:50

the church is his body,

27:53

then of course the body

27:55

must share in the

27:57

victory of the risen head. So

28:00

this is, I think, what you

28:03

were getting at a little

28:05

bit at the beginning, how this

28:07

hymn talks about how as his

28:09

body, the church, we share

28:11

in the glory and

28:13

the victory of what he

28:15

has accomplished for us. And

28:18

I think that notion of

28:20

giving glory to the one

28:22

who has in a sense

28:25

gone before us in this

28:27

cosmic strife, you know, our

28:29

captain in the well fought

28:31

fight, but who's gone before

28:34

us through his resurrection and

28:36

ascension all the way to

28:38

heaven and has taken us

28:40

with him. So our glory

28:42

is that he did what

28:45

we could not do. He

28:47

made that Passover from death

28:49

through death into life and

28:51

then to heaven itself. People

28:55

inevitably raise the question and

28:57

it's really a matter of kind

28:59

of the Easter math that

29:01

Jesus predicts three days and we

29:04

talk about his three -day rest

29:06

in the tomb, but

29:08

he's late in the tomb at the

29:10

very tippy end of Friday. He

29:12

rests the entire Sabbath in

29:14

the tomb and then rises

29:16

before the Sun rises on

29:19

The first day of the week and they'll say,

29:21

well, that's not three days. How do you explain

29:23

that to seminary students who raise that question with

29:25

you? Yeah, it is always

29:27

a conundrum and it applies to both

29:29

days and years. In the ancient

29:31

world, if it was part of a

29:34

day, it was a day. So

29:36

even if it's five minutes, they would count that

29:38

as a day. If

29:41

it's part of a year, it's a

29:43

year, which is why chronology is so

29:45

hard in the first century because, I

29:47

mean, like when you're dating the

29:50

Apostolic Council, it could be 49 or

29:52

50. It could even be 48

29:54

if you're counting a particular way because

29:56

you just don't know. But

29:59

yeah, I mean, to spend even a part

30:01

of a day is to spend a day. So

30:03

his three days is true. For them, it's

30:05

true. That's how they reckon

30:07

time. And I really

30:09

love, that's one of my favorite lines of

30:11

this hymn, the three

30:13

sad days have quickly

30:16

sped. First of all,

30:18

he gives us those three days.

30:20

And I mean, the three days

30:22

are, this is what we now

30:24

celebrate, and you wonder if this

30:26

was in play when he wrote

30:28

this hymn, but these three days

30:30

where we begin with Monday, Thursday,

30:33

which is really Friday, and then

30:35

we end with the Easter vigil,

30:37

and it's all one continuous service,

30:39

the tridim. And I love

30:41

that new custom, old custom

30:43

that we did. But

30:45

they're sad days. And the

30:47

reason that I say

30:49

that is because you really

30:51

can sense that sadness,

30:53

especially like in the women,

30:56

Luke's gospel, I mean, where they

30:58

kept the Sabbath according to

31:01

the commandment and they come to

31:03

the tomb expecting to anoint

31:05

a dead body and the deep

31:07

grief and sadness that they

31:09

had. Luke captures this in the

31:11

Emmaus story when you know,

31:13

Jesus walks along with them and,

31:16

you know, he asked them

31:18

what things and they stood there.

31:20

The Greek word is scutropoi, which

31:23

means, my wife would

31:25

say it means gobsmacked, but it's more

31:27

than that. It's a grief. It's

31:29

a deep sorrow. It's a deep, deep

31:31

sadness. And that must

31:33

have been a very difficult

31:35

time for them. But it quickly

31:37

sped. I mean, in the

31:40

sense that the resurrection just makes

31:42

you forget. the sadness that

31:44

it was three days, I mean,

31:47

it overcomes the grief that one

31:49

may have experienced if one was

31:51

there at the foot of the

31:53

cross to see on the third

31:55

day that he has, in fact,

31:57

risen from the dead. A

31:59

lot of people use the childbirth,

32:01

you know, the terrible birth pangs

32:03

and the whole horrible labor, but

32:06

then as soon as that child

32:08

is born, It's like you

32:10

can hardly remember, at least that's what I'm

32:12

told. So, I mean,

32:14

that line is just so

32:16

brilliant. And

32:18

the reason why those three

32:20

days sped is because

32:23

he rises glorious from the

32:25

dead. And even there,

32:27

when you read the Gospels,

32:29

It was difficult for people to

32:31

wrap their minds around that. It

32:34

was a slow unfolding that

32:36

it, you know, and even when

32:38

they saw him, they weren't

32:40

sure. Luke, they think they

32:42

see a ghost. So it's,

32:44

I mean, the resurrection, the

32:47

first time in human history

32:49

where anybody saw kind of

32:51

incorruptible human flesh, never

32:53

happened before and won't happen until the

32:55

coming of our Lord again in the power

32:57

of Sia. So you, in some ways,

32:59

I always tell students, you got to give

33:01

these people a pass. If you were

33:03

there, you would have reacted the same way.

33:06

You would have had the same

33:08

sadness, but you would have given

33:10

glory to your risen head when

33:12

you realized that yes, in fact, he

33:15

has conquered death by his death

33:17

and risen from the grave. On

33:20

the other side of the break stands a

33:22

four of the Easter hymn, the Stryphus or

33:24

the battle done. We're studying with Dr. Arthur

33:26

Just. He broke the

33:28

age -bound chains of hell. The

33:30

bars from heaven's high portals fell.

33:33

Let hymns of praise his triumph

33:35

tell alleluia. Throughout

33:59

the 50 days of Easter, sacred

34:01

music for the world. LutheranPublicRadio

34:04

.org Listen 24

34:06

-7 to sacred

34:09

music for

34:11

the Easter season.

34:13

LPR, LutheranPublicRadio .org

34:25

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besieged the German town

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response, Magdeburg's Lutheran pastors and

34:36

theologians wrote a treatise on

34:38

justifying resistance to tyrannical power

34:40

called the Magdeburg Confession. The

34:43

issues it set are a book of the

34:45

month for April is a translation of the

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Magdeburg Confession. Learn about

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this new resource at issuesetc

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35:29

Church. If you are

35:31

in the Dallas area and are looking for

35:34

preaching that is faithful to the Scriptures, reverent

35:36

worship, rich hymnody, and

35:38

faithful administration of Christ's

35:41

sacraments, then we invite you

35:43

to join us at Faith Lutheran Church

35:45

in Wiley, Texas. The congregation

35:47

at Faith and Wiley rejoices to

35:49

celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday beginning

35:51

at 9 .30, followed by

35:53

Sunday School and Adult Bible Class. We

35:56

are located at 615 Parker

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Road. Visit us on the

36:01

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36:03

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you're listening to issues, etc. At

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36:12

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36:14

for that. Issues, etc. Guests, Dr.

36:17

Arthur Just. Because it

36:19

is the heartbeat of Concordia Theological

36:21

Seminary. It is where we go

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36:25

and frequently be fed with the

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36:30

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36:32

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36:35

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36:37

is there that we do theology,

36:40

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36:42

practical theology, history. We

36:44

love theology here, and we love

36:47

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36:49

love coming together in worship. It's

36:51

one of the things that gives us great

36:53

joy. Joy in

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worshiping, joy in studying theology, Concordia

36:58

Theological Seminary is all about

37:00

the joy of being in Jesus.

37:37

The Lutheran public radio choir with the

37:39

fourth stanza of the Easter hymn, the

37:41

Stryphus or the battle done, Dr. Arthur

37:43

Just is our guest. Dr.

37:45

Just, take us into this fourth stanza. Yeah,

37:49

this is a really

37:51

kind of, not a departure,

37:53

but I think it

37:55

explores something that we don't

37:57

always recognize, and that

38:00

is the impact of Jesus'

38:02

resurrection on the unseen

38:04

spiritual realms. We began

38:06

by talking about strife, and

38:08

I use the word cosmic battle.

38:10

And I think we forget

38:12

that these are spiritual forces, good

38:15

and evil, darkness and

38:17

light, Jesus and Satan.

38:20

And you can see that

38:22

this hymn writer understands that

38:24

there are spiritual realms that

38:26

are going to be affected

38:28

by this. And he

38:30

reflects that in beautiful poetry.

38:32

He broke the age -bound chains

38:34

of hell. And then the

38:36

bars from heaven's high portals

38:38

fell. And so you

38:41

can see that the victory

38:43

has an impact on both

38:45

heaven and hell. The

38:47

chains, of course, are associated with

38:49

the punishment of hell, as you

38:51

can read in Jude, for example,

38:54

or in Revelation 20. And

38:56

the message is so clear.

38:58

Jesus has freed sinners from

39:00

hell's bondage and opened the

39:03

gates of heaven to them.

39:05

And I think the resurrection is

39:07

the dawning of the light and

39:10

the light that leads us all

39:12

the way to heaven. And

39:14

one of the things I

39:16

think this verse does is, again,

39:19

at the last one, let hymns of

39:21

praise his triumph tell. I

39:23

mean, this is the greatest reason to praise

39:25

because we live in the light, not in the

39:27

darkness. And every

39:29

gospel, I mean, during the

39:31

movement from the Sabbath

39:33

to Easter Sunday is this

39:35

movement from darkness to

39:37

light, the deep, deep

39:39

darkness, and then the

39:42

light dawning and the light

39:44

of the resurrection that now really

39:46

enters us into that eternal

39:48

eighth day in which time, as

39:50

Luther said, is no longer

39:52

counted for all reality. We

39:54

just now live in this

39:56

resurrected time and look forward

39:59

to the time when we

40:01

will be with Christ fully

40:03

and that light will be

40:05

not diminished or dimmed by

40:07

the world of sin and

40:09

death that we live in.

40:12

So I love this

40:14

verse. I mean, it's

40:16

great poetry, but it

40:18

also acknowledges a larger

40:20

cosmic reality that we

40:22

don't always acknowledge. And

40:25

that cosmic reality is from the

40:27

very bottom to the very top. It's

40:29

from the depths of hell all

40:31

the way to the heights of heaven

40:33

if we conceive of God's creation

40:35

that way. With about a minute, your

40:37

thoughts there. Yeah, I

40:40

agree. And I mean, it shows you

40:42

how all of creation, all of

40:44

the world has been affected

40:46

by the death and resurrection of

40:48

Christ. And that we

40:50

live in a world now

40:52

that is not the same

40:54

as it was before the

40:56

resurrection. We live in

40:58

a redeemed world, and we, the

41:00

people of God who by baptism

41:02

and faith have been joined to

41:04

that eternal one, that resurrected Christ.

41:07

We are the evidence, even though

41:09

it may not appear to the

41:11

world, but we're the evidence that

41:13

this world has changed, that

41:15

the light has dawned, that the

41:17

resurrection of Christ is the

41:19

only way in which we can

41:21

now see reality. We

41:24

are studying the Easter hymn, the

41:26

Stryphosaurus, the battle done with Dr. Arthur

41:28

Just. He is professor of New

41:30

Testament, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana,

41:33

where they form servants in Jesus Christ who teach

41:35

the faithful, reach the lost, and care for

41:37

all. Find out about

41:39

studying for the vocations of

41:41

Pastor Ordeaconess at ctsfw .edu, or

41:44

by calling 1 -800 -481

41:46

-2155, Concordia Theological Seminary,

41:48

Fort Wayne, Indiana. The

41:50

fifth stanza is next, Lord, by

41:53

the stripes which wounded thee from

41:55

death's dread sting, thy servants free,

41:57

that we may live and sing to thee,

42:00

alleluia. This

42:21

passage comes from the end of the

42:23

formula of Concorde. By God's grace,

42:25

with intrepid hearts, we are willing

42:27

to appear before the judgment seat of

42:29

Christ with this confession and give

42:31

an account of it. We will not

42:34

speak or write anything contrary to

42:36

this confession, either publicly or privately. By

42:38

the strength of God, we intend

42:40

to abide by it. Dr. John

42:42

Bruss, president of Concordia Theological Seminary

42:45

Fort Wayne, Indiana, talking about his

42:47

presentation at the 2025 issues, etc.,

42:49

making the case conference. That's

42:51

the confessional attitude. Utter confidence before

42:53

the judgment seat of God, confidence

42:55

in Christ who has bought us

42:57

from sin, death, and devil, and

42:59

confidence that our faith is properly rooted

43:01

in God's narrow word. You can meet

43:04

and hear Dr. John Bruss making the

43:06

case for the Lutheran Confessions at this

43:08

year's Making the Case Conference. The

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premier conference for Christian laity

43:12

is Friday, July 18 and Saturday,

43:14

July 19 at Concordia University,

43:17

Chicago. Learn more

43:19

at issuesetc .org. Expert

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guests. Expansive

43:23

topics. Extolling Christ.

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You're listening to issues, etc. Christological.

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and earth. And in

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Jesus Christ is only Son our

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Lord, who was conceived by Lord. Sacramental.

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Take an eat. This is the

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44:01

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44:29

Lord, by the

44:32

stripes which

44:34

open thee, from

44:37

dance can

44:39

sing thy servant's

44:41

ring, that

44:44

we may

44:46

live and sing

44:48

to thee. Hallelujah,

45:01

Hallelujah,

45:03

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

45:11

The final of the Easter

45:13

hymn, the Stryphosaurus, the battle done. Dr. Dr.

45:16

Arthur Just is our guest. Dr.

45:18

Just, what would you say about this fifth and final

45:20

stanza? Well, it's interesting,

45:22

And, know, you see this in

45:24

a number of hymns, but you know,

45:26

up to this point, it's

45:29

been, you know,

45:31

proclamation. I mean,

45:33

it's just been, let's

45:35

rear back just proclaim

45:37

at the top of

45:40

our lungs the great

45:42

glorious truths, both

45:44

historical and for us,

45:46

realities of the resurrection.

45:49

But now in this fifth stand,

45:51

so we have a prayer and

45:53

we, Lord, we say, Lord, this

45:55

is a prayer. And

45:58

the prayer is that we,

46:00

the servants of the Lord, like

46:03

our risen head, might

46:06

one day be freed

46:08

from death's sting." And

46:10

here you see a

46:13

citation directly from both

46:15

Isaiah 53 and 1

46:17

Corinthians. By

46:19

the stripes which wounded thee

46:21

from death's dread sting thy

46:23

servants free. And

46:26

I, you know,

46:28

you have here in

46:30

one very short

46:32

poetic phrase, the

46:34

reality of what his death

46:36

was and the stripes, that

46:39

goes back to what we were talking about. But

46:41

those are the scourging stripes,

46:43

the things that may have been

46:46

the most painful part of

46:48

his suffering that wounded him. But

46:50

he has overcome death's sting,

46:52

that horrible sting and wound and

46:55

stripes. I mean, those all

46:57

come together and he brought them

46:59

together. And it's so

47:01

that we might be free. And we

47:03

haven't talked about that. What

47:05

the resurrection does is it

47:07

frees us from really

47:09

the fear of death. Pastors

47:12

who get to visit people who

47:14

are dying and know they're dying

47:17

and are good Christians, there's

47:19

a freedom. There's a

47:21

joy. There's a very hopeful

47:24

expectation. They can't wait. I've

47:26

been visiting in Naples,

47:28

Florida, all the homebound. And

47:31

I just am stunned

47:33

sometimes by these older folks

47:35

who have such a wonderful

47:37

confession of how they can't

47:39

wait to meet the resurrected

47:42

Lord. And they're not

47:44

afraid. Because the

47:46

only thing I could say

47:48

is it's not, fear

47:50

is not, but they're free.

47:52

They're free to just

47:54

live in the very approximate

47:56

resurrection that they're about

47:58

to experience. And

48:01

is why we live. We

48:03

live because we have

48:05

this hope, this reality

48:07

that we're joined to

48:09

this crucified and and

48:12

rising savior. That

48:14

live as people who

48:16

are the baptized, have

48:19

this in our bodies. And

48:21

again, this is the reason

48:23

why we sing. And I love

48:25

that he comes back to

48:28

that and, you know, the sing.

48:30

And And then you do

48:32

four alleluia's in a row. Alleluia,

48:34

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. This is

48:36

the great hope that we have

48:38

that leads to our incredible

48:41

song of alleluia, that

48:43

the resurrection compels us

48:45

to sing. Let's

48:47

hear the entire Easter hymn. The

48:49

stripe is or the battle done. and

48:51

then we'll get to Dr. Jest's

48:53

final thoughts. The

49:23

stripe is

49:25

or the battle

49:27

done. Now

49:30

is the

49:32

victor's triumph

49:34

won. Now

49:37

be the

49:39

song of mercy

49:42

won. Alleluia.

49:53

Alleluia, alleluia.

50:00

and his

50:02

first, and

50:05

shouts of

50:08

holy joy

50:10

at first.

50:13

Amen. Alleluia.

50:44

Alleluia. He

50:49

broke the

50:51

gates and chimmings

50:53

of heaven. The

50:56

parts from

50:59

heaven's high portals

51:01

clap. Let

51:03

him so

51:05

praise his triumph

51:08

tell. Alleluia.

51:17

Lord, by

51:19

the stripes

51:21

which open

51:23

thee from sing

51:26

thy servant's

51:28

ring that

51:31

we may

51:33

live and sleep

51:35

to thee. Alleluia.

51:46

Alleluia. Alleluia.

51:54

Alleluia. The

51:59

hymn of the strife is or the battle

52:01

done, sung by the Lutheran Public Radio Choir.

52:04

Dr. Jess, your final thoughts on this Easter hymn.

52:07

Todd, I want to just give

52:10

a shout out to my

52:12

pastor and Grace in Naples, Florida,

52:14

Keith Lynch, who gives me

52:16

the privilege this year of preaching

52:18

on Easter Sunday, and it

52:20

happens to be Luke 24. I

52:23

haven't done that in a long, long time,

52:25

and I want all your hearers to know if

52:27

they're in Southern Florida, come join us for

52:29

the holy days. But one of

52:31

the things that Luke has in his

52:33

resurrection account, and it goes very well

52:35

with what we've just been talking about in

52:37

this hymn, is that

52:39

the question that the angels

52:41

ask the women is this, why

52:44

do you seek the living

52:46

one among the dead? He

52:49

is not here, but

52:51

he has risen. And

52:53

I think one of

52:55

the things that we must

52:57

recognize as Easter people

52:59

is that we have the

53:01

living one in our

53:04

midst. We hear his

53:06

living word. We receive

53:08

his living body and blood. We

53:11

live together in church with

53:13

the saints, the body of Christ,

53:15

where he lives. When

53:17

people die, they're

53:19

still alive in Christ. that

53:22

life and the restoration of

53:24

life, which is what we see

53:26

in the resurrected body of

53:28

Jesus, is really what it's all

53:30

about. And yet

53:32

the angel does say to

53:34

them, remember this, remember

53:37

what he told you when he was

53:39

in Galilee, that the

53:41

Son of Man must be delivered into

53:43

the hands of men and be crucified

53:45

and on the third day be raised.

53:48

As we live in Christ and

53:50

we see His living body, we

53:53

see it with its wounds. And

53:56

that reminds us that as

53:58

His Easter children, we

54:01

always live with both

54:03

the cross and the resurrection

54:05

as the focus of

54:07

our life. Dr.

54:10

Arthur Just is professor of

54:12

New Testament at Concordia Theological Seminary,

54:14

Fort Wayne, Indiana. Seasonal pastor

54:16

at Grace Lutheran Church in Naples, Florida, and

54:18

author of the two -volume Concordia Commentary on

54:20

Luke and the book Heaven on Earth, The

54:22

Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service. Dr.

54:24

Just, thank you. A

54:27

very blessed Easter to you and

54:29

all our hearers. In

54:31

hour two of Issues, et cetera,

54:33

and Issues, et cetera. Classic, the same

54:35

to Dr. Paul Meyer on a

54:37

historian's perspective. on the resurrection

54:39

of Christ. This hymn ends

54:42

with a great prayer for Holy Week,

54:44

Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee, from

54:46

death's dread, sting thy servants

54:48

free, that we may live and

54:50

sing to thee. Alleluia. This

54:53

is Issues, Etc. I'm Todd

54:55

Wilkin. Listen

55:09

weekday afternoons to Pastor Todd

55:11

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