A New Thing
Happy Thursday everyone. I hope you’ve been well. I’d like to take today to start a new style of post that we’ll revisit occasionally. I’m calling it “Hymnal Highlights” where we can explore the theology and history behind some of the classic church songs.
The classic hymns have become my preference over many contemporary songs. I’ve talked before about how I feel there’s little to no sound doctrine or biblical literacy in a lot of the modern “worship” music whereas the old hymns are dripping with deep theology.
So, for our first foray into these musical waters, I thought we’d look at one of my favorites, “It is Well with My Soul.” Written by Horatio Spafford in 1873 and put to music by Philip Bliss. (Here’s one of my favorite versions) There are few hymns, in my humble opinion, that match the emotional intensity. Its powerful message of peace in hardship captures everything I’m hoping to communicate in my writing, and that message becomes more profound when we consider the story behind it.
A Little Background
Horatio, in my opinion, was a modern-day Job. He was a lawyer who invested in real estate in Chicago in the spring of 1871 and subsequently lost nearly everything he had in the great Chicago fire in October of the same year. He spent the next two years trying to rebuild his family’s financial prospects.
In 1873, with the hope of bringing peace and rest to his beleaguered family, he planned a trip to England. But legal problems from the fire forced him to send his wife and four daughters on ahead while he settled some things with plans to join them a little later. On November 22, 1873, while crossing the Atlantic, their ship sank quickly after another vessel collided with them, killing 226 people, including all four of Spafford’s daughters, aged 2 to 12. His wife, Anna, survived and once she’d arrived in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that was just two words long: “Saved, alone…”
On his way to meet her, as the ship passed near where his daughters had died, Spafford was inspired to write what would eventually become the famous hymn. Now, I couldn’t imagine losing all my kids in a single horrible moment. In fact, I’m literally tearing up as I think of it. But Spafford’s experience shows us that suffering has a way of stripping worship down to the primal. However, worship also needs a solid foundation in God’s Word. And we’ll be looking at the foundation that Spafford used when writing this beautiful piece.
Stanza One
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
This beautiful opening verse sets the tone for the entire piece. The water themes are obvious. God’s peace is just like a river. It’s strong, nourishing, life-sustaining. It has multiple scriptural references. Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Or Psalms 36 and 46 which both speak of the river of God being greater than the evils of this world.
But the clearest reference is to Isaiah 66:7-14. Isaiah is essentially the gospel book of the Old Testament, and the final chapter separates false worshipers from true worshipers. It predicts Jerusalem giving birth to both a son (Jesus) and a nation (Israel). But not the largely secular Israel we know today. This Israel is a nation worshipping the Messiah (Jesus) and those who rejoice with Jerusalem over the birth of Jesus, Isaiah 66:14 says God “will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream”.
This is juxtaposed with “sorrows like sea billows.” Billows in this case means a wave or rolling mass. Sorrows just like the rolling masses of sea waves are powerful and fraught with peril. Just like sorrows, they’re bitter and will kill you if you consume too much. And remember this man literally, not metaphorically, suffered unspeakable sorrows and heartache at the hands of the sea.
In the Old Testament, the sea is equated with the grave (Psalm 69:14-15, 88:3-7; Jonah 2:2-6) and the grave is associated with sorrow (2 Samuel 22:6; Psalm 18:5, 88:3-6, 116:3; Isaiah 38:10-18). But in John’s Gospel, Jesus says our “sorrow will turn into joy.”
Finally, rephrasing into modern speech, Horatio writes whatever comes my way, You God have taught me to say, it is well. This echoes Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
[Refrain]
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Stanza Two
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
This whole stanza is Peter’s main point in his first letter. The opening line here echoes 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” The second line is a reminder; the same as Peter’s in 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him.” The last two lines bring Peter’s point home in 2:24. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
Stanza Three
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Spafford understood what sin meant. Our sin is grievously offensive to a holy, perfect, and just God. It’s so offensive that the prophet Habakkuk says God’s eyes are too pure to look at evil. Now, he’s not saying God literally has to close His eyes and turn His back when I sin. Instead, Habakkuk is using hyperbole to recognize God’s righteousness. We have no way of dealing with our sin. It’s something God Himself had to overcome. That thought filled Spafford with joy. He says there’s bliss in this one glorious thought, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Stanza Four
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
A song in the night, oh my soul!
This last stanza is a prayer. “Lord, haste the day…” Spafford is earnestly praying; he’s desperate for God to fulfill His promises. The very last chapter of the bible, Revelation 22 says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” In fact, three times in this chapter Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” It’s a promise. Spafford understood that faith is not blind optimism. It’s a confident trust in God’s character and promises. Hebrews tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
But Jesus’s promise to come carries with a promise that we will be made whole and perfect. In first Corinthians, Paul compares our time now with the perfection promised. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Faith made sight!
The clouds being rolled like a scroll is another reference to Revelation. In chapter 6, John describes the breaking of the seven seals. The sixth seal says, among other things, “The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up”. But this is referring to Isaiah 34:4 which is talking about the Lord’s Day of Vengeance. It says, “All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.”
Finally, first Thessalonians completes this end times imagery when 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven… with the sound of the trumpet of God.” Spafford is using this final section to pray for the day when he would be reunited with his children and Jesus in perfection and beautiful relationship.
It Truly is Well
So now, when we sing this hymn together, we know what it’s really saying. We can remember that it was the faithful outpouring of a heart in anguish but a heart that still held firm to God’s promises. May we all remember that the promises of our Lord are surer than the suffering of this life. There is a time coming when Jesus promised He’d personally wipe away every tear and we’d rest in His peace, face to face. Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus!
Final Question: Do you enjoy the classic hymns, or do you find them too rigid and stodgy? Which hymn would you next like to see highlighted?
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27 (ESV)
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