Victory in Jesus

 “O death, where is your victory?

    O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

  1 Corinthians 15:55-57

This past April, Katrina and I attended The Gospel Coalition's (TGC) national conference in Indianapolis. If you're not familiar, it's a large gathering of Christians with worship, preaching, breakout sessions, and networking, all for the purpose of renewing faith in the gospel and reforming ministry practices to conform to scripture.

I could say a decent amount about the trip, but for this post, I'd like to focus on the worship experience... specifically, a single song I learned there.

The worship was led primarily by Keith & Kristyn Getty, who, if you don't know, had a hand in a lot of the popular hymns that are sung today such as "In Christ Alone". The song that really stuck with me was called "Victory in Jesus  (Christ Won the Victory)".

What struck me first was its upbeat, folksy (bluegrass?) sound. The banjo and violin were especially fun and catchy.

Then, what really moved me was that at the time I had been thinking about what it means to experience union with Christ. Being in a large body of believers and singing about how Christ is victorious made me think about how Jesus has conquered death. And because Jesus is victorious, his believers are also victorious.

Curious about where the song came from, I did some digging and what I found made me appreciate it even more.

It turns out the Gettys aren't the original author. They were asked to "refresh" the song and lyrics. The original author was Eugene Monroe Bartlett Sr. Born in 1885, he was a singer and songwriter, and from what I gathered, a pretty successful one, selling over 15,000 copies of his hymn book and teaching aspiring singers in singing schools and conventions.

In 1939 at the age of 53, he suffered a paralyzing stroke that made him unable to travel or perform music anymore. He was bedridden, his ministry presumably over. Yet, it was during this time that he wrote a song that would best stand the test of time.

I heard an old old story
How a Savior came from glory
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me

Bartlett wanted to write about how God had sustained him and brought him to where he was.

I heard about His healing
Of His cleansing pow'r revеaling
How He made the lamе to walk again
And caused the blind to see

Though he was in this period of suffering in his life, he wanted to make the song joyous.

And then I cried dear Jesus
Come and heal my broken spirit
And somehow Jesus came and brought
To me the victory

In 1941, Bartlett passed away due to complications from the stroke. Yet, I think in his final moments, he was able to remember that we have hope in the victory of Jesus.

I find this encouraging because I think we often over-focus on our problems. When times get dark, it's so easy to lose sight of all the good God has done and how God has led us to our today. But Bartlett's song reminds us that in suffering, and even in death, we can find strength. Christ has won the victory.