Dear Christians, rejoice now

Gustave Doré : Daniel's vision

Dragon fight

Dear Christians, rejoice now is an Advent song that goes back to a poem by Erasmus Alberus (1500–1553) published in 1542 .

Original poem

Alber's original poem Van de tokumpst des Heren Christi on the youngest day ("On the coming of the Lord Christ on the Last Day") consisted of 18 stanzas .

The prophecy of the book of Daniel (chap. 7-12): "... and, behold, one came in the clouds of heaven like the son of a man" ( Dan 7,13 Lut ) forms the starting point for Alber's spiritualistic in stanza 3 ( 4 ) Interpretation of what he sees as being placed in his presence.

The song calls the "dear" Christians at the beginning (1 ( 1 )) to joy in the face of an oppression of apocalyptic proportions that has affected Christianity. And it closes with the request for the rapid arrival of the “dear” judging Lord (5 ( 18 )).

Descriptions of the intense waiting for the coming Redeemer form another framework; first ( 5 + 6 ) the fulfillment of the individual expectation of the New Testament prophet Simeon ( Lk 2,25–35 Lut ) for the Messiah . This former expectation forms the pattern for the waiting of the present church ( 7 line 1). The other expectation image ( 14 - 17 ) describes starting from anxious expectation and groaning of creation ( Rom 8.18 to 26 Lut ) a wait-individual concretely political and cosmological scale. The central message of the song is the programmatic phrase: “Your dear children are all waiting” ( 9 , line 1).

With the stanzas ( 7–13 ), Alber puts a demonology or even satanology at the center of the song. Based on the type of unmasked anti-Christian ( 3 ), images such as “old snake”, “devil”, “evil spirit”, “Satan” and “dragon” replace each other. The caricaturing representation of the devil based on allusions to the Our Father ( 10–13 ) is a trick .

Today's song

Today's hymn consists of the original stanzas ( 1.2.4.13. ) And ( 18. ) This sought to transform the clearly apocalyptic into an Advent character. This succeeded almost seamlessly in verses 1 to 3. Based on the Advent Gospel Luke 21, the reference to Daniel 7 is retained, at least in quotations, while all further statements that lead to the summarizing stanza ( 13 ) hang somewhat apodictically in the air in the current stanza 4. A request for the arrival to judgment, the seeing of the Trinity closes the song, whereby the reference to the waiting of Simeon for the seeing of the Lord ( 5-6 ) in verse 5 is no longer recognizable.

melody

First the song was sung on its own - forgotten - melody, later on the melody of the song Now let's bury our bodies . Since 1950 has he been given the melody ^?^/ⁱ Stand up, dear little children (from Nikolaus Herman , 1560).

Dietrich Buxtehude BuxWV 51 created an adaptation .

text

(Complete poem with original stanzas )

1. (1) Dear Christians, rejoice now,
soon God's Son will appear,
who has become our brother,
that is the dear Lord Jesus Christ.

2. (2) Judgment day is not far off now.
Come, Jesus Christ, dear Lord!
Not a day goes by, we're waiting for yours
and would like to be with you soon.

   (3) Betrayal is the re-Christian.
His hypocrisy and evil cunning
are revealed and clear on the day, of
which he daily brings great complaints.

3. (4) You faithful Savior Jesus Christ,
while the time is fulfilled,
which Daniel proclaims to us,
so come, dear Immanuel.

   (5) Sanct Simeon was waiting for you too,
And your future is looking forward to,
He was granted his request,
When he saw what his heart desires.

   (6) He spoke; Now I want to die gladly,
because I have seen my lord, but
it should not have died,
but in peace I drive fine.

   (7) So we now also wait the hour
And ask you from the bottom of the heart:
You don't want to stay away long,
And once punish the old snake.

   (8) Who has murdered all the world,
And cannot be fed up
with lying, Those take with their blasphemy school,
And throw them into the lake of fire.

   (9) Your dear children wait all the time
when the world will fall apart,
And when the devil's kingdom will dissolve
and he will stand in eternal shame.

(10) It is he who desecrates your name,
and who blinds the poor people,
the evil spirit seeks his glory,
and prevents your kingdom from coming.

  (11) What you command, he blasphemes,
And rages against it terribly,
What your gentle hand brings us,
The hell fire would gladly take away from us.

  (12) Satan does not cease to resist,
That so few people are converted,
He turns the people from your word,
And directs them to hatred, envy and murder.

4. (13) The devil likes to bring us down
and wants to devour us all;
he strives for body, soul, good and honor.
Mr. Christ, fight the old dragon.

  (14) The world can now no longer stand,
is weak and old, it must pass away.
It crashes very much in all places,
and can no longer bear the burden.

  (15) The creature can no longer
be subject to vanity,
and would like to be freed from the
Turks, murder and hypocrisy.

  (16) The Pope has already defended her harshly,
And all the wrong medals,
So she and us would like to be redeemed,
We all hope for your consolation.

  (17) The old fathers are all waiting,
When you appear with a great sound,
With all dear angels,
they wait for many a hundred years.

5. (18) Oh dear sir, hurry to judgment!
Let see your glorious face,
the essence of the Trinity.
God help us forever.

Today the song can be found in the Evangelical Hymnal (EG 6).

literature

Oskar Ludwig Bernhard Wolff: Encyclopedia of German National Literature, or biographical-critical lexicon of German poets and prose writers since the earliest times, along with samples from their works. Volume 1. 1835, p. 39, Alberus: "From the Last Judgment"
Oswald Bill (T.), Markus Rathey (M.): 6 - Dear Christians, rejoice now . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 4 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-525-50325-3 , pp. 3–8 ( limited preview in Google Book search).