Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus
The last words of a dying preacher inspired his colleague to write "stand up stand up for Jesus".
One of the favourite themes of old hymn writers was the spiritual life as warfare. Some people don't like this; some people drop these war-type hymns out of modern hymnals because they think they're insensitive and perhaps misguided. I've never felt that myself, but I do understand how people can take words such as these and use them to justify actual war. It's a bit of a stretch to do it, but people can use it in that way. Instead, I look at words of war-type hymns as the spiritual warfare that we're all dealing with in our lives.
Today's Friday Classic Hymn is another controversial one that some people hate, but other people find it rousing and encouraging in their own spiritual journey: "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus." I wonder where you know this song from. This is another one that I don't know because I grew up singing contemporary songs in church. I don't ever remember singing the song; I learnt it for today's video. But I see how popular it is, how many people enjoy it. Where did you learn it? If you are watching this, I'm sure you know this song. Did you have a particular memory wrapped around the song? Does it mean something to you in your spiritual life? Share all that stuff below in the comments, please. I'd love to hear what the song means to you.
The Story Behind "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus"
It was a minister named George Duffield who wrote the song. He was a Presbyterian minister who grew up in the States in the 1800s. But the story behind the song actually doesn't have a whole lot to do with him—it's all wrapped around the life and the death, in fact, of an American evangelist of the time named Dudley Atkins Tyng.
This man was a fiery preacher. He was placed in a congregation and he started to preach about sin and salvation, and in particular he stood up against slavery, which he called an evil thing. This was a time when this was a very hot-button issue in the church and in America, and so many people railed against him because of his teachings on this matter. But he was firm and unswerving in his faith and preached the gospel truth, no matter what it cost him.
One day in 1858, Tyng was preaching to a huge crowd—5,000 people—and many people came to Christ because of what he said. One of the things that he said became strangely prophetic, because in his sermon he said this: "I must tell my Master's errand, and I would rather this right arm were amputated at the trunk than I should come short of my duty in delivering God's message."
About a week later, he was on a farm in his preaching garb—you know, they had the long sleeves in those days, the sort of puffy old preaching shirts. He reached over to pet an animal apparently, and his sleeve got caught in this machine—it was an old corn sheller—and this machine pulled his arm right into its blades. A few hours later, his friends found him lying there; his arm had been amputated. They rushed him off to try and get help, but it was too late. He was clearly not going to make it.
A few of his friends and his colleagues gathered around his bed to say a final goodbye to this great man of God whilst they still could. Here is where the story gets a little ambiguous—I've read two different accounts. One account said that his father was there and he recited this little poem to his father in everybody's hearing. But all the other accounts, all the hymn history books that I use for these videos, said that it was just a group of people from his church who were there, one of whom was another minister, George Duffield, who I spoke about earlier.
The more plausible story is that Duffield spoke to this man, a colleague in the ministry, and said to him, "What would you like me to tell your congregation?" Tyng whispered to him, "Tell them to stand up for Jesus." Those were his last words.
A short time later, George Duffield conducted this man's funeral, and at the service he read out a poem that he had written—six verses based on those last words of Dudley Tyng: "Stand up, stand up for Jesus." This became a very popular song, especially then heading into the Civil War. It became something of an anthem on both sides. Even since then it has become so popular; everybody loves singing this song, except, as I've said, those who feel the army and military terminology is not fitting for somebody who follows Jesus as the Prince of Peace. For me, though, I read it and see words of spiritual warfare.
What Do the Lyrics of "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" Mean?
In most hymnals that I've seen, there are four verses to this hymn, but digging a little bit deeper, I found six—and I think these are the original six.
Verse 1
Everybody pretty much knows the first one, because this is included everywhere:
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.
I love the "stand up for Jesus"—that phrase that this man used on his deathbed was about not being ashamed but standing up to be recognised as a follower of Jesus. He talks about how we're soldiers of the cross—it reminds me of "Onward Christian Soldiers," another Friday Classic that I've covered. We're soldiers of the cross, not because we're going to go and fight people to try and convert them to Christianity, which is what the Crusaders did—that was totally not what Jesus had in mind. But we are soldiers of the cross because we are in a spiritual battle which Paul talked about.
The enemy is the devil; our enemies are his powers and spiritual beings who are at work. Paul talked about rulers and authorities in heavenly places who come against God's people. We put on the armour of God, as he says later in the song, to stand up against that enemy—not against people.
When he talks about lifting high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss—yes, we don't want to lose people to the Christian faith. We don't want them to turn away and to go into something else or to deny Christ. Of course, we want to keep them.
He talks about from victory unto victory—not conquering lands, but conquering over evil, conquering over the sin that marks the world and not letting the devil have his way in the world. That's the victory that we have as Christians: it's victory over sin.
Till every foe is vanquished—there is going to be a time when all our spiritual enemies have been defeated and we will just enjoy the new heavens and the new earth with Jesus. But in the meantime, the battle rages on. So we stand up for Jesus as His followers and fight against the spiritual enemies.
Verse 2
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the solemn watchword hear;
If while ye sleep He suffers, away with shame and fear;
Where'er ye meet with evil, within you or without,
Charge for the God of battles, and put the foe to rout.
This is one that I wasn't that familiar with; the others in the versions that I listened to I heard people sing the other verses, but this one not so much. This verse talks about prayer—the solemn watchword hear. It's like a calling to go and pray.
I like what the next line says: if while ye sleep He suffers, away with shame and fear. If you're sleeping away your time instead of praying and joining in this battle, then He's saying, away with you—you know, there's no point in you being in the army. That's a little bit harsh perhaps, but isn't it true? If you're a soldier in the army, you've got to do your duty and not just sleep whilst there is something to be done.
Then those last two lines: where'er ye meet with evil, within you or without—I like that. Whether it's a temptation or an attack from without, from outside of you, something you don't have control over, or whether it's rising up inside of you—you know, the sinful nature rising up and taking over—charge against that, he says. Charge against that and put the foe to rout, to defeat.
With Jesus in us, with the Spirit in us, we can conquer the enemies, whether it's coming from without or whether it's our own old self trying to poke through. We can conquer, and we must conquer in the name of Jesus—not hurting anybody, not going to war against anybody, but fighting against evil so that we can stand for good.
Verse 3
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day.
Ye that are brave now serve Him against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.
A very biblical image of Jesus sounding the trumpet and calling us to war against the enemies. Forth to the mighty conflict in this His glorious day—I like this. It's saying, let's do it! Let's get up, let's rise up, let's go and fight the battle. Let's not hold back and tremble in the corner, but let's go and fight the battle forth into a glorious day.
As a soldier of God, ye that are brave, now serve Him against unnumbered foes—yes, there are a lot of foes, but serve Jesus against them.
Let courage rise with danger—even though there's danger, be courageous.
And strength to strength oppose—you can oppose the strength of the enemy with the strength that comes from Jesus.
This is such a lovely picture of the Christian life. You go out into the world and you say, "Lord, today I'm going to walk in Your strength and go and defeat the enemies. I'm not going to bow down to them; I'm going to bow down to You." Those words of bravery are fitting. I love in the Old Testament how often God said, "Be strong and courageous." You see that all the time—"Be very strong and courageous," God would say to Joshua or to whoever was leading the people at the time. He says it to you and I today as well: be strong and courageous. Go and fight your spiritual enemies and remain in the goodness of God against the evil ones.
Verse 4
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the Gospel armour, each piece put on with prayer;
Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.
This is another one that I've heard people sing in the versions that I looked up.
Stand in His strength alone—very important. His strength, not my strength. If I try to fight the enemy in my strength, oh boy, I'm going to fall apart. But in His strength I can do it.
The arm of flesh will fail you; ye dare not trust your own—you dare not try to fight the spiritual battle you're in in your own strength. That would be a terrible idea. It's just not going to happen. Fight in His strength alone.
Put on the Gospel armour, each piece put on with prayer—that's a great line. Put on the armour of God, which Paul talks about in the book of Ephesians, and put it on with prayer. So prayerfully go through it and say, "I am protected and I am armed as well so that I can take on the enemy." Do this prayerfully. I wonder when last you put on the armour in prayer? It's a very important part of our Christian journey.
Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there—in other words, never be found somewhere else. Where there is duty calling, where you're called to do something for God, never be found not doing it, but do it faithfully because you're a soldier in the army. Never be AWOL, but be where you're supposed to be, doing what He's called you to do. This could be prayer, this could be service, this could be discipling people—whatever it is, don't leave your calling aside and be found missing in action, but faithfully do what He's called you to do.
Verse 5
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, each soldier to his post,
Close up the broken column, and shout through all the host:
Make good the loss so heavy, in those that still remain,
And prove to all around you that death itself is gain.
Verse 5 is an interesting one; it's one that's also been dropped out of most hymnals. But this makes you think about the situation in which it was written, as this man George Duffield thought about his friend who had died.
Each soldier to his post—let's go, let's fight, let's get to our positions.
Close up the broken column—I think this is referring to the gaps in the line where those have died in battle, like this man. He died in battle; he was living for God and his time came. So now there's a gap where he was. Close it up and let's carry on, because he's fought his fight. We can carry on and just be grateful for what he did.
The rest of the verse kind of carries on with that thought:
Make good the loss so heavy, in those that still remain,
And prove to all around you that death itself is gain.
Isn't that a powerful word to hear today? Death itself is gain—that's what Paul said. Prove to those in the Christian fight that losing a person of faith is not ultimately a loss, because they've gone home to be with Christ. That's a victory for them.
That's an amazing little verse in the midst of this, saying even the casualties in the spiritual war are home with God. We can be proud of them and thank them for their service, instead of only mourning their loss. I'm not suggesting that we don't mourn and grieve when we lose people, but I'm saying also be grateful for the service that they gave in the army of the Lord.
Verse 6
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song.
To him who overcometh a crown of life shall be;
They with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.
The strife will not be long—the battle will come to an end.
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song—victory will be ours. Victory will be ours.
Soon to him who overcometh the crown of life shall be—such a biblical picture. Those who stay faithful to the end will get a crown of life.
They with the King of Glory shall reign eternally—that's our ultimate hope, that we will reign eternally. Not just in this life over sin and over evil, but eternally we will reign with Him.
Conclusion
Wow, I love this song. Did anything speak to you as you read this? Was there maybe a verse you weren't familiar with? Did it touch you or did it inspire you in some way? I hope so.
If you enjoy this channel and you enjoy this type of content, please subscribe—it's free, it doesn't cost, but you'll get notifications when I do these new hymn videos. Check out all the past ones; I've done a whole bunch. I'm sure you'll enjoy them.
We always close by singing the song, just me and the piano normally. I feel like this one needs brass instruments and, you know, like a war cry needs a full band, doesn't it? But it's just me at the piano. I'm going to sing it, and I hope you'll sing along. Just remember that you're in a battle and that God is with you as you sing this. Sing it with joy and just remember: though I'm in a battle, I'll stand up for Jesus, not ashamed to fight for Him, not ashamed to choose Him over evil. He's going to be with me and get me through right to the end.
References
John McLelland. The Ambassador Book of Great Hymn Stories. 1994. Ambassador Productions Ltd: Belfast
W.J. Limmer Shepherd. Great Hymns and their Stories. 1923. Lutterworth Press: London
Ian Bradley. The Penguin Book of Great Hymns. 1989. Penguin Group: London
