Children of the Heavenly Father

"Children of the Heavenly Father" (LSB 725) is a Swedish Lutheran hymn that presents the singer with an earnest soothing portrait of the paternal relationship between God the Father and His children in Christ. The hymn's imagery presents God the Father in accessible human terms.

Stanza one proclaims the affinity that results from the action God takes at the Baptismal Font: there He safely gathers the Christian into His bosom.

Stanza two tells that the Lord's primary concern is to "tend and nourish" His children that they may flourish in the holy courts of His presence. He spares them from all evil things and bears them in His mighty arms.

Stanza three tells of the mystical union between Christ and the Christian, begun in Holy Baptism and nurtured by the Lord's Supper, leads to speaker to assert that "neither life nor death shall ever" sever the Lord from His children.

The final stanza tells that God the Father's actions are driven by His "loving purpose": His relentless compassionate desire to preserve the faithful and keep them "pure and holy" so that they may live in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

1 Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.

2 God His own doth tend and nourish;
In His holy courts they flourish.
From all evil things He spares them;
In His mighty arms He bears them.

3 Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord His children sever;
Unto them His grace He showeth,
And their sorrows all He knoweth.

4 Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy.

Text: © Augsburg Publishing House. Used by permission: CPH Limited Promotional License no. 119000000