I recently wrote a hymn. You can access it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It0MqY3TPZ4 . I’m no musician, but I love the Lord and I am praying that we, as Christians, will once again find a love for boldly singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thanksgiving in our hearts (see Colossians 3:16).
Background and how this hymn came to be.
I’ve never written a hymn before. But on a Saturday night this past March before I was to preach the next morning, the Saturday night before our second son was born, I had gone to bed and began humming a tune that I’d come up with several months prior. While I was lying there I started writing down lyrics to the tune on my phone, and within twenty minutes I had written a hymn called “He Crushed the Snake’s Head!”.
The next day I sent the lyrics to Dr. Joseph L. Trafton, a retired professor from Western Kentucky University, whose impact on my life and countless others is untold. He graciously read through it, offered a few notes, and suggested I incorporate more Old Testament history into the hymn. I then wrote what are now the fourth and fifth verses while my wife and I were in the hospital awaiting our son’s arrival. When we got home, I copyrighted the hymn, having an intention of introducing it to our congregation at First Baptist Church Central City. Then, after sending the hymn to our Bi-vocational Minister of Worship, I introduced it to our church on May 5th, 2024.
Biblical basis for the hymn.
When I introduced it to our church, I shared these words with them
“I’ve been here as your Pastor for nine years… and I have had the opportunity to serve alongside of you and I’ve seen many of you in some of your biggest struggles in life. I have seen you go through heartache, I’ve seen you go through pain, I’ve seen you suffer, and I’ve had the privilege of coming alongside you in that. We fight many battles in our day, but we recognize that Jesus Christ is our King, Jesus is our Victor, and through His death, burial, and resurrection He has crushed Satan’s head. And, one day, we too will stand over a defeated, vanquished foe.“
I then shared the following passages of Scripture:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” – Genesis 3:15 (NIV).
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” – Romans 16:20 (NASB 1995).
“the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” – 1 John 3:8 (NASB 1995).
My motives in writing this hymn.
When I wrote this hymn, I wrote with three primary motives:
- I had a desire for a battle hymn, the type of hymn men could sing who are ready to face the dark spiritual forces we are up against in our modern, wicked time. My favorite hymn has always been Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” I wanted something like that.
- I have been personally blessed by modern Christian songs/hymns that have been written in the past twenty years, but I’ve also noticed that many of those songs seem like “love songs.” There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to write a hymn that was more triumphant and fiery.
- I wanted a hymn that was very specifically a worship hymn. I am firmly committed to the belief that worship involves proclaiming Who God is and what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. Many modern Christian songs/hymns are focused on the experience and perspective of the singer. I think those songs/hymns are well and good and serve their role well (when they are biblical), but I don’t think of them has worship songs/hymns. In worship we must proclaim Who God is and what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. That was my desire for “He Crushed the Snake’s Head!”.
I pray this hymn will be a blessing to you and to the Church. Please feel free to share this post with others. You can also access the hymn here on X: https://x.com/pastorchaset/status/1792624300232495443 . You’re welcome to follow me on X @pastorchaset . May the Lord be with you!
Chase Thompson 