Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
- 2 Peter 1:4
“After leaving the White House, Andrew Jackson returned to the Hermitage, his home east of Nashville, aged and ill. During an 1838 Presbyterian revival meeting, he gave his life to the Lord and joined a nearby church. The change in him was enormous, and he spent hours reading and studying his Bible, commentaries, and hymnbooks.
“One day in September 1843, a group of visitors came, and Jackson said, “There is a beautiful hymn on the subject of the exceeding great and precious promises of God to His people. It was a favorite hymn with my dear wife until the day of her death. It begins thus: ‘How Firm a Foundation, ye saints of the Lord.’ I wish you would sing it now.”
“That hymn, based on 2 Peter 1:4, devotes its verses to various biblical promises, and these were very precious to Jackson. When his son-in-law, John Donelson, faced crippling problems, Jackson told him, ‘Go, read the Scriptures. The joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles, … a consolation to your troubled mind that is not to be found in the hurry and bustle of this world.”
- Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America
In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games. One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.
To understand Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), you need to read multiple biographers. Some label him a villain while others label him one of the greatest statesmen of his time. He had a temper that turned violent. He often used his reputation in that regard to negotiate what he felt was best for the American people. Almost all the biographers called him the representative of the common man.
Was he attending parties where brawls broke out nearly every night of his presidency? That is probably somewhat an exaggeration. Was he a slave owner? Yes, he was a slave trader, transporting slaves along the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers and along the Natchez Trace. Did he massacre Native Americans? Yes.
But the cancel culture. Ghosting, etc. are the tools of Satan to divide this country. God calls us to forgive others, if we desire to be forgiven.
Andrew Jackson founded the Democratic Party. Do we rid ourselves of all Democrats? Or since Democrats love to cancel people, should the Democrats cancel themselves?
Andrew Jackson was a defender of the Constitution. He was a teen during the Revolutionary War, becoming a message runner along with his older brother Robert. Their older brother Hugh had died of heat prostration after a battle near Charleston, SC. Robert and Andrew were captured and spent much of the war in a prisoner of war camp where they became malnourished and contracted smallpox. They were released in a prisoner exchange, and Robert died soon after. Andrew became a military leader and politician.
He and his wife could have no children, but they adopted her family’s children (nieces, nephews, etc.) and even children from other friends who passed away with small children still in the home. And among his “children” there were a few Native Americans.
While the author described Andrew Jackson as coming to faith in his latter years, he had made a claim earlier in life that he did not want a profession of faith to be considered a political ploy. This could have been genuine or it could have been his own political ploy.
But what is recorded and is substantiated by his attitude and actions, Andrew Jackson was profoundly changed when he made his profession of faith.
And the author said that on his deathbed, he gathered his “grandchildren” around him and blessed them. And he led them in singing “How Firm a Foundation.”
Here is Reawaken Hymns singing How Firm a Foundation.
“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake.”
- Robert Keen, How Firm a Foundation
We must never forsake our Savior.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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