I Know That My Redeemer Lives
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Some hymns feel less like performances and more like personal confessions of faith. “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” is one of them.
Its words are simple enough for a child to understand, yet strong enough to carry a person through grief, illness, loneliness, and the uncertainty of old age. The opening line does not say, “I think,” “I hope,” or “I have heard.” It says, “I know.” That quiet certainty is the reason this hymn has remained so dear to Christian families for generations.
The hymn is especially familiar around Easter, but its message reaches far beyond one season of the church year. It speaks to anyone who has needed reassurance that Jesus Christ is alive, present, loving, and still able to help. It is a song for the sanctuary, but it is also a song for the bedside, the graveside, and the quiet moments when faith has to become personal.
The Hymn at a Glance
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Detail
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Information
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Title
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“I Know That My Redeemer Lives”
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Author of the text
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Samuel Medley
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Date of the text
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1775
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Place of origin
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England
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Biblical foundation
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Job 19:25, with resurrection themes from the New Testament
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Meter
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Long meter, 8.8.8.8
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Common use
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Easter worship, communion, funerals, general Christian worship
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Main message
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Jesus Christ lives, saves, comforts, guides, and gives hope beyond death
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What the Hymn Means
The entire hymn grows out of one great Christian conviction: the Redeemer is alive.
That conviction changes the way the singer looks at suffering. Pain is real, but it is not the whole story. Death is real, but it does not have the final word. Fear may be present, but it does not have to rule the heart. The hymn does not promise that life will be free from trouble. Instead, it promises that Christ remains with His people in the middle of trouble.
The words move naturally from belief to experience. Jesus lives to save. He lives to bless. He lives to hear the troubled soul. He lives to wipe away tears. He lives to guide His people safely home. Each verse adds another reason for confidence until the final stanza returns to the opening thought: “I know that my Redeemer lives.”
That repetition is important. In a hymn, repeated words are not empty filler. They give the congregation time to dwell on a truth. Each “He lives” becomes a small act of faith.
The Biblical Source: Job’s Faith in the Middle of Suffering
The opening idea comes from Job 19:25:
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” — Job 19:25, KJV
The setting makes Job’s declaration especially powerful. Job is not speaking after an easy week or a comfortable season. He has lost his children, his possessions, his health, and much of the support he expected from his friends. His life has become almost unrecognizable.
And yet, in the middle of his suffering, Job speaks of a living Redeemer.
That is the foundation of the hymn’s comfort. Christian hope is not based on pretending that suffering does not hurt. Job’s story allows room for tears, questions, and exhaustion. His faith is meaningful precisely because it is spoken in the dark.
For generations of believers, this verse has served as a personal anchor. It has been read at funerals, quoted during illness, and remembered when the future seemed uncertain. Samuel Medley took that ancient confession and turned it into a hymn that allows an entire congregation to say it together.
Samuel Medley: The Man Behind the Words
Samuel Medley was born in Cheshunt, England, in 1738. As a young man, he joined the British Navy. In 1759, during a battle with a French ship, he was severely wounded in the leg. The injury became so serious that amputation was considered necessary.
According to accounts preserved by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and The Tabernacle Choir, Medley spent the night reflecting on his life, praying, and remembering the Christian teaching he had received from his family. By the following day, his leg had improved enough that amputation was no longer required.
Medley regarded the experience as a turning point. After leaving the Navy, he became a Baptist minister and a prolific hymn writer. His writing was shaped by personal conversion and a strong belief in the saving work of Christ.
That background helps explain the directness of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.” The hymn does not sound like an abstract theological essay. It sounds like the testimony of someone who has faced danger and discovered that faith can become real in a crisis.
Medley wrote the text in 1775. Hymnary records that it appeared in eighteenth-century hymn collections and was later included in Medley’s own Hymns. It has since appeared in hundreds of hymnals.
A Hymn Built Around One Reassuring Phrase
The phrase “He lives” appears again and again throughout the hymn. It is the song’s heartbeat.
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my everlasting Head.
The line brings together the crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus was truly dead, but death did not hold Him. The resurrection is not treated as a distant doctrine. It becomes the source of present comfort.
The hymn then brings that truth into everyday life:
He lives to bless me with His love,
He lives to plead for me above,
He lives my hungry soul to feed,
He lives to help in time of need.
There is something wonderfully practical about these words. They do not limit Christ’s living presence to a future heaven. They speak of help now. The living Christ blesses, hears, feeds, comforts, guides, and sustains.
This is one reason the hymn has remained meaningful to older Christians. With the passing of years, faith is often tested by very ordinary needs: a difficult diagnosis, the loss of a spouse, concern for children, physical weakness, financial worries, or the loneliness that can come with age. The hymn answers those fears without pretending they are small. It says that the living Christ is still a source of strength.
From Fear to Peace
One of the most tender lines in the hymn says:
He lives to silence all my fears,
He lives to wipe away my tears,
He lives to calm my troubled heart,
He lives all blessings to impart.
This verse often speaks most deeply to people who have lived long enough to know that fear does not disappear simply because a person has faith. Faithful people still worry. They still grieve. They still cry.
The hymn offers a more compassionate understanding of Christian peace. Peace is not the absence of tears. It is the confidence that Christ is present while the tears are falling.
That distinction matters. A person may sing this hymn while carrying sorrow that no one else can see. The words do not demand a cheerful mood. They give the singer permission to bring a troubled heart before God.
Jesus as Friend, Shepherd, and King
The sixth stanza describes Jesus in several ways:
He lives, my kind, wise, heav’nly Friend,
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.
The hymn moves between warm personal language and traditional Christian theology.
Calling Jesus a kind, wise, heavenly Friend emphasizes closeness. This is not a distant ruler who cannot understand human weakness. He is someone the believer can trust.
Calling Him Prophet, Priest, and King expresses the fullness of Christ’s work. He teaches truth, intercedes for His people, and reigns with authority. These titles may sound formal, but they point to a deeply personal hope: Christ is able to guide, forgive, protect, and lead.
The verse also says, “while He lives, I’ll sing.” That line captures the natural response of the hymn. Singing is not presented as a performance. It is an act of gratitude. The believer sings because the Redeemer lives.
The Tune and the Way Hymns Change Over Time
The text has appeared with different musical settings in Christian hymnals. Hymnary identifies the hymn’s meter as 8.8.8.8, also called long meter, which allows the words to be paired with several familiar hymn tunes.
The tune printed in the accompanying image may look familiar to worshipers who have learned this hymn from a traditional hymnal. Different denominations and hymn collections may use slightly different musical settings, harmonizations, or shortened versions of the text.
That variety is part of hymn history. Hymns often travel across countries, churches, and generations. A verse may be omitted because of the length of a service. Two shorter stanzas may be joined together. A congregation may learn a tune from its parents and continue singing it long after the original hymnal has disappeared from the home.
The words remain recognizable because the central testimony does not change: the Redeemer lives.
Why It Is Closely Associated With Easter
Easter is the natural setting for this hymn because its entire message points to the resurrection. The opening verse looks back to Christ’s death and announces that He lives again. The later verses look forward to salvation, eternal life, and the day when death will be conquered.
Still, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” is not only an Easter morning hymn. It also fits services of remembrance and comfort. The same truth that brings joy to Easter can bring steadiness to a funeral: Christ is alive, and those who trust Him are not abandoned to death.
The hymn holds celebration and sorrow together. It can be sung with trumpets and a full choir, or softly by one person at a piano. Its message does not depend on volume.
A Hymn for the Later Seasons of Life
Many hymns are loved because they remind us of childhood. This hymn has an additional quality: it grows deeper with age.
When we are young, “He lives to help in time of need” may sound like a general promise. Later, the words may become connected to a particular season of sickness, a family crisis, or a prayer answered in an unexpected way. “He lives to wipe away my tears” may bring to mind a funeral, a hospital room, or the loss of someone who had been part of one’s life for decades.
The hymn also speaks honestly about the future. It says:
He lives, and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.
For older believers, these words may carry a special peace. They do not describe death as the end of the relationship with Christ. They describe the living Redeemer as the One who accompanies His people all the way home.
That is why this hymn is often treasured by people who have faced more than one season of loss. Its hope has been tested by life, not merely imagined in theory.
The Lasting Appeal of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”
The hymn has endured because it is both personal and shared. One person can sing it as a testimony, but a congregation can sing it as a united confession. It is doctrinal without being cold, emotional without becoming sentimental, and traditional without losing its directness.
Most of all, it gives believers words for a truth that can be difficult to express in ordinary conversation. When someone asks how faith remains possible after disappointment or loss, the answer may be found in the hymn’s first line:
“I know that my Redeemer lives.”
Not every question has been resolved. Not every sorrow has disappeared. But Christ is alive. His love has not ended. His help is still available. His promise still reaches across every generation.
Final Reflection
“I Know That My Redeemer Lives” began with Samuel Medley, an English minister and hymn writer whose own life had been changed by suffering, prayer, and Christian faith. Drawing on Job’s declaration, he wrote a hymn that has offered comfort for nearly three centuries.
Its message remains remarkably clear. Jesus Christ is not only remembered as someone who lived in the past. He is the living Redeemer who saves, comforts, guides, and gives hope today.
That is the reason this hymn still belongs in Easter services, Sunday worship, family hymnals, and the private prayers of older Christians. It gives voice to a faith that has endured joy and sorrow alike.
And after all the verses have been sung, the central confession remains beautifully simple:
I know that my Redeemer lives.
