My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less, also called The Solid Rock, is a hymn by Edward Mote, a London cabinetmaker who later became a Baptist pastor. He wrote it around 1834, and it is sung to William Bradbury's 1863 tune Solid Rock. The hymn says that a Christian's hope rests on Jesus' blood and righteousness alone, and its refrain comes from Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish builders, Matthew 7:24: "I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock".
Edward Mote (1797-1874) grew up in London in a home where, he later said, he did not know there was a God; his parents kept a pub and the Bible was never opened. Apprenticed to a cabinetmaker, he heard the preacher John Hyatt at Tottenham Court Road chapel and was converted at sixteen. One morning around 1834, as he walked to work, the refrain came into his mind: On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. By the end of the day he had four stanzas. That Sunday he visited a dying woman, sang them to her, and her husband asked for a copy; Mote added two more stanzas and had the hymn printed. At fifty-five he became pastor of a Baptist chapel in Horsham, Sussex, and served there for twenty-one years. The church members offered to give him the building, but he said he wanted only the pulpit, and when he died, he wanted to be taken out of it. Below are the four stanzas sung today, the refrain, and the 12 KJV passages behind them.
My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (The Solid Rock): the words
Verse 1
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Verse 2
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the vail.
Refrain:
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Verse 3
His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
Refrain:
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Verse 4
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
Refrain:
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Words: Edward Mote, written about 1834 and printed in his Hymns of Praise (London, 1836), where it had six stanzas under the title The Immutable Basis of a Sinner's Hope. The four stanzas sung today are copied from Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 (New York and Chicago, 1894), hymn 654 (Internet Archive scan); stanzas 1-3 and the refrain were also checked against William Bradbury's Devotional Hymn and Tune Book (1864), hymn 135, The Solid Rock, which reads When darkness seems to vail His face. The refrain is printed after each stanza. Tune: Solid Rock, William B. Bradbury (1863). Public domain. The 2012 song Cornerstone, which uses these verses with a new chorus, is copyrighted.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: the wise and foolish builders
1. Matthew 7:24
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:"
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand. Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with a story about two builders: whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. The wise builder did the hard work of digging down to bedrock. When the storm came, his house stood. Mote's refrain applies the parable to the whole of the Christian life. Jesus Himself, and His words, are the rock. A life built on Him will stand when everything else is tested.
2. Matthew 7:27
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
All other ground is sinking sand. The foolish builder put his house on sand, which was easier and faster. Then the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Both houses faced the same storm. The difference was the foundation. Mote's point is that every hope other than Christ, whether money, reputation, health, relationships or our own goodness, is sand. It may look solid on a sunny day. It will not hold when the floods come.
3. 1 Corinthians 3:11
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
My hope is built on nothing less. Paul, describing the church as a building, says: For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. There is no alternative foundation, and no need for one. Mote's opening line says the same thing in personal terms. His hope is built on nothing less than Christ, and on nothing else besides Christ. Many people try to build on Jesus plus something: Jesus plus good works, Jesus plus a feeling. The hymn insists that Jesus is enough, and that anything added only weakens the foundation.
4. Psalms 62:2
"He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved."
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. A frame here means a frame of mind, a mood or spiritual feeling. Mote knew that feelings come and go; even the sweetest spiritual experience is not a foundation. David says: He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. Notice the word only. On days when you feel close to God and on days when you feel nothing, the rock is the same. To lean wholly is to put your full weight on Christ, not on how you feel about Him.
Jesus' blood and righteousness: my anchor holds within the vail
5. Romans 5:9
"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
Than Jesus' blood. The first thing Mote names as the ground of his hope is the death of Christ. Paul writes: Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Justified means declared righteous before God. That verdict was not earned by the believer; it was paid for by Jesus' blood, His life poured out on the cross. Because that payment is complete, Paul says, our final salvation is certain. Much more: if God did the hardest thing, giving His Son, He will surely finish what He started.
6. Philippians 3:9
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:"
And righteousness. Jesus' blood takes away our guilt; His righteousness gives us a perfect record. Paul, who had been the most religious man of his generation, longed to be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. Mote's fourth stanza echoes this verse: O, may I then in Him be found, clothed in His righteousness alone. Christians call this the great exchange. Christ takes our sin, and we are given His righteousness, received by faith.
7. Hebrews 6:19
"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the vail. Hebrews calls our hope an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. The veil was the curtain before the Most Holy Place in the temple. Our anchor, says Hebrews, is not dropped into the stormy sea around us but fixed in heaven itself, where Jesus has gone ahead of us. No storm can reach that seabed. Mote spells the word vail, an older spelling of veil used in the KJV of 1611.
8. Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. There are seasons when God seems hidden and prayer feels like talking to the ceiling. Mote does not pretend otherwise. He rests on something steadier than his sense of God's presence: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Jesus' grace did not change when Mote's feelings did. The Christ who loved you yesterday loves you now, in the dark, and will love you tomorrow. That is where faith rests when sight fails.
His oath, His covenant, His blood: faultless to stand before the throne
9. Hebrews 6:17
"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:"
His oath, His covenant. God does not need to swear oaths; His word is enough. But Hebrews says that, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. Immutability means unchangeableness. God went beyond what was necessary, adding an oath to His promise, so that His people would have strong encouragement. Mote lists three supports: God's oath, His covenant and Christ's blood. Each is a reason why a believer's hope cannot finally fail.
10. Isaiah 43:2
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."
Support me in the whelming flood. Whelming means overwhelming, the kind of flood that sweeps everything away. God promises His people: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. Note that it says when, not if. Floods will come. Mote's third stanza says that when all around my soul gives way, Christ remains. Mote sang these words to a dying woman the week he wrote them. It is a hymn written for real floods, not imaginary ones.
11. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"
When He shall come with trumpet sound. The last stanza looks to the return of Christ. Paul describes it: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. The foundation that holds through every storm of life will also hold on that day. Mote's prayer is not to be found impressive, but to be found in Him. On that day what will matter is not what we built, but what we built on.
12. Jude 1:24
"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,"
Faultless to stand before the throne. Jude ends his short letter with a doxology many Christians know by heart: Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Faultless, not because we never failed, but because we are clothed in Christ's righteousness. Jesus keeps His people from falling away and presents them to the Father with joy. That is the end of Mote's hymn, and the end of the Christian's story: standing, at last, on the solid Rock.
A short prayer
Lord Jesus, my hope is built on nothing less than Your blood and righteousness. Forgive me for building on sand, for trusting my feelings, my efforts or my circumstances. When darkness veils Your face, help me to rest on Your unchanging grace. In every storm, let my anchor hold within the veil, where You have gone before me. Support me in the whelming flood. And when You come with trumpet sound, may I be found in You, clothed in Your righteousness alone, faultless before the throne. On You, the solid Rock, I stand. Amen.
Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt
Pick one verse above and write: - Scripture: copy the verse by hand. - Observation: what does it say? Who is speaking, to whom? - Application: what does it mean for you today? - Prayer: turn it into a two-line prayer.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less?
Edward Mote (1797-1874), a London cabinetmaker who became pastor of Rehoboth Baptist Chapel in Horsham, West Sussex, wrote the words around 1834. They were printed in his Hymns of Praise (1836). The tune most Americans know, Solid Rock, was composed by William Batchelder Bradbury in 1863, and the hymn is often listed under that name, The Solid Rock.
Is The Solid Rock the same hymn as My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less?
Yes. The hymn's first line is My hope is built on nothing less, and its refrain begins On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, so hymnals list it under either title. Bradbury's tune is called Solid Rock. In Britain the words are sometimes sung to Melita, the tune of Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The 2012 worship song Cornerstone uses Mote's stanzas with a new chorus; that song is copyrighted, but Mote's words are not.
What Bible verse is My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less based on?
The refrain is based on Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27 (also Luke 6:47-49). The stanzas draw on 1 Corinthians 3:11 (no other foundation but Christ), Hebrews 6:17-19 (God's oath and the anchor within the veil), Philippians 3:9 (found in Him, with His righteousness) and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (the trumpet at Christ's return).
What does sweetest frame mean in My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less?
In older English a frame was a state of mind or mood, as in a frame of mind. The line I dare not trust the sweetest frame means: I will not rely even on my best spiritual feelings, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Mote was warning against building assurance on emotional experiences, which come and go, rather than on Christ, who does not change. Some modern hymnals change it to I dare not trust my sweetest frame.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Hope · Salvation · Rock of Ages · Storms · Blessed Assurance · Faith · The Parables of Jesus · Righteousness
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