Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2: 0:24

This week we are getting into real-life stories of courage and sacrifice from the tragic shipwreck and sinking of the RMS Titanic on April the 15th of 1912 and how they align with occurrences from God's Word. So today we're going to look at the story of Wallace Hartley and his band. So Hartley, who was a violinist, was the leader of an eight-man band that was hired to play aboard the Titanic and entertain the passengers during her voyage to America. So after the Titanic struck an iceberg at 1140 pm on April the 14th 1912, it quickly became apparent that the unsinkable ship would actually indeed sink. So Hartley gathered the men of his band and led them to play music in hopes that it would, you know, keep people calm during the process of evacuation. You know, kind of soothe things over a little bit.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Harley and that band had to keep moving around the ship, you know, throughout this entire process. But they kept playing music to soothe the passengers and to try to maintain some semblance of order. So even when the ship began to tilt right as it was sinking, the band refused to stop playing music. The last place that they played was actually on the boat deck. So survivors of the shipwreck reported that the band continued to play get this. Even when the water got up to their ankles, they didn't stop. So reports suggest that the band played for over two hours, beginning shortly after midnight and concluding literally moments before the ship sank at 2.20 am. So all eight of these men, hartley included, died that night at 2.20 am. So all eight of these men, hartley included, died that night. All their bodies were recovered. When they actually found Hartley's body on March 15th of 1912, he was still in his uniform, still clutching his violin case. So reports are a little conflicting on this, but many witnesses said that the final song that these brave men played was the hymn Nearer my God to Thee. Hartley was a devout Christian and, in kind of a macabre turn of irony, there are reports that he had once remarked to a friend if I were on a sinking ship I'd play Nearer my God to Thee. So this actually reminded me of historical currents described in the book of Acts, and in both cases here darkness, chaos and death loomed.

Speaker 2: 2:24

But so let's actually go to Acts 16. So in Acts 16, we see that Paul and Silas are doing what they normally do, which is stirring up trouble for the sake of the gospel of Jesus. So that's pretty awesome, if you ask me, but not everyone is a fan of that. Some men seize them, take them to the local magistrates and they claim that they're, you know, disrupting the city. And so let's actually pick up the story in Acts 16, verse 22. The crowd joined in attacking them and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods, and when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Speaker 2: 3:07

About midnight, paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried in a loud voice Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And they took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds and he was baptized at once, he and his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them and he rejoiced, along with his entire household, that he had believed in God.

Speaker 2: 4:06

So here's the thing Paul and Silas are in prison. They were beaten for preaching Christ. It's the middle of the night, it's completely dark, they're bloody, they're chained up. And what do they do? They're chained up. They sang praise to God. There was no promise of escape, right? There was no illusions of forthcoming comfort, there was just darkness. And they cut through the darkness with a song, but they did preach with music. They didn't directly quote scripture, but they sang truth over the terror. They didn't lead a jailer to Christ, but they led hundreds to peace in their final moments.

Speaker 2: 4:51

And here's what you need to hear today men, you don't have to escape the darkness to worship in it. Can I get an amen? You don't have to escape the darkness to worship in it. Amen. You don't have to escape the darkness to worship in it. You don't have to be delivered before you declare the truth. And you certainly don't need a pulpit. You just need conviction and courage and a willingness to sing when others are screaming.

Speaker 2: 5:13

So Harley and his men went down with their instruments in hand. Their courage wasn't loud, but it was steady. It was composed. It wasn't loud but it was steady, it was composed, it was tuned to eternity. Now, the second verse of nearer my God to thee reads like this Though, like the wanderer, the sun gone down, darkness, be over me, my rest a stone. Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer my God to thee, nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee. When these men played this hymn as they were about to go down with the ship, it was a declaration, a final testimony, a hymn played over the dead and the dying. But there is hope in Christ. Hartley certainly knew that. Let's be men that point to him, him being Christ.

Speaker 1: 6:22

Let's be men who sing in the dark.