As a Swedish-American Lutheran, I am proud to call Gustavus Adolphus "the Great" (den Store)! He is a hero of both Sweden and Lutheranism!
Gustavus Adolphus was a great man, but he was no perfect saint. As a young man he fathered a child out of wedlock. But as King David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, so the young king of Sweden was admonished by his court chaplain, Johannes Rudbeckius. And Gustavus seemed to take it to heart, in repentance, faith, and amendment of life.
Gustavus Adolphus was a committed Lutheran, a devout and energetic man. He was troubled to see Lutheran and Protestant lands in Europe being retaken by the Catholic emperor, encroaching northward toward Sweden. This is why he intervened in the Thirty Years’ War. And if not for his daring German campaign (1630-32), all might have been lost. On June 25, 1630--100 years to the day after the Augsburg Confession--Gustavus Adolphus set anchor off the coast of northern Germany.
The Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) turned the tide. A monument there today reads, "Gustavus Adolphus, Christian and hero, at Breitenfeld saved religious liberty for the world."
Gustavus Adolphus made sure that his troops had regular religious services. And so, on the morning of November 6, 1632, before heading into the Battle of Luetzen, the king and his men sang two hymns by Luther, "A Mighty Fortress" and "May God Bestow on Us His Grace." Then they sang what has come to be known as, "Gustav Adolf's Battle Hymn," written by the king's chaplain, Johannes Fabricius. In Swedish the hymn is entitled, "Förfäras ej, du lilla hop”; we have it in our English hymnals (in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) as "O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe" (TLH 263/LSB 666) or "Do Not Despair, O Little Flock" (LW 300).
On the campus of Concordia Seminary here in St. Louis, there is a plaque that tells what happened that day: "This Archway is Dedicated to the Memory of GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, King of Sweden, who gave his life that the Lutheran Reformation might live. Died at the battle of Luetzen, 1632. 'Förfäras ej, du lilla hop!'"
But would King Gustav II Adolf recognize the Sweden of today? Hardly! How the mighty have fallen! Gustav Adolf’s own battle hymn, "Förfäras ej, du lilla hop," is not even included in the current Swedish hymnbook! Too "militant," I suppose. The three things with which I most associate Gustav Adolf--nationalism, Lutheranism, and militarism--all are definitely out of favor in modern-day Sverige.
However, there are glints of sunlight breaking across the gray Swedish sky. A more conservative government has just come to power. And confessional Lutheranism is not dead yet in Sweden. There are some brave pastors and laymen there--I know many of them--still contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. Gustavus Adolphus would be proud of these developments. If you look for them, there are some exciting things happening in Sweden.
