Lyrics
Who is on the Lord's side? Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world's side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord's side? Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are Thine!
Not for weight of glory, not for crown and palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm;
But for love that claimeth lives for whom He died.
He whom Jesus nameth must be on His side.
By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are Thine!
Jesus, Thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem,
But with Thine own life-blood, for Thy diadem.
With Thy blessing filling each who comes to Thee,
Thou hast made us willing, Thou hast made us free.
By Thy grand redemption, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are Thine!
Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe,
But the King's own army none can overthrow;
Round His standard ranging, vict'ry is secure,
For His truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are Thine!
Chosen to be soldiers, in an alien land,
Chosen, called, and faithful, for our Captain's band;
In the service royal, let us not grow cold;
Let us be right loyal, noble, true and bold.
Master, Thou wilt keep us, by Thy grace divine,
Always on the Lord's side. Savior, always Thine!
Public domain hymn text (1877). Words by Frances Ridley Havergal.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Frances Ridley Havergal, one of the most prolific and widely sung English hymn writers of the nineteenth century, wrote 'Who Is on the Lord's Side?' in 1877, drawing its title question from Exodus 32:26, where Moses calls out, 'Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me,' following Israel's worship of the golden calf.
Rather than asking about private, internal belief, the hymn's repeated question is framed as a public summons, 'who will serve,' 'who will face the foe,' 'who for Him will go,' treating faith as something that must be openly declared and acted upon rather than only privately held.
Havergal, the daughter of a clergyman and hymn writer herself, was known throughout her relatively short life, she died at just forty-two, for combining serious theological conviction with an unusually direct, almost military call to active, visible Christian service.
Its short, rapid-fire questions, stacked one after another in the opening verse, give the hymn an urgent, almost recruiting quality, closer in tone to a public rally than to quiet private devotion, consistent with the evangelical revival culture Havergal wrote within.
Each of the hymn's five verses follows this same pattern, moving from an open question or challenge to a collective answer, closing every stanza with the refrain 'we are on the Lord's side, Savior, we are Thine,' turning the hymn itself into a repeated act of public commitment rather than only a description of one.
Havergal wrote extensively for young people and often for missionary and evangelistic settings specifically, and this hymn's direct, recruiting language made it especially popular at youth rallies and student Christian conferences well into the twentieth century.
The hymn remained a standard text for occasions calling for public, visible commitment, valued for refusing to let faith remain a purely private, unstated matter, and instead asking every singer to answer its central question out loud.
