The Fugitive in the Fortress

In May 1521, Martin Luther was the most wanted man in Europe. Declared a heretic by the Diet of Worms, stripped of all legal protection, he could be killed on sight without consequence. As his small wagon rattled through the Thuringian forest, armed horsemen burst from the trees and seized him. Luther vanished.

For nearly a year, the world believed him dead. But Luther was alive — hidden in the Wartburg Castle, a medieval fortress perched high above Eisenach, Germany. Behind those thick stone walls, with the wind howling through the valley below, the hunted reformer found safety. He grew a beard, adopted a false name, and poured himself into translating the New Testament into German so that common people could read Scripture in their own tongue. The very place of his hiding became the place of his greatest work.

What Frederick the Wise arranged in stone and mortar, the Lord offers in His own character. Proverbs 18:10 declares, "The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." Luther understood this not as metaphor alone but as lived experience. The man who would later pen "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" had already learned the truth firsthand — that when every earthly refuge crumbles, the name of Yahweh stands unbreachable. The righteous do not merely walk toward that tower. They run.