Christ the Lord is Risen Today!
But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.
1 Corinthians 15:20 NLT
When I was a little girl we always had an "inside" easter egg hunt on Easter morning...we searched high and low for colorful plastic eggs filled with sweet surprises...under furniture... on the stairs... around each corner throughout the house the eggs provided a great tradition of laughter and joy!
Now that I am a "grown up" I still enjoy an Easter morning filled with laughter, joy and sweet surprises, hearing that Christ is Risen is the sweetest surprise of all and I never get tired of the repeating phrase...He is Risen! He is Risen INDEED!! My mom and I shared a great love for the traditional hymns and none is more meaningful than the glorious joy-filled Easter hymn by Charles Wesley...
Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!
Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) and others
the most beautiful message of Easter is that Christ has won the final victory!!
The grave has been "boasting" of its power since Eden. But now it has finally met its match. It wraps Jesus up at the Cross and "forbids him to rise," but our Champion, Jesus Christ, fought and won. Where is your sting now, O Death? Christ has won the final victory.
We know that whatever boasting we do is not in ourselves, but in the power of Christ. He has won the victory, and now we're just soaring where Christ has led. We bask in the benefits of the Cross, and we look past the grave to our heavenly reunion with Him. Alleluia!
May you claim the victory that is the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ...hold it deep in your heart and never let it go!!!
adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry for April 3.
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House
