CW 459: Christ the Lord is Risen Again
The Season of Easter is a time of joyful celebration. We continue to praise God for the joyous proclamation that Christ has risen from the dead. Many hymns during the Easter season include refrains of hallelujah or alleluia. Both of these words come from the same Hebrew word which means, “Praise Yah!” Yah is a shortened form of God’s name Yahweh.
Christ the Lord is Risen Again reminds us of the joys we have in the resurrection of Christ. Jesus has freed us from the chains of sin and death. He has destroyed the power of the devil and won for us eternal life. We praise God for the joy and peace we now have in Christ our Savior who has risen victorious from the grave. Alleluia!
Verse 1: Christ the Lord is ris’n again; Christ has broken death’s strong chain. Hark, the angels shout for joy, singing evermore on high: Hallelujah!
Death was not supposed to be part of this world. God created this world free from sin and death. But when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they brought sin and death into the world. Death is a consequence of sin. Christ paid for the sins of the world by his death on the cross. Jesus offered his perfect life as a sacrifice that freed us from the slavery of sin. By his resurrection, Jesus destroyed the power of death. As his people, we know that we no longer need to fear the sting of death because death has been swallowed up in victory.
Verse 2: He who gave for us his life, who for us endured the strife, is our Paschal Lamb today. We too sing for joy and say: Hallelujah!
On the cross, Jesus offered his perfect life as a sacrifice for our sins. The paschal lamb was the lamb that was sacrificed during the celebration of the Passover. Each year the people of Israel remembered how the Angel of the Lord passed over the houses where the doorframes were painted with the blood of the lamb and spared those inside from destruction. Christ is our perfect sacrificial Lamb. He was crucified during the celebration of Passover. We have been covered with his blood and washed clean from all our sins. The perfect blood of Jesus saves us from God’s wrath.
Verse 3: He who bore all pain and loss comfortless upon the cross lives in glory now on high, pleads for us, and hears our cry: Hallelujah!
Jesus endured unspeakable torment on the cross. He was beaten and had a crown of thorns thrust on his head. He was humiliated and flogged. He was nailed to the cross for our sins. But more than all of that Christ endured all the torments of hell that our sins deserved. When Jesus cried out, “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me,” he was separated from his heavenly Father because he became sin in our place. Hell is separation from God and Christ endured that agony for us. Christ is our great High Priest. He offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to pay for all of our sins and he now hears our prayers and brings our requests before God.
Verse 4: He whose path no records tell has descended into hell; he the strong man armed has bound and in highest heav’n is crowned. Hallelujah!
On Easter morning Jesus rose from the dead. He then descended into hell. He did not go there to suffer or endure more punishment for our sins. Jesus descended into hell with all his glory, might, and majesty to declare his complete and total victory over Satan. The descent into hell was like a victory lap. Christ had crushed the head of the old evil Serpent and destroyed the power of death and hell. Satan no longer has any power to accuse us of our sins because we have been declared not guilty by the blood of Christ. Our risen Lord has ascended into the highest heavens and is now ruling as our great and glorious eternal King.
Verse 5: He who slumbered in the grave is exalted now to save; now through Christendom it rings that the Lamb is King of kings. Hallelujah!
As Christians, we often refer to death as falling asleep. We do this because we know that death is not the end of our life, it is just the beginning. When we die it is like we fall asleep and then awaken in the glory of life in heaven. But even that is just the beginning. Jesus has given us that certain promise that on the Last Day, he will return and raise us from the dead. We will then be given glorious new resurrected bodies, and we will live for eternity with our God in a new heaven and new earth. This is why the entire kingdom of Christ in this world, the church, rejoices that our glorious Savior is the King of kings.
Verse 6: Now he bids us tell abroad how the lost may be restored, how the penitent forgiv’n, how we, too, may enter heav’n. Hallelujah!
The final verse of our hymn encourages us to share the message of Easter with others. We have a joyous message to share. Our sins have been forgiven by grace alone that is ours through faith alone in Christ alone. We don’t have to do anything to earn or deserve forgiveness for our sins. Christ has done it all for us on the cross. We can share this joy with others. We can tell them that God loves them and forgives them. We can tell them that they do not need to fear death because Christ has conquered death for us. What joy we have to know that through Jesus we too will enter the paradise of heaven.
Christ the Lord is Risen Again is a beautiful hymn of praise that reminds us of the glorious resurrection of our Lord from the dead. Oh, how we love to praise our God for this great and glorious message. The resurrection of Jesus fills us with peace and comfort because we know that our sins have been paid for in full. We know that an eternal life of happiness is waiting for us in heaven. We know that we no longer need to fear death. We eagerly desire to share this message with others so that they too can have peace in Christ. Hallelujah!