Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
Adam was the first man, our forefather,
made in majestic likeness of His Mighty Maker.
Not so long ago, the Man and Woman lived together,
tending the perfect paradise apart from pain and woe.
But oh the sorrow! So soon they turned from love,
and light and the Lord of life. And so they died.
Adam returned to dust from which he had come.
In Adam our Head we all sinned, and in him we all died.
But our Merciful Maker would not let His beloved be lost forever
And so He declared His decree to the Dread Deceiver:
I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
This was God’s Word which will never fail to be fulfilled.
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
That serpent of old has ever tried to kill the righteous seed,
beginning with the murder of righteous Abel by his own brother
Abel’s blood cried out from the earth for blood avenging,
but the blood of Jesus Our Righteousness speaks of better things!
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
Abraham came and was called by God to come out of his own country
To the place of promise, and the promise was put upon him
that in his seed all the peoples of the world would be blessed
Yet God required him to surrender Isaac the promised son
His only son whom he loved to be slain by his own hand.
No! Wait Abraham! Hold your knife!
God will provide for Himself a Lamb for the Sacrifice.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
And so Isaac lived, and of him sprang Jacob, and Judah his son.
In Judah the royal line would be drawn down through the years
Until in time came David of this sceptered tribe
Shepherd of God’s people, sweet psalmist, prophet and priest
The kingly foreshadow of his Greater Son to come,
Whose goings forth are from the ages of eternity:
of Him his father David declared:
The LORD said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
David called Him Lord, who would be his son,
Yet to be born in the fullness of time of a virgin girl
Under the Law to deliver those bound under the Law’s curse.
The Promised Seed would finally come to conquer death,
And completely crush that cursed serpent’s head.
David being a prophet sang again of Him by the Spirit:
you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
And all the prophets likewise foretold Him,
looking forward to that famous day
when the Sun of Righteousness would rise with healing in His wings.
So Isaiah sang:
Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the LORD will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
Adam, Abraham, David, Isaiah and the rest,
“these all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off
were assured of them, embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
But to you on this day He says:
“I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
and
“Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;
for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired
to see what you see, and have not seen it,
and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
So the centuries flowed, and Christ has reigned,
and His gospel grows and gains to the ends of the earth
and His redeemed revel in His glory growing ever greater
In these latter days the poet penned His praise:
The Law of God exact he shall fulfill
Both by obedience and by love, though love
Alone fulfill the Law; your punishment
He shall endure by coming in the Flesh
To a reproachful life and cursed death,
Proclaiming Life to all who shall believe
In his redemption, and that his obedience
Imputed becomes theirs by Faith, his merits
To save them, not their own, though lawful works.
For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,
Seized on by force, judged, and to death condemned
A shameful and accursed, nailed to the Cross
By his own Nation, slain for bringing Life;
But to the Cross he nails your Enemies,
The Law that is against you, and the sins
Of all mankind, with him there crucified,
Never to hurt them more who rightly trust
In this his satisfaction; so he dies,
But soon revives, Death over him no power
Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light
Return, the Stars of Morn shall see him rise
Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,
Your ransom paid, which Man from death redeems
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
He speaks to you this day:
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here,
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
In Adam all die. In Christ all are made alive.
What Adam lost, the Second Adam has restored and added more.
If anyone be in Christ, He is a new creation.
Old things have passed away. All things have become new.
This is the first resurrection.
And
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!
Over such the second death has no power,
but they will be priests of God and of Christ forever.
And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed!
