Stay Down! Ok, Get Up.

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
 Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
 Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today
By: Charles Wesley, 1707-1778

Listen as you read.  This is a neat orchestral karaoke version.

On Tuesday we considered how Christ finished the work the Father had given Him to do thus opening paradise.  He did this by defeating death.  Today we are going to think about a couple ways that defeat is described in lines 2 and 3 of this stanza.

What Battle?

The hymn alludes to a battle, so you may wonder what battle is it talking about?  Some have likened this to the idea that Christ descended into hell, which is expressed in some versions of the Apostles Creed with the words “he descended into hell.”  There are a few different Scriptures that can be interpreted to support this, but none of them explicitly state this, so it is a bit of a stretch.

One other way of making sense of the line in the creed is to acknowledge there were different versions, some not including this line.  Some newer versions substitute dead for hell, which is probably a more accurate acknowledgement of the fact that in the ancient world Hades was often equated with the grave, rather than hell.

For all this controversy, there is no debate among Christians as to whether Jesus descended into the grave.  It is clearly described in a number of the gospel accounts, and helps to clear up the possible confusion.  Either way, it is widely accepted that Jesus defeated death based on a number of different verses, not the least of which are Jesus’ own words.

[The Son of Man] laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”  Revelation 1:17b-18 ESV

In these verses, John has a vision of Jesus as the Son of Man.  Jesus declares He died, but is alive forever, and that overcoming death has earned Him the keys of Death and Hades.  

I think of it like arm wrestling.  Jesus fought Death for the right to have final authority over Death.  Jesus won the match or battle, so He gets to keep the keys, saying effectively who comes and goes.  You can not take someone’s keys unless you have authority over them.  

Thank Jesus for winning that battle.

Stay Down!  Ok, Get Up.

Jesus demonstrates His victory over death through His resurrection.  Can you imagine what that must have been like?  For a couple days Death thought it had won.  Then on the third day, there was an earthquake and everything changed.  It is as if Death tried to tell him, “Stay down!”, until it realized it had no dominion over Him, so it conceded with “Ok, get up.”

He did die, but now He lives.  I like how these verses say it with the double doubles of “he died he died” and “he lives he lives.”

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. Romans 6:9-10 ESV

We are invited into a similar transaction, dying to sin and living to God.  As we enter into that activity by faith, we ensure that Death will have no dominion over us either.  Like Christ, we may very well descend into a grave, but also like Him we will leave it behind one day.

Thank Jesus for making that possible.

Alleluia!

Grateful Thinking!

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