Episode Transcript
Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to heavenly harmonies.
Matthew, chapter 28, verses one to six tells the story of the resurrection of Jesus. And it says there that as it began to dawn, toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake.
For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come see the place where the Lord lay.
The resurrection of Christ is such an amazing story with deep significance for every person who ever has lived or ever will live on this earth. Our hymn for today unveils a little of this significance. Stay with me to discover how the hymn Christ the Lord is risen today can draw us nearer to the heart of God.
This season we have been going through the life of Christ in song, and we have looked at his humble birth, his lowly childhood. We've looked at his public ministry and his self sacrifice. And finally, we have looked at his sufferings, his final sufferings in the garden of Gethsemane and his death on the cross of Calvary.
And many know we think about the death of Christ. And as I said in a previous programme, if we were to take away the cross from the christian, it would be like blotting the sun from the sky. And so the death of Christ, upon the death of Christ rest our hopes.
And yet there's not any one part of the plan of salvation that, in a sense, is any more important than any other part. And so the birth, the life, the sufferings of Christ all to some extent are just as important as his death on the cross of Calvary. And our topic for today, as indicated by the title of our song, christ the Lord is risen today.
The resurrection of Christ is just as vital to our salvation as was Jesus'death upon the cross. So let's explore the significance of the resurrection of Christ with this glorious hymn, Christ the Lord is risen today. This hymn was written by the great hymn writer Charles Wesley, who wrote thousands of hymns.
And so, yeah, let's have a look at it. Let's have a look at the first verse of this hymn. Christ the Lord is risen today.
Hallelujah. Sons of men and angels say alleluia. Raise your joys and triumphs high alleluia.
Sing, ye heavens and earth reply, alleluia. So we can see even from the first verse of this hymn that we have a significant amount of repetition in this hymn. And that is the word alleluia.
What does this word mean? Well, alleluia is actually a latin word very similar to the hebrew word from which it's derived. So the hebrew word from which Alleluia is derived is hallelujah. So it's just got that h there at the beginning.
And this means literally in Hebrew, it means praise the Lord. So hale means praise, and yah is a name for God. And so, yeah, it means literally praise the Lord.
And so that's what we're saying in this hymn. When we say or sing hallelujah, we're saying praise the Lord. And what is it that we're praising God for? Well, quite evidently it's because Christ is risen.
Now, the first line of this hymn says, christ the Lord is risen today. Now, evidently, Jesus lived on earth about 2000 years ago. He died in the year ad 31, and he was raised to life in that year.
So what does this mean, Christ the Lord is risen today? Evidently it does not mean that it's on this particular day that Christ has risen to life, but it's based on a Bible verse which is one corinthians 15 and verse 20 which says, now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. So here this verse says, now is Christ risen from the dead. So it is a present reality and it's relevant to us today.
That's what the song is emphasising. It's not saying that Christ literally rose today, but it's saying that it has a present relevance, it has a present significance. And the first verse of this song is such a really beautiful, joyful verse.
I think it should be sung really lightly and joyfully. And it's calling on essentially everyone in the universe to rejoice that Christ has risen. So, sons of men, that's sort of a poetic way of saying human beings, sons of men and angels say, yes.
So the angels rejoice with us. They share in the fruits of Christ's victory and his victory not only over know when he died on the cross of Calvary after living a faultless life, he showed that he had power over sin. But when he rose to life, he showed that he had also power over death.
So the angels rejoiced to see the victory of Christ over death. So then raise your joys and triumphs high. Sing ye heavens and earth reply and this phrase.
Sing ye heavens and earth, reply. That's what we call a mirrorism that has two extreme opposites, heaven and earth. Extreme opposites.
And it's not just saying only heaven and earth, but it's just sort of saying the totality of everything. And taking that in by these two opposites that are contrasted, and this phrase about heaven and earth, that contrast between heaven and earth, that's very frequently used in psalms, which, of course, is poetry, hebrew poetry. But this particular phrase, sing ye heavens and earth, reply.
I think that's really drawn from Isaiah 49 and verse 13. Like, very, quite specifically, it's almost the same, which says, sing, o heavens and be joyful, o earth, and break forth into singing o mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted. Yeah, so that's Isaiah 49 and verse 13.
Sing, o heavens and be joyful, o earth, and then put into verse in this song. Sing ye heavens and earth, reply. Hallelujah.
So that's the first verse, extremely joyful that Christ has risen. And so let's explore more of the significance, moving on to the second verse of this hymn. Lives again.
Our glorious king, alleluia. Where, o death, is now thy sting? Alleluia. Once he died our souls to save alleluia.
Where's thy victory boasting grave alleluia. So this second verse is based on one corinthians chapter 15 and verse 55, which says, o death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? And so you can see how Wesley has taken that, and he's taken up the words sting and the word grave, and he's found rhyming words to go with them. So, yeah, wonderful poetic setting of that verse.
One corinthians chapter 15 and verse 55. So, yeah, that's just declaring once again that Christ is living and that though he died once, he has now been raised to life. So let's go on to the third verse, because this third verse, I think, brings out some really, really key points about the significance of the resurrection of Christ.
And so I want to spend a little bit of time looking at that. So, yeah, I mean, we could spend more time, really, on all of these verses, but, yeah, we're going to go on to the third verse, and we're going to pause a little bit as we go through this. So love's redeeming work is done.
Hallelujah. Fought the fight, the battle won. Alleluia death in vain forbids him rise.
Hallelujah. Christ hath opened paradise. Hallelujah.
So let's explore and let's see what this has to say to us. And so let's have a look at the. Well, let's have a look at that first line of this verse, which says, love's redeeming work is done.
And that calls to mind the fact that when Christ was on the cross, you may recall from previous programmes, we said that Christ cried out, it is finished just before he died. And so also during his life, Christ said, I have finished the work that thou that is God gave us me to do. So that was in a prayer to his father.
So Christ, when he yielded up his life, he did not do that until he finished the work that he came to earth to do. So that's the sense in which this says that love's redeeming work is done. It doesn't mean that the whole of the great controversy is over, because evidently we're still here on earth.
Evidently, there's some parts of this battle that are still yet to be fought. But the way has been opened, as it says in the last line of this song, it says, christ hath opened paradise. So that was the work that he came to earth to accomplish, and he did accomplish that.
So that's the sense in which love's redeeming work is done. That part of Christ's work, that phase of his work, was finished. The second line says, fought the fight, the battle won.
Now, this reminds us of something that we have been speaking about in previous programmes. The theme of the whole Bible, which is the plan of redemption, and also the great battle between good and evil that's going on, and that this earth is the centre of. So let's have another read of revelation, chapter twelve and verses seven to nine.
And I want to pick up some new points in this. So, revelation, chapter twelve and verse seven says that there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not.
Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. So we see that before our world even began, there was this great battle in heaven between Michael or Christ Jesus, the one who died on the cross, and the one who was raised to life. This great battle between Christ and Satan, the dragon, that beautiful angel that had been created perfect.
But through his own free will, through his own free choice, through his own perversion of free choice, he rebelled against God and sought to take over his government. But he was thrown out of heaven and he then made his dominion upon earth. And so Christ came down to earth to continue this battle.
And so we've seen in previous programmes that the life of Christ is so central to this battle. So that's in revelation, chapter twelve and verses four and five. So we're not going to take the time to read those today.
But let's notice that. Let's notice revelation, chapter twelve and verse nine, because it says there after it says that the place of Satan and his angels was no more found in heaven, it says, the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.
Now let's notice something very important about when this casting out occurred, because it's a second casting out. And we find this in John, chapter twelve. The Gospel of John, chapter twelve and verse 31, beginning at verse 31.
And Jesus spoke these words a few days before his death, and he was referring to his death. We can see that from verse 33. So let's begin at verse 31.
John, chapter twelve and verse 31. Jesus is speaking here and he says, now is the judgement of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Verse 32, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. If you have a bible that has. I think not all bibles have this, but in my bible, the word men is italicised.
That's not actually in the original. So Christ said, I will draw all unto me. So it was not only human beings, but it was actually also all the angels, all the beings in other worlds.
They saw the character of Christ as he hung upon that cross, because he said in that verse, he said, if I be lifted up from the earth, I would draw all unto me. And then verse 33 makes it really plain. This he said, signifying what? Death he should die.
Because when you die on the cross, you're up between the heaven and the earth. So he was lifted up from the earth. So when Jesus died on the cross, that was a significant moment in this war between good and evil, this battle between good and evil, this battle between Christ and Satan.
So going back to revelation, chapter twelve, verse nine says that the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And verse twelve says, therefore rejoice, ye heavens and ye that dwell in them.
So that ties us back to verse one of our hymn. For today, which says, sing, ye heavens and earth. Reply.
So verse twelve of revelation, chapter twelve says, therefore rejoice, ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. So those, the angels in heaven, the beings on other worlds, they rejoice to see the victory of Christ. So that's the significance of those points that are brought out in verse three.
So let's go on then. Actually, just before we do go on to the final verse, I did just want to mention as well, because we've been talking about the significance of the resurrection of Christ. And look, this hymn does not go into it in a lot of detail, but I would just like to mention this is really good background research for understanding this hymn and understanding the significance of the resurrection of Christ is to actually read through the whole of the chapter of one corinthians 15, because that chapter, we do not have time.
I was thinking I might have time to explore through all of the depths and the reasons of why the resurrection of Christ is so, so important, but that chapter does go through them. So I would really encourage you to go through that chapter prayerfully, study through it, and you will see more of the significance of the resurrection of Christ and why we need to have confidence in the resurrection of Christ and just really be rejoicing in it, rejoicing in the victory of Christ. That's what this song is all about.
So let's press on then to the fourth verse. Now that we've looked a little bit at the significance of the death of Christ, let's explore even more of it. Fourth verse says, saw we then where Christ has led, hallelujah.
Following our exalted head, hallelujah. Made like him, like him we rise. Hallelujah.
Ours, the cross, the grave, the skies, hallelujah. So let's look at the significance of this, which is speaking about our resurrection. And this is a wonderful truth that's maybe most famously declared in one corinthians chapter four and verse 16, which says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
And so this is a glorious hope that we have the hope of the resurrection. So that's what this song is celebrating, that because Christ rose again, this is actually one of the points that it's brought out in one corinthians 15, because Christ Rose again, we also have the hope of the resurrection. And that's just such a wonderful hope.
I am not aware of any other religion or spiritual belief that has such assurance of life beyond the grave as the christian religion, because we can see that Christ rose again from the dead. There's no other spiritual belief that has anybody that has risen from the dead. And so that's just such a wonderful truth that we have as followers of Christ this wonderful, glorious hope of the resurrection.
And so let's see how that applies to us by thinking about the third line of this last verse. Made like him, like him, we rise. And again, this is one corinthians chapter 15.
And beginning at verse 49, I'll start from there, which says, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So we have a body like what Christ had when he was here on earth. But the Bible teaches that our body will be changed to be like his glorious body.
Let's read about it. One corinthians 15 and verse 50, which says, now this, I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Verse 51.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then should be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. So that's just such a wonderful hope.
And as the last line of our hymn for today says, ours, the cross, the grave, the skies, hallelujah. So, yeah, living here on earth, ours, the cross. Christ does not promise us an easy life here on earth.
In fact, he said, if you follow me, you will have tribulation. Because as soon as we enlist on the side of Christ, all of the powers of evil will be arrayed against us to try to prevent our salvation. But through Christ, we can have the victory.
So living here on earth, ours, the cross. And Jesus said, if anyone will come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow after me. So living here on earth, we will have our crosses to bear.
We may even be called upon to go through the portals of the tomb. We may be called upon to die and maybe even a martyr's death. Who knows? So here on this earth, these are the sort of sufferings and sorrows that we experience, and yet we can go through those and have confidence, because Christ himself also went through those things.
If we are called upon to suffer, if we are called upon to die, we know that we are only going through that same path, treading that same path that Christ trod. And because we tread the path of his sufferings and death, we also can have the glory, that glorious resurrection, and know that we can live forever with him one day in heaven. So let's listen to this absolutely glorious hymn, Christ the Lord is risen today.
And we are going to listen to the Jocelyn Grove Choral Society singing this beautiful song, christ the is with today. Oy, all up. See that all y'all see all.
That is all I see all hallelujah. Where I victory all pray is gone all the fight of battle every day for ya cry I open there was eyes all we know when Christ has said all we know hallelujah with my cross of rain all holy Hebrews chapter eleven, verse 35, says, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Through the resurrection of Christ, we have hope of life eternal.
And so no matter what sufferings we might be called upon to face while we are here on earth, that is such a wondrous, glorious hope. And so I hope that going through this song today has really inspired you with that wonderful and glorious hope that we do have. Let's say a brief prayer to conclude our programme for today.
Dear Lord, we are so grateful for the wisdom in your plan of salvation and for your power in calling Christ to life from the grave. What a wonderful moment that was in time. And it was the moment when we saw the victory of Christ over death in a way that had not been seen before, dear Lord.
And it gives us hope of a better life in this world. Not only the resurrection, but a better life in this world, a transformed life in this world, and a way by which we can put on every day the righteousness of Christ. So thank you so much, dear God, for the wonderful sacrifice of Christ and for your power in calling him from the grave and help us to realise that power in our lives as we live our life from day to day.
I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you so much for joining me today on heavenly harmonies.
If you have missed any of our past programmes, remember you can find us on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au just click the listen button and the past programmes will be there. But thank you so much for joining me today and hope that you're able to join me again.
Until then, goodbye and God bless.
