THE BIBLE-TEACHING MINISTRY OF CHARLES R. SWINDOLL
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“I know that my Redeemer lives.” (Job 19:25)
"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone."2
What a grand heritage is ours! We dare not allow Easter to pass without sufficiently rejoicing in and declaring our hope. It is Jesus Christ — the miraculously resurrected Son of God — who remains the object of our worship and the subject of our praise. Samuel Stennett was correct, way back in 1787 when he wrote:
To Him I owe my life and breath, And all the joys I have; He makes me triumph over death, And saves me from the grave.3
That hope has kept believers strong in the darkest places. Your situation may not be as grim as the son of a tinsmith in that Bedford jail, but perhaps his words are all you need today to revitalise your faith. As the pack of sin fell from Christian’s back, John Bunyan’s timeless character exclaimed:
Thus far did I come laden with my Sin; Nor could ought ease the grief that I was in, Till I came hither: What a place is this! Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the Burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be The Man that there was put to Shame for me!4
Easter is great-music time. Easter is revival-of-hope time. Easter is Christ-exalting time. That should come as a surprise to no one ... but to some it will. To most folks, Easter is nothing more than buy-some-new-clothes time ... or church-going time. Are they in for a surprise! So while you and I are singing and reflecting, let’s also be praying. On Easter Sunday, some will discover that Easter is pack-dropping time. 1. Charles Wesley, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” Public Domain. 2. Gloria Gaither and William J. Gaither, “Because He Lives,” in The Celebration Hymnal: Songs and Hymns for Worship (Nashville: Word/Integrity, 1997), hymn no. 358. 3. Samuel Stennett, “Chief among Ten Thousand; or, the Excellencies of Christ,” in The Works of Samuel Stennet (London: Thomas Tegg, 1824), 539, www.books.google.com (accessed February 1, 2013). 4. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (Westwood, N.J.: Barbour and Co., 1985), 36.
Charles R. Swindoll