Because He Lives | March 27, 2021

CHRIST OUR HOPE

IN LIFE AND DEATH

What is our hope

in life and death?

Christ alone,

Christ alone.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

– 1 Peter 1:20-21 (ESV)

Easter Playlist (Spotify)

The New City Catechism’s first question is, “What is our only hope in life and death?” Everyone wrestles with this question—Christians, atheists... everyone. It’s a wonderful question! But the question is not enough. We need an answer.

If the catechism question is wonderful, then it’s answer is even more wonderful. Listen to this. “That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.”

That’s a really, really wonderful answer. But what’s necessary to belong to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ? If we’re going to have hope, we need to belong. But what needs to happen for that to happen? You’d be right if you said the cross, but don’t forget the resurrection. A resurrected Savior, who holds the keys to death and hell, is our only hope to pass through this life and death. He is the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18). First of many. First for me to follow. And follow I must!

That is what Easter is all about. Each Sunday, we gather to celebrate the resurrection. Easter Sunday is the Sunday of Sundays. It is our annual reminder that our lives are bound up in, and centered on, Christ’s resurrection. Without it, we are hopeless. Without it, we are dead in our sins. But with it, we can belong to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Because he lives... we can have hope in life and death.

Father, I pray the words of Ephesians 1 for us now–that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. Amen.

What is our hope in life and death?

Christ alone, Christ alone

What is our only confidence?

That our souls to Him belong

Who holds our days within His hand?

What comes, apart from His command?

And what will keep us to the end?

The love of Christ, in which we stand

O sing hallelujah!

Our hope springs eternal

O sing hallelujah!

Now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death

What truth can calm the troubled soul?

God is good, God is good

Where is His grace and goodness known?

In our great Redeemer's blood

Who holds our faith when fears arise?

Who stands above the stormy trial?

Who sends the waves that bring us night

Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?

Unto the grave, what will we sing?

"Christ, He lives; Christ, He lives!"

And what reward will heaven bring?

Everlasting life with Him

There we will rise to meet the Lord

Then sin and death will be destroyed

And we will feast in endless joy

When Christ is ours forevermore