Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Perhaps the greatest of all Resurrection hymns is Charles Wesley’s 11-verse classic “Christ the Lord is risen today”, written back in 1739, but still sung around the world today to celebrate the risen Jesus. Discover the story of his hymn and why it wasn’t popular until long after the Wesley’s were gone.
When it comes to Easter hymns, there's perhaps none as iconic as Charles Wesley's hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today. I actually learnt this for the first time this year. Even though I grew up Methodist and now I'm a Nazarene, it's not a song that we ever really did. We did mostly contemporary stuff growing up. I thought this year I'd finally learn this hymn!
For the whole of Lent I did a series on my daily devotions called Lent with the Wesleys, and I quoted from various Wesley writings. The obvious one to choose for Easter Sunday was this one - Christ the Lord is Risen Today. I've always just known that this is Wesley's great Easter hymn, but it was the first time doing the song, and I really enjoyed it.
What is your memory of this hymn? Do you know it? Do you still sing it today? Please share your thoughts and your memories of the song in the comments and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. If you enjoy the hymns, I'll do one of these every Friday. I'm sure you'll be blessed by it.
Let me tell you more about this great classic hymn!
The Story Behind "Christ the Lord is Risen Today"
As I mentioned, this is one of the great Charles Wesley hymns. I've featured a lot of Wesley on this channel. Just to briefly recap his story: he was born in the early 1700s and educated at Oxford. He and his brother John became the forerunners of the Methodist movement, and Charles is often overshadowed by John because John was the great organiser of the Methodists and preached and distributed all of his sermons as he travelled around.
Charles was really more famous for the hymns he wrote. They say he wrote over 6,500 hymns - unbelievable that he wrote that many. But it was largely his music, or his hymns set to the popular music of the day, that made the Methodist movement so popular. The Methodist people could sing their theology in a way that perhaps nobody else at the time could.
Charles wrote many wonderful hymns, including this one, Christ the Lord is Risen Today. He wrote this shortly after his own real conversion. He was an Anglican priest already at the time, but it was around the same time that his brother John had his famous conversion. Charles became convinced that God loved him not because of what he did, but simply because He loved him, and that it was by faith alone that he could be saved, not by doing good works.
He was born again - in the evangelical sense - and shortly after that wrote this hymn! It was written, they say, for the first Methodist worship service at the Foundry Meetinghouse in London, which was essentially the first Methodist chapel. For Easter Sunday 1739, the Methodists gathered and they sang the song, or they at least went through these words of Wesley's.
Interestingly, this hymn is a play or a paraphrase of a famous song called Jesus Christ Is Risen Today. It was originally published in the 1400s in Latin but was known around the early 1700s in a popular hymnal. Wesley seems to be paraphrasing it because the first line of his hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today, is in inverted commas, which suggests that he was quoting it from somewhere else.
But he expanded that hymn in a very profound way and wrote 11 verses about the risen Christ. It has become the great Methodist Easter hymn, although strangely enough, after singing it at that first Methodist meeting in 1739 and publishing it in the hymnal of that year, the song disappears out of Methodist hymnals for the rest of the Wesleys' lifetime.
Some say that perhaps John wasn't so fond of the song, and he - who had the great editing power of the hymnals - just left it out. Some say it might be for another reason. Whatever it was, this song wasn't really prevalent for the early days of the Methodist movement. But in the late 1800s, it became popular again, partly because it was paired with a beautiful tune called Easter Hymn.
You'll hear when we do it, it's got all these alleluias in, which makes it a very joyful and wonderful thing to sing! It really is a beautiful song. It's strange that the early Methodists rejected it. Even in the 1740s, when John Wesley published Hymns for Resurrection Sunday, it wasn't in that hymnal. So strange! But these days it has become possibly the most sung Easter hymn in the English-speaking world.
Now I want to show you all 11 verses, although most hymnals today only include four, or some of them include six or seven. But we'll go through all 11, because looking at Wesley's whole thought process is quite precious.
What Do the Lyrics of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" Mean?
Verse 1
Christ the Lord is risen today
That great line is what makes it fun to sing on Easter Sunday. Today is the day we celebrate the risen Christ. As I said, in the original this was in inverted commas because he was clearly quoting from the Latin song which was translated into English in the early 1700s. But his whole hymn is quite different.
Sons of men and angels say
I think some modern versions say "earth and heaven in chorus say". So, men and angels, human beings and heaven, join together as they worship on this day.
Raise your joys and triumphs high
Remember, Christianity is a joyful and triumphant faith. Christ rose from the dead, so we have victory ourselves. This is a joyful and triumphant thing to celebrate!
Sing ye heavens and earth reply
Once again, heavens and earth singing together. We join in with all of the saints, whether they are alive now or whether they're already in heaven - we worship together.
Verse 2
Love's redeeming work is done
As much as Jesus said "it is finished" on the cross, it was only vindicated when He rose from the dead. It wasn't just a martyr's death. I preached about exactly this on Easter Sunday this year.
Fought the fight, the battle won
Jesus won the battle over evil when He died on the cross and rose again. Colossians 2:15 talks about how at the cross Jesus triumphed over evil. Maybe that's what Wesley was pointing at.
Lo, our sun's eclipse is o'er
The sun being eclipsed by darkness - remember when Jesus died, the whole land went into darkness. Now that eclipse is over, because He rose again.
Lo, He sets in blood no more
The blood of Christ, which was shed, has now been washed away. Christ is risen. He never has to die again. There's no more blood to shed. He did it once for all, as Hebrews claims.
Verse 3
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal
All human efforts to contain Christ were in vain. None of that stuff worked.
Christ has burst the gates of hell
This reminds me of Revelation 1:18, where Jesus talks about having the keys to death and Hades. He has triumphed over the powers of hell.
Death in vain forbids His rise
Death tries to stop Him from rising, but it couldn't.
Christ has opened Paradise
Remember how the thief on the cross called out to Jesus? He said, "Today you'll be with me in Paradise." Christ opened the way to Paradise for all who believe when He died and rose again.
Verse 4
Lives again our glorious King
He is risen and He is glorious.
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
This is a direct quote from 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul says exactly that - the sting of death has been taken out by Jesus rising again.
Dying once He all doth save
His one death enables all to be saved who put their faith in Him. He doesn't need to die again.
Where thy victory, O grave?
I think the one that I learnt said "where thy victory, boasting grave?" Again, this is a quote from 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul says that the boasting of the grave is over. His resurrection defeated death and the grave.
Verse 5
Soar we now where Christ has led
Following Christ means entering into His resurrection life with Him.
Following our exalted Head
Christ is our Head - He leads us by example.
Made like Him, like Him we rise
We are being conformed to His likeness as we are spiritually resurrected with Him.
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies
We share in His death, His burial and His resurrection. We will one day share in His glory in the skies.
Verse 6
Hail the Lord of earth and sky
Repeating the theme of Christ's lordship over all creation.
Resurrection, Thou
Christ is Himself the resurrection.
Endless is the victory Thou o'er death hast won
His victory over death is not temporary - it's eternal. It's an endless victory.
First in Adam's cause we die
We all died in sin.
Second life we all receive
A second chance at life.
In our Heavenly Adam live
What a beautiful verse. Now we don't just have to die, but Christ's resurrection means that we get a new spiritual life and we live in our new Adam. Christ is the new Adam according to 1 Corinthians 15. We are now living spiritually instead of being spiritually dead as a result of our sin, if our faith is in Him. Powerful stuff.
Verse 7
Risen with Him, we upward move
Still we seek the things above
This upward, above theme is how the believer's spiritual life is ascended above the things of earth. Yes, we're still here and we still look to do good on earth, but essentially we are removed from sin's power through Him. We look above. As Paul said in Colossians 3:1, we should seek the things above. We're not so concerned with earthly things - we're thinking about heavenly things and spiritual things.
Still pursue and kiss the Son
Seated on His Father's throne
He's going back to the Old Testament. This is a reference from Psalm 2:12, which talks about kissing the Son, or in essence, putting your faith in Jesus and giving Him homage as He sits on the Father's throne. Christ is seated at the right hand of God in authority and power. His resurrection means that He could ascend to the Father's throne.
Verse 8
Scarce on earth a thought bestow
Dead to all we leave below
Again, this picture of dying to earthly things and worldly things, so that we may live above the sin and brokenness of the world. Of course, we're still in it, but we're not of it. Remember the difference between those two. We're still in the world, but we are not concerned with earthly things anymore. We died to the ways of the world and are alive in Christ.
Heaven our aim and loved abode
Hid our life with Christ in God
One day we'll end in heaven, and the absolute fullness of love will be where we are living, as our lives are hidden with Him. Again, this is a quote from Colossians 3. He seemed to be deep in Colossians 3 as he wrote this. Our lives are hidden in Christ, and one day in heaven we'll be completely overwhelmed by Him.
Verse 9
Here till Christ our life appear
Jesus will come again, and our lives are hidden in Him until the time He comes.
Glorious in His members here
With His members, with the church, we will be glorified and He will be glorified in us when He comes again.
Joined to Him, we then shall shine
All immortal, all divine
We look forward to this great joining with Him when He comes again.
Verse 10
Hail the Lord of earth and heaven
Remember, Jesus claimed to have authority over earth and heaven in Matthew 28 before He ascended.
Praise to Thee by both be given
Earth and heaven - this calls back to mind the first verse or two, which spoke about that.
Thee we greet triumphant now
He is triumphant now, and we praise Him for that.
Hail the resurrection, Thou
We worship Him for being the resurrection, not just for offering resurrection and experiencing resurrection, but as He Himself claimed in John 11, He is the resurrection Himself. We are resurrected through Him.
Verse 11
King of glory, soul of bliss
Everlasting life is this
We know everlasting life as our faith is in Him. It's not only for heaven, but everlasting life has already begun when our faith is in Him.
Thee to know, Thy power to prove
Thus to sing, and thus to love
We know Him. We experience and know His power. So we sing and love Him, worshipping Him because of who He is and what He's done.
Conclusion
That is an epic song! I don't think it's possible to sing all 11 verses - you'd get a little bit bored, perhaps - but what a wonderful train of thinking there.
How did you enjoy those 11 verses? Is there a particular line that really spoke to you? I really liked the verse about the second Adam, about how we once were dead in our sins, but now in the new Adam, in Christ, we are raised to life. That was beautiful - verse 6. But what stood out for you? Do you want to share that in the comments? I'd love to hear how this hymn has impacted you today. Again, if you know the song, if you have any memories, share those below please.
Before we sing it, I just want to take a moment to thank you for donating towards this work. I have a few of you supporting me on Patreon, where I send out free downloads of all the songs that I do, and of course extra devotions as well. Please would you consider checking that out? Your support is what enables me to spend a day here in the studio once a week and then the rest of the week going and doing my pastoral work at the church. I thank you for your support. I'm grateful. You can also support via PayPal.
Let's sing this song. We're not going to sing all 11 verses. I've chosen a selection of verses that I really liked that I want to sing. So sing it with me and have a look at all the alleluias. This was not in the way we looked through it now, but at the end of every line in the Easter Hymn tune, we sing alleluia, which is just a statement of praise.
Let's sing and celebrate the risen Christ together.
References
- Osbeck, K.W. 1985. 101 Hymn Stories. Kregal Publications: Grand Rapids
- https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-christ-the-lord-is-risen-today
