Easter Songs and Weird Bible Stories: Tombs Opening and Curtains Ripping

It's Easter Week on everyday disciples. I'm

Pastor Matthew, and thanks for joining me here today. As we

gear up for Good Friday and Easter, there's a lot of

Scripture that we're gonna be talking about in the next few

days. One of those passages has some details that we might be

tempted to skim past that when Jesus dies, the temple curtain

is torn, and the tombs of saints are open. I sit down today with

Aiden hunter to dig into this weird Bible story. Then, another

part of our Easter celebration is music. And Adam Vanderbilt

and I take a look at some Easter songs that will be singing this

Sunday and in the coming weeks, and we'll look at how Christians

have put the resurrection to music throughout history up to

today. All that and more ahead on everyday disciples.

Well, I'm joined here with Aidan hunt. This week leading up to

Easter here and Aiden, we're about to read through all of the

the texts surrounding Jesus death and his resurrection in

the coming days. Monday, Thursday and Good Friday and

Easter Sunday. And I thought it'd be good for us to talk

about some do some more weird Bible stories stuff.

Yeah, the weird Bible stories, they don't, they

don't stop in the new in the New Testament, they keep going. It's

not just the Old Testament as the weird stuff. The new New

Testament got some stuff we gotta unpack too. And some

stuff, we got to, you know, dissect that button. It all just

it makes a lot of sense once you look at it, but it takes a

little bit of inspection sometimes. And so

there's one part in the story about the

death of Jesus, that often I think if somebody was retelling

the story, you know, after like going to church on Good Friday,

we're gonna we're gonna read some of this. Actually, I take

it back. I'm not sure if this particular if the Matthew

reading shows up in what we're going to read this year on Good

Friday. I know we're reading a lot from Luke. So we might not

hear this one this this time. But if somebody was recounting

the story, I feel like they would maybe skip these details.

Because on the surface, they seem pretty

insignificant. They don't seem and they're these kind of seems

like comes on. Yeah, like, oh, that happened. Cool. And so

the part that we're talking about here comes

from Matthew chapter 27. Starting at verse 51, through

54, where it mentions the temple curtain being torn. And then

this earthquake that causes a bunch of what sounds like

zombies to come to life here. So Aiden, you want to read those

verses for us so folks listening can hear what we're talking

about.

Suddenly, the curtain of the temple was torn

in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks

were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the

saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of

the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the

holy city, and appeared to many, when the centurion and those who

are with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and

what took place. They were filled with art and said, Truly,

this was the Son of God. So this

falls right after like in the previous

paragraph here, Jesus dies, Jesus gives up his Spirit, Jesus

dies, and this is a result of Jesus dying, the temple curtain

is torn in two, and these tombs are open. So let's, let's maybe

take these two events, one at a time here, when we will talk

about the the temple curtain being torn into what do you make

of that one.

So I actually mentioned this in my sermon from

about a month ago, where we talked about how the, the

curtain of the temple that we see that it's torn. When Jesus

dies, we almost think of it as like, just like the curtain over

the windows of the temple so that, you know, the glare

doesn't get in certainly how we use or think of curtains today,

how we think how we think of curtains like in our cultural

context. But this curtain was not those kinds of curtains.

This was the curtain that hung in the temple that separated the

center, most part of the temple, the Holy of Holies, where they

believe that the presence of God dwelled most strongly where the

Ark of the Covenant was. And this was the case both in the

temple in Jerusalem and even way back in the exodus in the

wilderness when the Israelites traveled with the tabernacle, as

at the center of their camp, everywhere they went. And the

Holy of Holies was where the high priest would go once a year

to make a sacrifice on behalf of the people. Because that's where

the presence of God was most almost like most saturated like

that's where it was the most real here on earth like that was

work having an earth came to collide was in the Holy of

Holies. This curtain was not just you know, a curtain keeping

the glare out or the sun, like this was a thick, very like

strong curtain because of the presence of God was not safe for

a human being like your eye. And so when and

I think we need to lean in for a second on like,

when you say thick curtain. We don't just mean like, you know,

you can go out on the nose and corduroy. Well, yeah, you You

can go down to the home store and you can get some that's like

a room darkening curtain. That's not the thickness we're talking.

We're talking like, I was just trying to find it here on in my

notes. It's like a four inch thick curtain.

That's nuts. That's it.

So this is, I mean, when you think about like

a fabric curtain, we think of, you know, something, you know,

maybe a quarter of an inch thick or something that's a pretty

heavy curtain, we're talking four inches, give or take,

you can't throw this thing in the washer. No, you

gotta you gotta This is a heavy thing that we're talking about

here. Yeah. And so the reason that this curtain had to be so

thick, though is that the presence of God is so holy, it

is. So it is so powerful, and we as human beings, because of our

sin and our brokenness, it is therefore not safe for us to be

in God's presence so that the thickness of the curtain is for

our protection. When you go into the temple, you don't want to,

you know, be so close to the presence of God. But the thing

about Jesus about the Incarnation where God has come

to earth, in a human body as a man in Jesus of Nazareth, the

presence of God isn't now dwelling among his people. And

when Jesus dies, and and our sins are forgiven, and atone for

the the separation between God and humanity is no longer a

thing because Jesus has died for our sins. And so when Jesus

dies, that curtain that separates the presence of God

from humanity is torn in half. It doesn't matter anymore. It we

don't need that curtain to separate us from God because we

have been reconciled to Him through Jesus.

And I love that imagery in the text of its

split. From top to bottom. God coming to us not

bottom to top, it wasn't something we did right

from him, right? It it just again,

it reinforces that direction of how God works.

It's from him to us. Yeah, man. It's it's powerful stuff. And I

think it's a, it's a great connection, then right into the

next thing that happens here with the rocks. But in fact, I

was looking at a commentary that that makes, I think, a pretty

good argument that that really, now I don't, what what version

were you reading out of is, is that those ESV? Oh, I have the

USB open it was must be a different version from what I

have then. So mine at mine has young Behold, the curtain of the

temple was torn into from top to bottom period. And the earth

shook and the rocks were split period. And it makes the

argument that that first period shouldn't be there. That really

to say that this is all one thing that's happening, the

curtain is torn into and the earth shook. And the rocks were

split, that this is a one one movement that's happening here.

As as the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who

had fallen, fallen asleep or right, so we've got that, that

bodies of the saints, to those who were reading this

originally, they would have thought had in mind, maybe some

Old Testament Heroes, that's the saints that they were maybe

thinking of who had fallen asleep that they're raised. Now,

there's a weird little little timing thing in here in verse

53. They're raised at this point when the the the tombs are

opened, but it says coming out of the tombs after his

resurrection. So Jesus just died. His resurrection isn't

isn't for a little bit here in the story. But Matthew is

throwing this detail in that after his resurrection, then

they went out into the holy city. So it makes you wonder,

were they just milling around the cemetery for a couple of

days until Jesus arose? Were they hanging out just in their

tombs, until then, it's kind of a strange picture that Matthew

is painting here for us. And it leads to all sorts of questions.

So where did these people rise? Like Lazarus rose? So they all

died again? Did they rise to like resurrected bodies in the

sense of the End Times resurrection? Is this the

foretaste of of that resurrection to come? So in

other words, do they do they rise to die again? Or do they

rise not to die again? Like Jesus rises not to die again?

No, there's no Matthew doesn't point us in one direction or the

other in his text here. So it's something to just maybe wonder

about. But man, it's a it's an amazing connection to what Jesus

is doing as Jesus dies. As that temple is there's the the

curtain of the temple was torn into a now the grave is torn

into. So the grave can't hold us either. It's a powerful reminder

of this resurrection reality that is happening, even in this

moment as Jesus is dying on the cross.

And I don't think we should miss that this last

verse. Were the first person who really sees all of this

happening around them and sees that this this death was much

more than just a simple Jewish man. First person to say Truly

this was the Son of God was not a Jew. But in fact, it was a

Roman soldier. So that this message of salvation, we see

even right here, as soon as Jesus dies is not just for the

Jewish people, but as for all people, Jew and Gentile alike.

And yeah, and I love the point too, that these

these holy ones, the saints would fallen asleep, these

these, presumably Jewish saints that that they're referring to

here. As Matthew would paint this picture, it's not just like

you just said, it's not just for everyone going forward. But it's

also going backward, you know, Jesus death and his resurrection

is what saves those who came before him. Their faith in that

event is the same as our faith in that event. They were looking

forward to it, we're looking backward to it, it is, it is the

pivotal moment for all time in human history here. So that's a

really interesting little paragraph here. A little aside

that happens in the Easter story, but man, one that is

packed full of meaning here. So I hope as you hear these words

read in the next few days, as you think about these over the

Easter holiday weekend, hear that these maybe give a little

bit more meaning a little more depth to words that you hear all

the time

while I'm sitting here once again with Adam Vander stellt

the worship guys are back together today to talk about

some Easter songs. This is the week of Easter here and we're

getting ready to sing all the fun songs we've been at them all

Lenten, we've been singing all the Latin songs a lot of a lot

of focus on the cross a lot of focus on Jesus death and our

repentance as the season goes on. And we're about to turn the

corner here and sing all the way go from the minor keys to

the major keys back in the major companies.

So we thought today it would be really good to

to kind of talk about some of the songs that we sing around

Easter we've done some of these, why we sing what we sing,

looking at individual songs, we thought today maybe a little

longer segment we'll talk about a bunch of different songs that

we're going to sing this weekend on Easter. So I thought probably

you know should should start with one of the first ones that

that we're going to sing one that people know Christ the Lord

has risen today or Jesus Christ is risen today depending on

which which tradition you grew up in. In in our hymnals Jesus

Christ is risen today has a different tune that I think like

most of the rest of the world has the has a different tune

okay to this one. There's there's kind of two similar

Easter tunes that these texts get flip flop back and forth.

But Jesus Christ is risen today. classic, classic Eastern hymn if

there ever was one. So much so that like it gets done in

contemporary settings and stuff, the the texts and the tune

really both are what pretty enduring, I guess there they

are.

Yes, I remember this song. Growing up

as a kid we sang this in my home church, and I always thought of

it as the one that had the high note. I know the high note it's

right there in the third series. The third phrase there who did

once upon the cross, I just remember that's the one the high

note like that's the one we got to send later.

This was the one that the growing up at my

church like I had never heard this song without brass. Oh,

really. Our church on Easter always had a bunch of brass and

even like the timpani and the organ, you know, revved up to

full speed. I didn't I this was one that I never knew you could

do without bras like it just seemed like and of course we

had. The church I grew up at had a big choir too. So we had like

this army of voices leading that it was usually kicking off

Easter Sunday. And definitely one that is, at least for me.

I'm sure it is for others too. A little bit nostalgic when you're

saying yeah, I'm reminded of those days growing up.

Yep, yep. I remember sitting in the Senate

the stuff the left side of the church, seven throw, Easter

morning, every every Easter and I think this was usually the

song that they started with, you know, a downbeat that was the

this one song right here so yeah,

yeah, you almost can't sing it without

smelling Easter lilies and yeah, and all that

I think about ham or ham,

deviled eggs, all the things that go along

with Easter you know, it's funny Easter is not one of those

holidays that tends to be nostalgic like Christmases. You

know, Christmas tends to have all the warm fuzzies with it.

And for for whatever reason, Easter doesn't have that, that

same nostalgia, but there are bits of it in there.

I always just remember I had to wear my nice

new shirt. On Easter, I had to I had to, like you got to look

like your brother to you know, put on your nice purple shirts

and look like your brother and

Zara. Remember Easter Easter was when we got to

dress up like you know, you got to wear a suit and tie and all

that to church it was that was the fancy day. Instead, it's

funny those those things that we connect with that, but looking

at looking at the hem here. So we're going to be saying these

words all the time. I think one of the reasons why this tends to

be you know, one of the first ones that gets used on Easter

Sunday worship, especially in churches that are a little more

liturgical, a little more traditional, even more so than

our church. During the season of Lent, the traditionally the

church puts away the ALU Yes, so we don't sing hallelujah o's and

things like that. Now, we're not quite so rigid about that here.

But there are some churches that don't do that. So when when it

comes to Easter Sunday morning, this is like the first time in

six weeks that we've been able to sing Alia so we've got a song

that's got for each verse, you know, we get to sing it 16 times

the opening.

Yeah, catch up and catch up on irrelevant.

But man, this one and you know, the lyrics

kind of get get swapped between the two sometimes depending on

the church you grew up in are the hymnal that you use, but the

lyrics and both this Jesus Christ has risen today in Christ

the Lord has risen today. Man such powerful lyrics in there.

You know, if you kind of just ignore the hallelujahs for and

just look at the text of it. We've got some, some beautiful

things like verse three, you know, the pains that he endured,

our salvation have procured, now above the sky, he's king where

the angels ever sing and you know, Allah lujah is

interspersed through all of that, and in in the other one

Christ the Lord has risen today was the verse that I just really

love. Like in that one, two, verse three, hail the victim,

undefiled God and sinners reconciled sounds a little bit

like Christmas. Yeah. When contending death and life met in

strange and awesome strife, Christians on this holy day, all

you're grateful homage pay Christ, the Lord has risen on

high now he lives no more to die. There's just beautiful,

beautiful lyrics there that we get to sing in those songs. But

there's more than just that song that we sing at Easter time.

Yeah. One of the other ones I know that is a I grew up with as

a classic Christian, Easter, I don't say Christmas, classic

Easter hymn that we get to sing but also at other times, too,

was I know that my Redeemer lives. This is another one of

those like, just powerful music. First of all super singable, as

far as hymns go, Ben and a lot of funerals where this has been

sung to the great, great connection there to remember

like, in the face of death, the hope that we have. And we'll be

singing this one this week on Easter too. Now, probably not

going to sing all eight verses have it. And I know in different

in different hymnals there have been different numbers of verses

and stuff. And it always kind of cracks me up. When when there's

a hymn with 810 12. There's one in here that I think has 15

verses. Oh my goodness, let one. We sing it a few weeks ago at

one of our our evening services. Yeah. odorous Jesus, what law

has to allow broken has 15 verses and we told everybody

well, maybe we'll just think 12 Small panic that went over the

room when we said that we I think we only say two or three.

But yeah,

I'm looking at these words here on I know my

redeemer lives. This isn't a song that I'm familiar with. But

I love the lyrics of the fourth verse. He lives to grant me rich

supply He lives to guide me with his eye he lives to comfort me

when faint He lives to hear my soul's complaint so that the

resurrection wasn't just like a one off occurrence. Like it's a

it's a continuation of Christ's work in our life that that now

that the gap between us and God has been eliminated through

through Christ like we have access to a rich supply of his

good As of His grace of his, you know, the fruits of the Spirit

so I just like that.

I think that's that's what I really like about

this him is it does a really good job of bringing Easter into

the everyday we were talking about this at staff a little

while back that in this book that we're reading on the

resurrection, about how Jesus resurrection we kind of maybe

have that sometimes in our mind as it was like this thing that

he did, where he came back to life from from death, but we

really don't have always have a firm grasp on what does that

mean for us today? You know, how does that how does that change

things for me today, and this him does a really great job of

trying to explain that of like so. So he lives and there's

eight verses now of like, like, I love number seven too. He

lives and grants me daily breath, he lives and I will

conquer death. He lives my mansion to prepare He lives to

bring me safely there. It's this is all stuff that's like here

and now but also futures there's that my mansion to prepare that

my heavenly home that he is he is bringing me to He lives to

silence all my fears. He lives to wipe away my tears. He lives

to calm my troubled heart he lives all blessings to impart

you know what a what a great reminder of just the the every

day of what Easter does for us.

Yeah. And timely that that verse you just

read, he lives to silence all my fears, right? We just been going

through a time of fears and tears and, and troubles and how

good to know that Easter keeps going that as Christians were

Easter people, it's not just a holiday, we celebrate once a

year. It's something it's a truth we live into. Or we have

the opportunity to live into. Yeah, when we truly accept the

truth of the resurrection in the in the beauty of it.

Let's look at another one you got to look at

another another him. So here's what here's another one Adam, I

don't know if you're familiar with this one. Awake my heart

with gladness. You're familiar with that one grew up with that

one. This is we're not going to sing this one on Easter Sunday.

We'll be singing this in the next couple of weeks. But

another really powerful song Beautiful, beautiful melody,

first of all. So many of these Easter hymns just have a very

classic singleness to them. I think that's why they've endured

for for the centuries that they've been around. But another

one with with really beautiful lyrics here, awake my heart with

gladness, see what today is done. Now after gloom and

sadness, now after coming out of Lent, comes forth the glorious

sun, my Savior there was laid, where our bed must be made. When

to when to the realms of light our Spirit Wings, its flight,

you know Jesus light in that place that we were meant to be.

And now he he has risen now we will rise kind of recounts the

other verse, this is another some of these older hymns. You

know, like these guys weren't short on words. Seven, seven

versus here. Not one that we normally sing all seven of which

I guess is always as a you know, the person who's picking the

music a lot of times for the traditional service especially.

There is a little bit of that tension of oh man should we sing

all eight verses are all seven are all six verses? Should we

cut it down? How much is too much? How much is cutting it

short and short? Changing the song? There is always that kind

of balance of how much do you sing? And how much do you do

leave out some?

Yes, boy, I'm looking at the lyrics of this

one, it'd be hard to it'd be hard to leave one out. Because

it is it's a narrative. It's a very narrative song in that it's

um, it starts at the foot of the cross, or at the sorry, at the

empty tomb. But then in the seventh verse, you know, it's a

song about the connection of the resurrection and our

resurrection. He brings me to the portal that leads to Bliss

untold where on this rhyme immortal is found the script of

gold, who there my cross is shared, finds here a crown

prepared our crown, who there with me has died shall here be

glorified. So in Jesus Christ where we were, there's fancy

words right glorification is sanctification right? So we're

glorification happens at the cross. Sanctification happens

through the course of our lives, but ultimately, we become fully

glorified and heaven with Christ. So, yeah, powerful.

Got some beautiful stuff here. You know,

and it's, it's kind of worth noting as you kind of page

through, we've got the hymnal here in front of us, is your

page and through kind of the Easter section, it's not short.

No, you know, Easter rich Easter, the day, you know, gets

gets celebrated and most people's mind, just on that

Sunday, the season though of Easter lasts for several weeks.

I forget off the top of my head, if it's six or seven weeks of

Easter, you know, it's a long span all the way up to

Pentecost. And so there's, there's a lot of a lot of great

Easter hymns that the church has kind of collected over the

centuries. And that we get to still sing today. And some some

new ones. We were we were talking before we started

rolling here. But there's a handful in the Easter section of

the hymnal here that's like, yeah, I don't know that him.

That's not one that I grew up with. That's, that's a new

addition in this hymnal here. Well, how about we turn our

attention to some of the more modern songs, okay, that we're

going to be singing Yeah. And that we sing around this time of

year. You know, here at St. Matthew, we've got our

traditional service, and we've got a contemporary service that

we get to, we'd have the best of both worlds, the best of the

traditional stuff, the best of the modern things that are being

written today. We're also going to try to bring those all

together on Sunday. So we're gonna see how this goes with our

our Easter service doing a combined combined service of the

traditional and the contemporary, in our two spaces

kind of simulcast together. It should be it should be a

technological feat. We've pulled this off before. We're hoping to

pull it off again. Hopefully nice and smooth and something

that blesses everybody. But yeah. One of the ones that we're

singing this weekend, because he lives one that's been around for

a minute, not a not a brand new song, but a great one

nonetheless.

Right? You know, of course, the the title,

and maybe the rewrite, it's a map Mayer song, but I think it

was originally a Gaither song that because he lives tomorrow,

that bridge that they pull in there from the

the Gators him

which I grew up with, or I guess I don't

know, what do you call it?

What what category that falls into if it's

a hammer, praise chorus or,

you know, probably gospel music or

something. But I love this song. Because it starts with our

condition, I believe, right? We were I was dead in the grave,

covered it's in his name, then mercy called my name and makes a

direct connection. Because Christ is alive. I'm alive in

Christ. It's a it's a wonderful song.

Right? Strong echoes of Ephesians two, eight,

you know, you were dead in your sins. We were dead in the grave,

covered in sin and shame. Mercy called my name pulled me out of

that grave. Also kind of reminder of the story of Lazarus

too, right? We were dead in that grave. And Lazarus was called

out from that grave we are called out from that death to

Yeah. Something I really appreciate about mackmyra As you

know, he's from kind of the Catholic tradition. And so also

kind of bringing a similar understanding of how we come to

faith that it's it's not my my action but it's God's action

calling me to faith and you really see that like in this

song here, put together and while it's a song that has a lot

of AI in it, you know, I believe I believe I appreciate what it

is that he's saying we believe that I'm alive because he lives

it's because of Jesus that then I believe that I overcome that

there's power in this blood it's because of Jesus and I love to

that that chorus from the the old gathers him of because he

lives I can face tomorrow it's a little bit like we said with I

know that my Redeemer lives it's it's pulling the resurrection

into the everyday I can face tomorrow my fears are gone. I

know he holds me my futures in his hand. All because Jesus

lives it's not just a day that we get to have him and deviled

eggs and

the kids bring home a bunch more candy right

dressed up

all fancy for church. It's not just that what

else we sing on on Easter Adam,

we're singing Hallelujah for the cross. Yeah,

that's another great which is a great song as

well. And that's a bit of a newer one.

It is a bit of a newer one. I'm just pulling up

the lyrics here now.

We've been singing that. We started singing

that when I came to St. Matthew here. So that song was written

especially as you know, the ones that we talked about in the

traditional stuff, you know, some of those songs have been

around for several 100 years, right? This one's been around

for three, four years, is all.

Yeah, and these are really well written

words. Because, again, it starts with the hypothetical of what

if, what if there wasn't? If there wasn't a cross if there

wasn't a resurrection? Where I would be which is, I think it's

what we do in Lent, right? As we sort of remember our our

brokenness Yep, our fallen, fallen condition. So that I

liked the song because it ties Lent and Easter together in a

nice way. Because the second verse says, you have one me and

chased me down when I was lost, and then we get to sing

hallelujah. And a thank you. I was a prisoner. Now I'm not with

your brother blood, you bought my freedom, I will sue you for

the cross, which

is one of those weird, weird things that

Christians get to say, you know, hallelujah, for the cross, thank

you, Jesus for Dying on that cross. In the same way that

we're going to refer to Friday as Good Friday, the day that God

dies on the cross, I mean, what should be the worst day becomes

the best day becomes a good day for us. And so we get to through

the power of Jesus resurrection we get to see something as

horrific as the cross I mean, when you really think about what

what happened on the cross to Jesus to be able to then say

thank you for the Hallelujah for that. Seeing God turned those

those bad things into great things. Glad every time he does

that every day in my

life yeah, I mean, it's kind of one of those

strange things that you know, to people outside of the faith.

It's like, Man, you guys sing a lot about like, blood and and

torture instruments. But not knowing that yeah, the context

of that is that you know, we sing about that those things

because they are our freedom and our and our new life. The bridge

actually does the same thing by your stripes I am healed.

Stripes being the website Christ back like that's that's a pretty

hard sentence to swallow for me. You know? We sing that with joy,

but the magnitude ought not to be lost on us of that statement.

Yeah, this song, like, like a lot of them,

does a really nice job of pulling Good Friday and Easter

together. by your stripes, I'm healed by your death I live.

power of sin is overcome, It is finished. We're gonna hear those

words on Good Friday. It is finished, it is done. But Jesus

lives, thank you, Jesus for that cross. Like I say, you know, a

lot of these, especially songs that are being written in the

last, you know, five years or so. There has really been just a

What a move within, within the church, within the part of the

church that's writing modern songs, to really write these

like deep, meaningful songs. You know, I know, contemporary songs

got a got a bad rap for a while about being kind of fluffy and

not a whole lot to him. And man, I don't I don't think you can

say that anymore. No doubt about the songs being written today.

The theology

is really rich, and it feels like it's

echoing the hymnody of the past. You know, it feels like it's

sure, yeah, certainly standing in the same

tradition as some of these hem writers from the hymnal that

I've got sitting here next to me, who are really trying to

artfully capture the beauty of the complexity of what God has

done for us and what his love for us looks like. How that

plays out in our life. They're really doing a just a fantastic

job at that and pairing it with good music to like the the music

itself is well done. Well composed. Yeah. How about one

more,

one more? What else we're gonna sing. We're

gonna sing, resurrecting and living hope both of which I love

and both of which I'm willing to talk about which one would you?

I mean, I'm a huge fan boy of living hope. So.

Let's talk about living. And that's one

that we know our church here really, really loves that song.

I know. I know. Adam and I both love to lead that song because,

man we can really hear the congregation sing out

on the Yeah, they start leading you.

This is definitely one of those ones

that you just kind of start and get out of the way. Yeah,

exactly. Because mandate They sing it and they sing it. Well.

I know as I look at this song, this is, I think kind of like we

said with like awake my heart with gladness where it's a bit

of a narrative. It's a song that's that's telling a story.

And the story that it's telling is the story of Jesus. Jesus

coming, Jesus dying, Jesus rising. painting that picture

right at the beginning of the the chasm that the state that we

were in, there's this chasm that lay between us, how high the

mountain I could not climb and desperation, I turned to heaven,

I spoke your name into the night no crying out to God, through

the darkness, through your loving kindness through the

shadows, tore through the shadows of my soul, the work is

finished, the end is written Jesus Christ, my living hope.

You know, as it says, it moves on through, they're just some,

again, beautiful, beautiful words that we get to sing across

a spoken, I am forgiven. The King of Kings calls me his own,

beautiful savior and yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living

hope.

Yeah, verse one, you know, going back to

that one, from the tradition that, that we're in, you know,

we talk about grace and grace alone is what buys us. And

that's what that verse is about. It's, um, there was nothing I

could do, right? There was nothing I could do. And it

borrows like Old Testament imagery of like a curtain in the

tabernacle, and the curtain tour over over that weekend. So it's,

again, I mean, I think you already said it, but it starts

with the, a lot of ways it starts with the ending, I think,

well, it says that the work is finished, the end is written

Jesus Christ, my living hope, salad period, like, like that's,

that's

no question mark, no doubt, right of fact,

right? If I can believe that, if I can

believe that sentence, the work is finished, the end is written

Jesus Christ, my living hope. My faith becomes a lot, a lot

stronger if I can live into the fact that I don't, that God that

Christ already did the work for me. And it's through His grace.

That yeah, the end is written that I have eternal life with,

with God. Man, that's, that's hope for today and for tomorrow.

And in verse three, you know, the, the words

that especially relate to Easter Sunday, and I love this, I love

singing this verse out of leading this verse about you

know, that then came the morning that sealed the promise, your

buried body began to breathe out of the silence, the roaring lion

declared, The grave has no claim on me. Not it's not written this

way in the music. But I like that you can read that fourth

line there declared the grave has no claim on me. I like that

you can read that both ways that Jesus is declaring it has no

claim on him. But I think also that Jesus is declaring it also

has no claim on you. On my people, I'm me, the person

singing the song. Like, we get to say that because Jesus got to

say that, and I liked it. It's a little bit of like deliberate

ambiguity there. You know, there's no quotations around

that. It's, it's, it's a true statement both ways. Because of

Jesus victory, we can say that to some man when we sing out,

you know, those those final refrains of my living hope.

Hallelujah praise the one who set me free hallelujah death has

lost its grip on me. Broken every chain their salvation in

your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope, powerful stuff.

Glad that we get to sing this stuff at Easter and the stuff

that we've got coming up in the weeks ahead. It's going to be a

great season, great season of rejoicing here is we get to

worship together. So thanks for talking through these, Adam.

Appreciate it and hope that as you sing these songs over the

next few weeks, that you you get to see a little bit more the

depth of some of the words that we're singing in these songs.

Thanks for listening to everyday disciples, everyday disciples as

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