“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36 (NIV)
Jesus’ resurrection that first Easter Sunday was God’s vindication of him: he was indeed (and is!) the king God had promised from ages ago. Risen, he rules in glory.
This Easter, rediscover and chew over the truths expressed in each verse of Irish preacher Thomas Kelly’s beautiful hymn of 1820:
The head that once was crowned with thorns
is crowned with glory now;
a royal diadem adorns
the mighty Victor’s brow.
The highest place that heaven affords
is his, is his by right,
the King of kings, and Lord of lords,
and heaven’s eternal Light;
The joy all of all who dwell above,
the joy of all below,
to whom he manifests his love
and grants his Name to know.
To them the cross with all its shame,
with all its grace is given;
their name, an everlasting name;
their joy, the joy of heaven.
They suffer with their Lord below,
they reign with him above,
their profit and their joy to know
the mystery of his love.
The cross he bore is life and health,
though shame and death to him:
his people’s hope, his people’s wealth,
their everlasting theme.
Praise God for the resurrection of his Son!
