Good ol' Keith Green looks like our friend Rob Smythe here! I love watching Keith perform live, because his mad piano skills (he went to Julliard!) are so amazing!
Swallowed into earth's dark womb
"Death has triumphed!"- that's what they say.
But try to hold Him in the tomb,
The Son of Light rose on the third day!
Just look- the gates of hell are falling;
Crumbling from the inside out!
He's bursting through the walls with laughter!
Listen to the angels shout!
"His plan of battle fooled them all
They led Him off to prison to die,
But as He entered Hades' Hall,
He broke those hellish chains with a cry!
Listen to the demons screaming!
See Him bruise the Serpent's head!
The prisoners of Hell He's redeeming:
All the power of death is dead!
It is finished: He has done it!
Life conquered death: Jesus Christ has won it!
In the early church, everyone was very careful to NOT say "Hallelujah" (meaning "Praise YHWH") for the week (and longer) leading up to Easter Sunday. That way, on the morning when everyone woke at dawn to shout and cheer and sing and dance His victory, saying "Hallelujah!" over and over was especially delicious. It made it feel even more like the victory cry after a long, hard war-- one you thought was for sure lost, one you thought you would die fighting, hopeless... and then... out of nowhere, here Life has conquered! Tolkien called this a "eucatastrophe"-- the reverse of catastrophe, when everything suddenly goes wrong for reasons beyond your control. The eucatastrophe means suddenly, unexpectedly, everything goes amazingly RIGHT for reasons beyond your control! THAT was Easter Sunday morning! That's why "Hallelujah!!"s burst from the glad believer's lips over and over; because it's GOD who did it, it's GOD who won the victory, and we can hardly believe it.
The fight is o'er, the battle done! The victory of life is won! The song of triumph has begun: hallelujah!!!
Say it with relish! Taste it! Roll the word around in your mouth, imagining that your mouth is caked with grime from battle, that you've only tasted sweat and blood and dirt until this moment, when suddenly, the battle is won, and YOU are being carried along in the Triumphal procession. Hallelujah!! Join in His laughter!
He is risen indeed!
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