Come Awake

If you haven't heard Matt Maher's new song, "Christ is Risen," I recommend it whole heartedly. In fact, if you haven't heard any of his music before, I highly recommend going and purchasing one of his albums. You will not be disappointed by his musical passion, his thought-provoking lyrics, or by his Christ-centered celebrations of God's grace.

His song, "Christ is Risen" is both a celebration of Christ's resurrection as well as a call to arms for believers: "Come awake, Come awake, Come and rise up from the grave!" is an oft repeated part of the refrain. He challenges death, and Hell: "Oh, Death, where is your sting? Oh, Hell, where is your victory?" And he rejoices in the living, saving Christ: "Oh, Church, comes stand in the light, our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive!"

Matt Maher sings, "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death." I thought that image poignant, but slightly polluted. In the lives of students and adults alike, I often see a clouded view of Christ's death and resurrection: we know he died, and he rose, and somewhere in there our sins were paid for... and we often leave it there. It's a jumbled mess of ideas and thoughts - heartwarming, but not always life-changing.

The reality is that Christ didn't 'trample over death by death.' On the cross, Christ paid the punishment for our sins. He unjustly took the just wrath of the righteous God upon his shoulders (Maher understands this when he writes, in verse 2: 'Beneath the weight of all our sin, you bowed to none but Heaven's will.'), undeservedly dying our death so we can - just as undeservedly - live life with Him. The cross is the point upon which we stake our right to Grace - a right not earned, but fully and freely given.

But just as surely as our punishment was mitigated upon Christ on the cross, so too he rose again from the grave. It was this resurrection - this glorious day! - when death was defeated. And it wasn't simply a defeat of death for Christ, but also a defeat of sin for us. We can look to the cross and know that, through Christ, we pay no penalty for our sin. But we look to the empty grave and know, also, we need not be bound to sin any longer.

It reminds me of Hebrews 12, when the writer tells us, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... who endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." We aren't to fix our eyes on the cross! The cross is a moment - it's a moment for justification. We accept the cross, but we don't live life in light of it - we're able to live life because of it. Rather, we live life in light of the empty grave, which allows Christ to take seat at God's right hand.

I feel today, we in the 21st century are 'Cross Christians' much more than we are 'Empty Grave Christians.' We're happy to know our sins are paid for... and that's really where we leave it. We're just not entirely sure that sin can be a thing of the past: maybe we don't trust Christ's resurrection enough; maybe we don't hate sin enough; maybe we're at a loss for modern examples; maybe it just seems unattainable. Whatever the reason, the majority of Christians seem to be trying to put their grace on layaway: "I'll take one order of grace, and I think I'll pick it up when I get to heaven, thankyouverymuch."

It's one of the reasons I feel the refrain, "Come awake!" carries so much weight. The world is sleeping in sin - apart from Christ's grace - and doesn't even know what it means to truly live. Through the empty-grave, we can be victorious over death; not because of our merit, but because of Christ's already-accomplished victory.

Friends - believers - brothers - sisters... come awake.